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Creativity Part One - Page 2

© Deborah Jeter

Research and Methodology

The author chose resources based upon the relevance to the topic being presented. Each of the sources represent valid research data involving the development of creativity and increasing higher order thinking skills, with the exception of the reference from Gardner. The Gardner reference explains the need for understanding the way people learn.

Gardner, in his book, Frames of Mind, states that, "creativity emerges from the interaction of three nodes: the individual, the domains, and the judgments competent within a culture." The choice for including Gardner was influenced because he has a music intelligence domain among his seven (now, eight), intelligences. The ability to sequence is a spatial-temporal function and Gardner has provided the reader with interesting information on how music requires multiple functions. These functions overlap in complexity, and at the same time, there is an organization and a method used to produce a body of work.

Rauscher's study was chosen because of the recent exposure that the "Mozart Effect" has had in the public. While some researchers are enamoured with the findings, some music educators feel as though Rauscher's results will stifle creativity because of added pressure to produce results in an area that could be predisposed to non-musicality. the author sees Rauscher's findings, yet, another discovery of the affects of music on learning. It's simply a new ingredient to put in the mix, and should not be viewed as threatening.

The Simpson research was chosen because it was one of the earliest works presented about the effects music education can have on learning. Information about music education's potential for accelerating learning has been sorely lacking thus Hanshumaker's research, which followed Simpson's, was important for viewing similarities and relevance. Hanshumaker's work was particularly important because he found many unpublished works substantiating the importance of music education and made the findings known.

The Champions of Change document was selected for this article because it also is a culmination of many research findings regarding the Arts and Education. It has a powerful message in that, the arts are regarded in the document as being equally important with core curriculum subjects.

Other references included in this article were used for their relevance to the sub-topics, which led into areas of brain function, art education, music performance, child psychology, developmental education, decentralized thinking, and intelligence issues. These references include Gardner, Resnick, Papert, Davis, Wolff, Weil, Webster, and Gordon.

The nature of creativity is a topic of intense, current interest and debate. Csikszentmihalyi, (1988), questions, "Where is creativity?" Gardner, in his book, Frames of Mind, states that, "creativity emerges from the interaction of three nodes: the individual, the domains, and the judgments competent within a culture." Gardner states that psychology does not directly dictate education but is helpful in understanding conditions where learning occurs. Gardner points out that in the behaviorist era, it was believed that each child was born as a clean slate and could be molded into whatever the educator poured into that child. Today, increasing amounts of researchers believe that intelligence has inbred constraints.

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