Possibility Thinking Research

Possibility Thinking Research entryMost people accept that early years education should film to cultivate childrens fanciful thinking and this raises a number of questions namely what is creative thinking? How does it relate to imagination, self expression and intelligence? What ways can creativeness be taught and assessed and why is it valuable? Fostering childrens creativity involves more than the creative corner in the categorizeroom it involves recognising their creative net cream manifested by young learners. According to Wilson (20.10.05) It is authorised that we foster creativity at an early stage so that children atomic number 18 more prepared to lead an active role in their own knowledge, vex better self-esteem and are more volitioning to feign chances.Possibility view is at the heart of t come out of the closet ensemble creativity in young children. (Craft 2002) Possibilities are generated by children in all areas of learning e.g. play, medicinal drug and s cientific enquiry. It allows children to seek grotesque ways to expose a strain of outcomes e.g. is a banana a fruit or is it a teleph iodine? The possibilities to develop childrens creative idea are endless.Possibility thinking has been acknowledged in some educational books on creativity but it has not been fully accepted by some educationalists (Craft 2001). Jeffrey (2005) believes it is at the core to creative learning and represents the being chimerical incision of the current policy framework for creativity in England. Craft and Jeffrey (2004) believe that hypothesis thinking involves enabling children to find and refine problems as well as solve them.The set out of this research is to investigate whether possibility thinking is at the heart of creativity in young children. I hypothesise thatPossibility thinking is at the heart of creativity in young childrenCreativity and imagination allows young children to learn and developPossibility thinking will entirely take place if with child(p)s give children time and spaceThe resources, environment and available tasks affect the possibilities for creative thinkingLiterature ReviewCreativity has been described as a voyage of discovery (Craft 2008). When it comes to creativity in coachings the second half of the 20th century can be first seen as a drought pastime the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1989 which rejected children centred plan practices. After 1999 thither were numerous opportunities for creativity in terms of plan and learning cod to a shift in values in educational provision and the landscape of the classroom.During the end of the 20th and the start of the twenty-first century creativity has hold out significant in education due to the advice of the National Advisory Committee on creative and culture education (NACCCE 1999) led by Sir Ken Robinson and detectives much(prenominal) as Woods and Craft (1997) and Harland et al (1998). The key findings from their work was that creative learning involves children experiencing innovation in the classroom, control over activities, unitedly with a signified of ownership in their learning. These features are characteristic of creative teaching (Jeffery and Woods 2003).The NACCCE saw creativity as imaginative activity, fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are original and of value (NACCCE 1999 pg 29). The approach together with linking creativity with culture saw a shift away from the view that creativity was only getatable by the gifted and a view of learning as empowerment in and beyond the classroom (Jeffrey and Craft 2001, Sefton-Green 2008).From 2002 the establishment of creative partnerships has promoted creative learning. The most recent curriculum polices of creativity in spite of appearance the early years are the Early Years Foundation Stage (DFES 2007, DCSF 2008) which continues to emphasize the significance of creativity. It encourages student engagement and offers teachers a means of pe rsonalised learning (Hargreaves 2008). The message seems to be creativity is for everyone everywhereHowever there are problems as to how creativity is documented, assessed and how progression is support (Rose 2008). Learning through the arts has the potential to stimulate open finish activity that encourages discovery, exploration, experimentation and invention contributing to a childs exploitation (Bernadette Duffy 2006). Music, dance, and drama change children to express their feelings. Creativity and imagination in the light of Every Child matters, Sure Start and the Foundation Stage curriculum enables young children to learn and develop whilst expressing their feelings, notions and responses.Anna Craft (2000) introduced and developed the notion of possibility thinking as core to little c creativity. Possibility thinking is means by which intelligence, self-creation, self-expression and know-how are bought together and expressed, It finds a way around a problem by posing ques tions and finding a problem through identifying a question or content to be investigated. Fostering young childrens possibility thinking involves moving their thinking on from what does this do? to what can i do with this? It involves a move from the focused to more divergent thinking.The paper Pedagogy and Possibility Thinking in the Early Years (Cremin, Burnard and Craft May 2006) sought to identify what characterises possibility thinking expanded on young childrens learning experiences and how teachers pedagogical practices fosters this critical aspect of creativity. Possibility thinking is central to creative learning and at the