geothink

Colin Bridge discusses ideas forencouraging reflection, developinganalytical skills, reasoning withconfidence, understandingchildren’s thinking and evaluatingthe quality of outcomes.

Creative qualitiesWhen a child or a group has taken anactivity further than you could possiblyhave hoped, or you feel that thechildren have moved their thinkingforward in a significant way aregolden moments for a teacher.

If pushed to define creativity interms of what I have seen childrendo over the years, it comes outsomething like this. Creativity appearsto be present when children exhibit:• ingenuity,• originality (in describing and

presenting ideas) and• appreciation of relationships

(thinking within a wider context oflinks and connections).

Creativity obviously has some of theproblems of ‘intelligence’ in that itseems to be something outstanding tobe found only in a few individuals andmaybe only in a few very intelligentindividuals. This is a social perception.We think of creative people as beingthe giants of science and the arts whohave produced a shift in humanthinking. However, creativity is aquality that operates at a range ofscales and contexts.

In the early days of the industrialrevolution, Newcomen’s steam engineworked at 0.5% efficiency. Today’sdiesel engines are more than 50%efficient and there is hope that thehydrogen fuel cell will be the nextrevolutionary step in energy efficiency.This gradual progression ofimprovement has been because of thesmall-scale creativity of countlessindividuals who, by practisingengineering skills from day-to-day,have made a myriad of minor

improvements which together lead tothe next revolutionary step. This pointis worth making because it makescreativity in some form or anotheraccessible to virtually everyone (thereneeds to be an element of motivationand enthusiasm). The task, then, forthe primary teacher becomes to beconcerned not about failing to nurturea young Mozart or Einstein, but ratherwith techniques and strategies forencouraging individual creativity acrossa range of skills, accomplishments andpersonalities within the context ofoften, formal learning.

The long-term objectives forseeking to foster creative attitudes inthe primary school, according to theRoyal Society for the Arts, are aboutopening minds and educating for thetwenty-first century. In a world ofaccelerating change, qualities ofcommunicating, handling information,managing situations and being flexibleand innovative are going to be at apremium.

The short-term objectives are aboutpersonal achievement and self-esteem.Meadows (1993) sees them in terms ofplay, exploration, imagination, insight,motivation, effort and inspiration.These sound more like the thingsprimary teachers would like to see intheir classrooms. They bring me back tomy initial definition which has derivedfrom seeing children use imagination instories and poetry, ingenuity in modelmaking and design, the visuallyunexpected in art and presentation andinnovative thinking. These may not beindicators of future fame as a novelistor designer but they nurture personalwealth by bolstering a sense of specialachievement and giving an individualchild a feeling that they are capable ofthoughts and acts that have value. Thisis the best foundation for achieving thelong-term objectives.

In practical terms, how do we getthere and, particularly, how do we get

there in a geography lesson? What arethe ways to encourage ingenuity andoriginality, and then to know how torecognise that a child is actuallyemploying these qualities?

For fifty years psychologists havebeen looking at these questions, andhave identified techniques that areuseful for teachers. Guilford (1950)described four creative qualities withdefinitions which are useful inpractical terms:• Fluency (ease of using stored

mental information);• Flexibility (using different

approaches to problems);• Originality (the unusual or rare

response); and• Elaboration (the skill of enriching a

simple idea).Torrence (1965) offered suggestionsfor encouraging a creative learningatmosphere:• Respect unusual questions;• Respect imaginative and unusual

ideas;• Value pupils’ ideas;• Set some work which will not be

tightly assessed; and• Explore causes and consequences.Fisher (1990) points out that greatcreative individuals spend yearsachieving skills and insights. Childrencannot have those special creativemoments unless they have the time tobuild some skills in writing, painting,model making or playing an instrument.They also need time to engage in asmall task, ponder on it, come back toit and develop it. Classrooms wherechildren go from one small scaleunrelated task to another are likely toinhibit reflection. Fisher goes on todescribe a creative process whichshould become a life skill:• Stimulus• Exploration• Planning• Activity• ReviewIt is useful for teachers to askthemselves the extent to which theyallow children to follow through thisprocess in their learning activities andwhich bits of the process might easilybe missed out, perhaps through lackof time.

Most of what I have described isapplicable to learning in any subject.Let us begin to home in on somespecifics. Fisher also offers a ‘Scamper’

19© Primary Geographer January 2003

GEOTHINK 10 Colin Bridge

Creating thespace to think

GA PG Jan 2003 15/1/03 13:10 Page 19

checklist (table 1). This stimulus forcreating new ideas would be useful toengage children in a project onrecycling or devising an environmentalimprovement scheme.

Finally how have I tried to offerchildren opportunities for ingenuity,originality and making links andconnections in my own teaching? Thefollowing approaches will have beensome use if they only make you think‘I can do better than that!’.

