Great Question Asked

Reflection:

This video raises a great question. How do children remain an artist once they grow up? How does this happen if children are being educated out of their creative capacities. There are environments that can enhance creativity while there are environments that can also weaken it as well. Being put in an environment to create art is a practice that will enhance creativity. It enhances creativity because it not only connects us to ideas and it also transforms hearts.

I believe art can connect us to other ideas. I can personally remember taking an art class. I was one who always felt that I could not draw at all. But after taking this particular art class, I realized that I can draw, I just need guidance and time and practice. My teacher taught me simple techniques that I can do to make a painting look vivid as opposed to plain and dull. After teaching these techniques, I was given a project to do a painting on my own! I have to admit, I was nervous. However, the painting came out so beautifully. I couldn’t believe my own self! Not only was this painting on my wall for years, it led to the connection of other great ideas!

Bibliography:  Raising Creativity (part 1/5): Rationale ." You Tube. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. <http://youtu.be/GxYUBM0efso>.

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See Difficulties as Opportunities

Reflection: 

A great professor by the name of Carol Yeager once asked, “do you see difficulties as a problem or as a challenge?” My answer is, I used to see difficulties as a problem but now I seem them as an opportunity. According to Roya R. Rad, who wrote an article entitled “10 Characteristics of Good Problem Solvers”, good problem solvers “go beyond their own conditioning”. My conditioning was to automatically see difficulties as a problem. I was prone to ask myself “why did this happen to me?” or say to myself, “this isn’t fair”. However, this way of thinking did not help me at all. It left in a place of being unproductive. More and more as life goes on I realized that difficulties occur all the time to everyone, not just me. I also realized that some people are better able to handle difficulties more than others. I thought to my self, “why is that?” Well, there is saying that says “if you ask, you shall receive”. I surely did receive the answer from listening to many great people, one of them being a motivational speaker by the name of  Jim Rohn. He once said “you cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you change yourself”. This statement opened me up to realizing that I can change how I react towards difficulties. I can look at them as opportunities to grow. Instead of saying “why me”?, I can say “what can I do about this?” Too many times difficulties stop great things from happening. For instance, difficulties can lead to a friendship to being sour, especially if viewing it as a problem, that you may not want to deal with.  However, if one looks at this difficulty as an opportunity, most likely they will think of the best approach to it. This can result in a friendship being stronger as opposed to it ending. 

Bibliography:

MA, PsyD, Roya. "10 Characteristics of Good Problem Solvers." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Nov. 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roya-r-rad-ma-psyd/problem-solving_b_4302935.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false>.

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Students and Creativity

There are many reasons why students are not as creative. And yet there are many actions that can be taken to help them to be.

Here are some reasons why students are not as creative as they used to be:
- The No Child Left Behind program prohibits students from being creative because it leads them to focus on test scores as a oppose to thinking outside the box and being creative. Focusing on getting a better test score doesn't necessarily mean you are creative, it just means you have been studying hard for a test.

- Students believe that they will be successful in school if they can only have similar answers to teachers. This doesn't help a student to create, because this concept doesn't expand their mind.


Here are something's that can be done to change this:

-Encouraging kids to "pretend" helps them to be more creative.

-If teachers anticipate unexpected answers from students, it will provoke students to be more creative.

To add to this article, there are many things that can help a students be more creative such as creating plays and role playing and  taking classes classes that are not offered in many schools such as money management, knitting, crafting, painting and etc.

Bibliography:

"Are Today's Youth Less Creative & Imaginative?." msnbc.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44121819/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/are-todays-youth-less-creative-imaginative/?fb_ref=.TlaScMsLuZ9.like&fb_source=home_


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Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases have an affect within our creativity whether we know it or not. After viewing a list of different cognitive biases, I was able to pinpoint which ones I have experienced in the past. In this blog I would like to share my experience as well as what I can do to avoid experiencing these cognitive biases in the future. The five biases I have experienced are the hindsight bias, the information bias, the status quo bias, the verbatim effect, and the Zeigarnik effect.

The hindsight bias is when a person is predictable about present experiences. For instance, I work in an office setting. My co-worker starts hers shift at ( am but every morning I predict that she will be at work a little after 10am. I predict this because everyday for the past 4 months, she has come in at that time. I could avoid this cognitive bias by thinking she will come in a little after 10 am. I can decide to no longer have a prediction and to change my perspective.