heart of all creative engagement. A 12 month study carried out in a primary school by University tecs showed that teachers use the practice of hold uping tail whilst giving pupils time and space so as to foster possibility thinking. Studies undertaken by the team (Craft 2001, Burnard et al 2006, Chappel 2006, Cremin et al 2006) suggest that the conce pt of Possibility thinking has creative engagement across all contexts. Possibility thinking implies attention to impact of ideas and nurtures trusteeship (Claxton 2008).The Curriculum Guidance for the foundation stage emphasizes that creativity begins with distinctive feature and involves children in exploration and experimentation. They draw upon their imagination and originality. They make decisions, take risks and play with ideas. If they are to be truly creative, children need the freedom to develop and the support of adults (DFES 2000118). The work of research workers such(prenominal) as Craft (2002), Csikszentmhalyi (1997), Fisher (1990) and Lipman (1988) has demonstrated the value of creativity in learning in the early years. In the foundation stage curriculum document creativity is presented as a subject and promoted in areas such as dance, music and stories. However they argue young childrens learning is not compartmentalised (DFES45). Thus subjects such as mathematics should can opportunities for creative thinking as teachers need to recognise the importance of creativity throughout the whole curriculum so as to develop childrens creative thinking and extend their learning whenever possible. (Worthington and Carruthers 2005)Given the pace of change in the 21st century education involve to be creative whilst enhancing the creativity of both young children and the adults who work with them (Facer 2007).methodological analysisThe researcher chose to use a combination of both secondary source materials on board primary sources. The already published literature leave aloned her with a solid base on which she was able to begin to base the investigation as well as providing the researcher with possible areas to explore and correlations to look out for when carrying out her research.The primary sources enabled her to support the research that already existed and helped to draw balanced conclusions when it came to answering the research question. This do her investigation current and valid but will also aid the researchers future practice.Research in education is a disciplined attempt to target questions or solve problems through the collection and analysis of primary data for the purpose of description, explanation, generalisation and prediction (Anderson et al, 1998).There are many types of research but they all share the following basic characteristicsThey are all, or aim to be planned, cautious, systematic and reliable ways of finding out or intensify understanding (Blaxter et al, 2001, p.5).The researcher used a variety of primary methodsUnstructured wondersUnstructured interviews are a qualitative method of research that provides informal, open ended flowing conversations. The advantage of this method, when discussing a subjective area such as creativity is that it provides in depth information. Interviews provide valid and useful information which will enrich her research and by gathering opinions on possibility of thin king she will gain insight into the benefits and motivation it provides to young children.Participant remarksThe researcher will carry out clear annotations in a variety of settings namely a primary school, a playgroup and a residential home. She will use overt observations whereby adults, and children are aware of her presence so as to avoid ethical issues. The researcher chose participant observations so that as a trusted adult she could merge in with the creative activities and thus fully understand what was happening in each individual setting. The researcher was also keen to observe how an adult incumbrance and presence affected the childrens creative process.Ethics consideredThere are research concerns specific to children and young people set out in the British educational Research Association (BERA) ethical guidelines. Primarily, these are focused upon the informed and valid consent of participants, and ways of assuring that this is attained (Lindsay, 2000). It was ensu red that the BERA ethical guidelines were followed. This included, informing the primary school teacher, playgroup leader and childminder what the research entailed and what would be expected of the children included in the sample. In line with ethical issues it was stressed that the data would remain anonymous.Empirical chapter 1 ObservationsIntroductionObservations are an interpretivist approach. Interpretivism emphasizes that people have consciousness involving personal beliefs, values and interpretations and these influence the way people out. They do not simply respond to forces outside of them. (K.Browne 2006)The researcher aims to interpret the values and feelings of both individuals and the group. The information will be in-depth and on a micro scale.AimsParticipant observations aim to develop an understanding from the view vertex of the subjects of the research without allowing the researchers own values and prejudices to distort the observation.Children pose questions and find solutions to stimulate creative thinking.If young children are prepared to take risks they are more creative.MethodologyParticipant ObservationThe first task of any research is to gather information. The researcher will be doing this by carrying out observations so that explanations and correlations can be