The stimulusDiscussionAt the start of a project take time totalk about the issues and ideasinvolved. We know it makes sense butwhen the teacher already has a clearobjective in mind it is easy to forgetthat the children may not share thatobjective. Explore what they think theyare going to investigate. Do not takeanything for granted, be on thelookout for misconceptions and donot confuse them with creativethinking! Encourage as many ideas aspossible, do not make initialjudgements about the ideas, explorelinks and associations and decide howto use the final collection ofsuggestions.

20 © Primary Geographer January 2003

Who else instead?What else instead?Other place?Other time?Other material?Other approach?

Bring together?Unite with another?Combine ideas?

What else is like this?What ideas does it suggest?Can it be adjusted for a purpose?

Magnify?Minimise?Multiply?What to alter?What to add?Change colour, form, shape, motion?Other changes?

New ways to use?Other uses if modified?

What to remove, omit, get rid of?Part or whole?

Try different pattern, layout or scheme?Turn it round, upside down, inside out?Try opposites?

Substitute

Combine

Adapt

Modify

Put to other uses

Eliminate

Rearrange

Figure 1: Scamper checklist for creating ideas. Source: Fisher, 1990, p. 49.

GA PG Jan 2003 15/1/03 13:10 Page 20

21© Primary Geographer January 2003

QuestionsWe are constantly being urged toinvolve children in asking geographicalquestions. However, it is difficult notto make these questions closed anddirected. My favourite sciencequestion is ‘Are all daisies the same?’.Why not try ‘Are all clouds thesame?’. Fisher (1990) also suggests:• What can we do on a rainy day?• What could you do if you got lost?• What adventures might a 50p coin

have had?• Can you see figures, shapes or

faces in the clouds?• Would you like to see a door, a

window or a hole in the roof?• What would happen if there were

no hills, no trees or no rivers?

Innovation andinvestigationA school improvement projectquestionnaireThis is an activity from an RSPBbooklet (Bridge, 1999). Childrendevise a proposal to change a sectionof the school grounds into a wildlifearea. They then canvass the views ofthe rest of the school through aquestionnaire. However, this is not a‘yes/no’ exercise. The proposal mustbe presented with consideration forthe rest of the school. Views must be

analysed and, perhaps, the proposalamended. Decisions then need to bemade about when, how and if thescheme should go ahead.

A lorry surveyThis moves on from the traditionaltraffic count. Using what clues theycan gather, children use theirknowledge and imagination toconjecture about what a vehicle mightbe carrying, where it might be comingfrom or going to, who might own itetc. The children choose a passinglorry and record any possibleinformation, any writing or numbers,the registration, an open or closedvehicle, if it is a refrigeration unit forexample, colour (food lorries are oftenwhite) size etc. They then use the datato produce a pictorial profile of itspossible contents and journeys.

What can you learn from adoor?Do a survey of all the doors in theschool. Draw each type and assess itin terms of solid, panelled, glassinserts (what, where, why?), handles,one/two way opening, condition, easeof use, locked/unlocked, emergencydoors, suitable for children/adults,how does the door reflect the spacebehind it and the contents of thatspace? Are some older than others?

Do they reflect the building andhistory of the school? Make models ofsome of the doors.

School plan board gameUse a school plan or a child’s plan of thelocal area to devise a board game withthe usual dice, counters etc. Take timeto plan and consider a range of ideasbefore starting to make the game.

Key conceptsI can’t resist returning to geography’swonderful concepts that open eyes andminds and underpin geographicalenquiry. ‘Change’ is the most obvious.Everything in the classroom is changing,but how it is changing is not so easy toexplore. Encourage the children toexplore movement in the room of bothobjects and people. Follow the systemson which the school depends. There’slocation, area, distributions, conflict,management, communication andinteraction. Be creative!

TitlesWhenever children complete a pieceof written work ensure they create atitle. This is not as easy as it soundsbecause the title is a summary of allthey have written. It requires somemental ingenuity, especially if theyhave copied a lot off the internet!

Final reportsAt the end of an investigation makesure the children produce a finalreport, either written or for a brieftalk. This is the moment where thethoughts and findings of an activitybecome either part of your personalthinking and attitudes or victims ofshort term memory. It is vital for thechild but just as crucial for the teacherbecause the quality of the learningand understanding that has gone onis instantly evident.

So now it is my turn to think of atitle to sum up this writing. It has gotto be about creativity, about thinking,about having the time to reflect...

ReferencesBridge, C.W. (1999) Primary

Geography. Sandy: RSPB.Fisher, R. (1990) Teaching children to

think. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Guilford, J.P. (1950) ‘Creativity’,

American Psychologist, 5,pp. 444-45

Meadows, S. (1993) The Child asThinker. London: Routledge.

Torrence, E.P. (1965) Rewardingcreative behaviour. New Jersey:Prentice-Hall.

Colin Bridge is a teacher,environmentalist and co-author of theCollins-Longman Keystart Atlas Scheme.

GA PG Jan 2003 15/1/03 13:10 Page 21