The information bias is when a person becomes fond of getting information even though they may not be affected by it. Sometimes I find myself yearning to know more information even though it may not help me in what I need to do. For instance, I once found myself looking up information in regards to going to school for engineering. I don’t want to become an engineer, but was seeking to simple find the information on it. I can avoid this by not being so curious of information that won’t help me.

The status quo bias has to do with one wanting things to stay the same. I have experienced this many times. For instance, there is a Thai restaurant that I love to go to. However, every time I go, I order the same meal because I know that it will taste good every time. Instead of having things remain relatively the same, I can choose a different dish from the menu next time and hopefully it will taste just as good or even better.

The verbatim effect is when someone remembers the “gist of what another person said as opposed to what they exactly said. I have done this many times to people. Because I am a straightforward person, I like to get to the point in conversation. This has led me to listen for “the point” during conversations rather than listen to what is being said verbatim.  To change this, I can listen to people by hearing exactly what they are saying and not rush them mentally to get the “gist” of what is being said.

The Zeigarnik effect is when a person focuses more on uncompleted tasks, rather than the completed ones. I tend to do this often, especially when it comes to school work. I would constantly remember what needs to be done and give all my attention towards that. This can be frustrating and overwhelming at times. However, can I can do going forward, I can embrace and appreciate the work that I have done and then look at the next step of what need to be completed. 

What cognitive biases have you experienced?

Bibliography: List of cognitive biases. (2013, October 31). Wikipedia. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

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Take the Risk

Reflection: After reading this article, two main things that stood out to me is to take risks and to have faith. Even though many other countries may be more advanced than the United States, what they lack is the ability to take risks. Steve Jobs was an incredible innovator because he was able to take risks and have faith. Jobs stated “sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith”. He was fired from Apple which was a hard hit. However, when he was rehired, he was able to accomplish a lot more. This article certainly has me thinking about what else can be created if we all take more risks and have more faith. I believe the traditional mindset of “playing it safe” has to be first erased to move into the direction of creating, innovating, and taking risks.

Bibliography: LOHR, STEVE. "Reaping the Rewards 0f Risk-Taking." N.p., Aug. 2011. Web.

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Three Kinds of Creativity (Week 7)

Blog #1

Reflection: Creativity is a subject that is constantly being developed. It amazes me that people were able to create more with less compared to the creativity progress now during the 21^st century. Today we have more information and materials available to us and yet there is “only a small incremental change over past practices, rather then large leaps”, as stated in the article. For example, having access to encyclopedia and than having access to the internet through the use of computers was a large leap. Today, the incremental changes consist of the shift from having a cord connected to a mouse of a computer to having a cordless mouse. Though there has been small changes made, it still does not take away from how important these changes have been.

On another note, this article taught me that there are three different kinds of creativity, which are technology, economic, and cultural and artistic creativity.

 I particularly am fond of cultural and artistic creativity the most. Cultural and artistic creativity is about coming up with a new way of thinking about anything including pictures, designs, and much more. To me this can also include quotes since they help you see life from a different perspective. For instance, the following quotes I took note of a while back made me think of things in a new way:

“The value you put on people is completely related to the value you see in your self.”

“Where there is uniqueness there is no competition.”

“If your presence doesn’t make an impact, your absence won’t make a difference.”

Bibliography: Creativity – the economy's key ingredient. (2013, October 25). artsHub Australia. Retrieved October 23, 2013, from http://www.artshub.com.au/news-article/opinions/arts/creativity-the-economys-key-ingredient-186030

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What Do Creative People Look Like? (Week 6)

When I read the title, “What Do Creative People Look Like?” , my thought was “yea, what do creative people look like?”  I saw several faces but the one that intrigued me the most was Alisa Weilerstein because, we is a women in her 20’s and she lives in New York.  The most creative thing from the video to me was the fact that her first cello was made out of a cereal box.  This shows me that imagination can bring you anywhere. This also shows me that creativity can definitely be taught. Though Alisa comes from a family that has a background of arts, she learned, studied and practiced how to play the cello for many years.

Bibliography:

"Alisa Weilerstein — MacArthur Foundation." MacArthur Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. http://www.macfound.org/fellows/21/.

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