made. The information generated will provide her with opinions about the extent to which possibility thinking is at the heart of creativity in young children.She will carry out trio observations the first at a primary school in Stafford where she will observe a year one numeracy lesson. The second at a playgroup in Wolverhampton and finally the third at the residential home of a childminder in Northampton. The observations will be overt and participant. The researcher will be near with the children and adults so they understand what she is doing. All observations will take place in a non-threatening, well(p) atmosphere. At both the playgroup and childminders home the chil dren will be all playing or manifold in creative activities. At school the year one pupils will be involved in a numeracy lesson. The researcher will use an observation sheet to record information and carry through the observations up at a afterward date. She has chosen participant observation as the researcher joins the group being studied and can therefore see things through their eyes.Observation 1ParticipantsBarnfield Primary school Stafford year one class25 pupils14 girls11 boysMaterialsNumeracy lesson plan on shapeProceduresFirstly she wrote to the head to ask permission to carry out the observation and then visited the school on Monday 14th celestial latitude 2009 for a pre-visit to discuss the observation with the class teacher. She carried out the observation on Tuesday 12th January 2010.AnalysisThe data will be written up on the observation sheet and analysed at a later date.Observation 2ParticipantsPortobello Community Centre pre-school playgroup8 children5 boys3 girl sMaterialsCut out reindeers, cardConstruction toysObservation sheetProceduresFirstly she contacted the play leader by telephone to discuss the observations. She carried out the observations on the seventh declination 2009 and the 18th January 2010.AnalysisThe data will be written up on the observation sheet and analysed at a later date.Observation 3ParticpantsRegistered childminders home in Northampton. At present she looks after boys aged seven and five and a girl aged trine.MaterialsToys e.g doll house, brio and magnetix melodious instruments e.g drums and shakersObservation sheetProceduresThe child minder is a family friend so the researcher made contact by phone. The researcher then visited on Monday 21st declination 2009 to carry out the observation.AnalysisThe data will be written up on the observation sheet and analysed at a later date.Results from observationsThe researcher chose to observe young children in a variety of settings. The children at school were involved in a directed task namely a numeracy lesson about shape. The children at playgroup and at the childminders home were either playing or involved in semi-structured activities which gave scope for creativity and allowed for personal expression, unlike the numeracy lesson the play, art and music tasks excluded the notation for right on and wrong.The children in all 3 settings produced a variety of results and their scope for creativity was dependent uponThe environmentThe activityThe resources availableThe take aim of adult support and interventionDiscussion of piddlegroup Observation 1The observations at the playgroup showed three aspects of the process victimization the Possibility Thinking framework namelyPosing questionsPlayImmersion and reservation connectionsThey also included three aspects of process outcomeBeing imaginativeInnovationRisk takingThere was little assure of culture or innovation but this was probably due to the fact that the children were aged amongst two to fou r. The first observation on 7th December 2009 showed the youngsters involved in a Christmas workshop making cards and 3D reindeers. The children were excited and constantly posing questions about what colours and materials to use. The children were immersed in the activity and the outcomes were imaginative and showed they were happy to take risks. The youngsters were confident and supported by numerous adults thus the level of adult supervision was high.Discussion of Playgroup Observation 2The second observation took place at the playgroup on January 18th 2010. The youngsters were allowed to play in the sand and water, home corner and with construction toys such as bricks and Lego. The boys were more interested in the construction toys, whilst the girls predominately played in the home corner.All children were immersed in play and asked questions. They were imaginative and took risks however there was little evidence of innovation or development. The level of adult supervision was q uite high however the intervention by the adults was low.Discussion of Childminders ObservationThe researcher visited a childminders home on Friday 18th December 2009 when she was looking after three children. The youngsters played with construction toys, jigsaws, dolls house, and my little ponies. They then played with musical instruments such as a drum set and maracas. The children were stir to make music.The three children constantly chatted to each other. They played together and on their own. The boys were immersed in creating a brio track and Lego models whereas the girl immersed herself in the imaginary beingness of my little pony.All three children were imaginative and creative especially when the musical instruments appeared. They discovered different sounds and ways of making music and formed a mini band.Discussion of Numeracy Lesson observation (year one on shape)The researcher expected the lesson to have limited opportunities for creativity due to space and structure constraints. She views numeracy as a factual, unoriginal lesson which focuses on the understanding of set rules. However the researcher was surprised that the pupils ideas were welcomed and they could pose questions. The children could not really produce original work as there were right and wrong answers although they did explore different methods to get there so were given some ownership for their own learning. There was also some scope for development and innovation in their work.Conclusion of observationsThe aim of participant observations is to develop an understanding from the point of view of subjects without prejudice. The researcher achieved this by observing youngsters and their adult supervisors in a variety of settings whilst becoming a full trusted member of the group. All the children posed questions so as to find solutions to stimulate creative thinking. The youngsters at both the playgroup and childminders home had more opportunities to take risks than those in the classroom so had more chance to be creative.Empirical Chapter 2 Unstructured InterviewsIntroductionAn unstructured interview is like a guided conversation. The interviewer has the topic to cover but questions are open-ended. The researcher seeks to put the respondent at ease, in a relaxed informal office and hopefully the questions will trigger further discussion. The interviewer aims to obtain further depth than is possible in a structured interview. Unstructured interviews are from an interpretivist approach and provide qualitative data as they are concerned with peoples feelings and views.AimsUnstructured interviews provide rich, critical information where by the respondents can express their feelings about the issue of creativity and possibility thinking.Certain tasks such as art, music, drama and dance are more suitable to creative thinking.The learning environment and teaching strategies need to provide scope for imagination if children are to produce a variety of outcomes a nd thus accommodate creative learning.MethodologyUnstructured interviewsThe researcher will interview three adults and conduct the interviews like a discussion with open-ended questions. She will be careful not to influence the replies so as to avoid interviewer bias. She will write down the replies on an interview sheet but try not to disrupt the flow of the interviews. The replies will hopefully produce rich, qualitative information and comparisons in the midst of interviews can be drawn. The use of interviews, stimulate reflection and critical conversations about possibility thinking as a form of engagement and strategy of creativity and the creative thinking process. The probing questions will allow the adults to focus on what they consider to be significant in the creative learning experiences.Interview 1ParticpantsBarnfield Primary School Stafford Year one class teacher.MaterialsProceduresThe researcher wrote to head to ask permission to interview a class teacher. The researc her visited the school to fall in the teacher on Monday 14th December. The researcher carried out the interview on Tuesday 12th January 2010.AnalysisThe researcher will write the interview up on the interview sheet and liken the three interviews.Interview 2ParticpantsPortobello Community Centre playleaderMaterialsProceduresThe researcher contacted the play leader by telephone to discuss the interview. The researcher then carried out the interview on January 18th 2010.AnalysisThe researcher will write the interview up on the interview sheet and compare the three interviews.Interview 3ParticpantsRegistered childminder who is also a qualified teacher.MaterialsProceduresThe researcher contacted the childminder by phone to discuss the interview. The interview was carried out on Monday 21st December 2009.AnalysisThe researcher will write the interview up on the interview sheet and compare the three interviews.Results from InterviewsThe researcher chose to interview the three adults who were involved in her observations. The questions had a focus related to creativity and possibility thinking but were open ended so allowed for development. All adults were interviewed in a liquid environment where they felt at ease.The three adults all said they used similar strategies to encourage creativity namely standing back up and providing a safe environment, with multiple resources that encouraged creative thinking. Two out of three adults were unsure that possibility thinking was central to creative learning but thought strategies such as posing questions and giving children time and space does develop the notation of possibility thinking. All three adults thought the environment was important for creative learning and believed a safe, challenging experience helps to provide opportunities for imaginative experiences. All three adults felt some tasks were more suited to creative thinking such as dance, music and play however the class teacher thought subjects such as maths and science should provide opportunities for creative thinking.Discussion of Interviews with year one teacher, play leader and registered childminderAll three adults interviewed discussed different strategies they used to encourage children to be creative that included giving youngsters time and space and providing a variety of resources which allowed children to explore activities in imaginative ways. The children were allowed to pose questions and take risks. They felt the environment and the tasks offered were crucial to creative thinking however only the class teacher thought possibility thinking was central to creative learning. They all thought that creativity begins with curiosity and is developed if children are given the opportunity to explore and experiment with different resources and ideas.Conclusion of interviewsThe aim of unstructured interviews was to provide rich identical information whereby respondents could express their feelings about creativity and possibility thinking. All three interviewees gave the researcher detailed insight into the adults views about the research issue. All three interviews felt certain tasks such as art and music were more suitable to creative thinking. They gave a detailed account of how the learning environment and strategies such as giving children time and space provide opportunities for imagination and creative learning.ConclusionNACCCE (1999) argued creativity is imaginative actively fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value. According to Craft possibility thinking is at the heart of creativity in education. This idea has implications as the engagement of learners according to Jeffrey (2005) leads to engagement with problems.Fostering childrens possibility thinking can be seen as building their resilience and combine and referencing their capabilities as confident explorers, meaning makers and decision makers. (Craft 2005).Possibility thinking involves problem finding and solvin g. Creative teaching may foster learner creativity providing there are co-participative partnerships between teachers and learners, in which they explore issues, pose questions, identify problems and reflect upon their thinking and learning. The key factor being that the control has to be handed back to the learner (Craft and Jeffery 2003).In seeking to unravel the issues of what constitutes possibility thinking in the learning experiences of young children and how teachers, play leaders and childminders foster possibility thinking as an aspect of creativity, the researcher carried out observations and interviews. She used probing questions and encouraged the adults to engage in in-depth reflective practice.Following close observations in each context using the possibility thinking documentation framework and further interviews with the adults in charge, core areas of possibility thinking in childrens learning were identified. They included the three aspects of process i.e posing qu estions, play immersion and inversion. They also included the three aspects of process outcome i.e being imaginative, innovation and risk taking.The observations were written up in the light of the three-fold-structure. numerous of the youngsters were involved in risk taking and were immersed in an activity. On the outcomes there was little evidence of development and the question of taking intentional action was tortuous as many of the children were too young. In terms of process outcome the notation of innovation was also difficult as what might be conventionalism for one child in one particular environment may not be normal for another. The separation of process and outcome is not belatedly during the early years as young children often take risks to move their thinking forward but this may not be an outcome. The integration between creative teaching and learning also seemed to foster possibility thinking. If young children feel safe they gain confidence as with the children in all three observational settings.The three interviews highlighted the fact that they all tried to foster creativity in their youngsters by providing a stimulating learning environment which allowed the children to pose questions and explore a variety of outcomes in an imaginative way. The adults tried to stand back but felt some tasks were more suited to creative thinking than others.The aim of the research was to investigate whether possibility thinking is at the heart of creativity in young children. Researchers such as Professor Anna Craft believe it is so as does one out of three of the adults interviewed. Many researchers such as Craft, Jeffrey, Burnard and Chappel all feel creativity and imagination allow young children to learn and develop.If children are to be creative, adults need to give them freedom to develop. Cremin, Burnard and Craft (2006) found that in a twelve month study carried out in schools that teachers needed to stand back and give children time and space t o foster possibility thinking. The observations and interviews carried out by the researcher reinforced this.The final hypothesis was that the resources, environment and tasks affect the possibilities for creative thinking. The observations and interviews with adults confirmed this. Deciding whether the motivation of pupils ground on the creative setting was difficult to determine as she only carried out observations in three settings and only interviewed three adults, thus her findings were limited.Possibility thinking does appear to influence creativity but the sample was small and the decisions the researcher made were subjective and not based upon objective scientific testing.BibliographyBlaxter,L. (2001). How To Research. Second edition. England. Open University press.Browne,K. (2006). Introducing Sociology for AS level. Second edition. Cambridge. Polity Press.British Educational Research Association (BERA). Online. (http//www.bera.ac.uk/blog/2010/03/04/exploration-and-analysi s-on-creativity-and-innovation-in-initial-vocational-education-and-training/). (Accessed 10.12.2009)Britzman, D. (1986) Cultural myths in the making of a teacher biography and social structurein teacher education. 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International Journal of Thinking Skills and Creati