Abstract
This chapter examines the changes that take place in the learning culture of a school through the adoption and implementation of an arts-anchored curriculum, in an effort to infuse creativity into the education system. The first part of the chapter illustrates the role that creativity and adaptive expertise play in the current social and economic climate where meaning-making from multiple disciplines, working with novel situations, and life-wide and lifelong learning are valued. At the same time, the central role that creativity plays in shaping expertise, and the ways that they can be incorporated into the current education system are elucidated. The case study of a specialised school which strives to develop a system that caters to creatively inclined learners and budding artists is then featured. The way that the school’s leaders, teachers, and learners have deliberately centred their educational interactions through a curriculum that features multiple links between the academic and arts disciplines is then explained. Rather than casting the learning processes in the shadow, this section elaborates on how the school strives to place the learning process at the centre of the educational process. This chapter also points out the contextual, social, and cultural leverages that allow its learners to acquire flexible and adaptive understandings of subjects.The authors then argue that while creativity is necessary, it is not a sufficient condition for schools, and that there needs to be a deeper appreciation of the emergent and unstable nature of adaptivity to ensure that this culture of learning is sustainable.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Classes in the school are deliberately set up for students from all four art forms.
- 2.
Much of the curriculum used in mainstream secondary schools is created by the Curriculum Planning and Development Division of the Ministry of Education in Singapore.
References
Amabile, T. M. (1983). The social psychology of creativity: The componential conceptualisation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(2), 357–376.
Amabile, T. M. (1989). Growing up creative: Nurturing a lifetime of creativity. New York: Crown.
Barron, F. (1990). Creativity and psychological health: Origins of personal vitality and creative freedom. Buffalo, NY: Creative Education Foundation Press.
Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (2011). Teaching for creativity with disciplined improvisation. In R. K. Sawyer (Ed.), Structure and improvisation in creative teaching (pp. 94–109). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bohm, D., & Peat, P. D. (1989). Science, order and creativity. London: Routledge.
Borko, H., & Livingston, C. (1989). Cognition and improvisation: Differences in Mathematics instruction by expert and novice teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 26(4), 473–498. doi:10.3102/00028312026004473.
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). How experts differ from novices. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Bransford, J. D., & Schwartz, D. L. (1999). Rethinking transfer: A simple proposal with multiple implications. Review of Research in Education, 24, 61–100.
Bransford, J. D., Vye, N., Stevens, R., Kuhl, P., Schwartz, D., Bell, P., et al. (2006). Learning theories and education: Toward a decade of synergy. In P. Alexander & P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Brooks, J., & Normore, A. (2010). Educational leadership and globalization: Literacy for a glocal perspective. Educational Policy, 24(1), 52–82.
Canton, J. (2006). The extreme future: The top trends that will reshape the world in the next 20 years. New York: Plume.
Chi, H. T. M., Glaser, R., & Rees, E. (1982). Expertise in problem solving. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the psychology of human intelligence (Vol. 1, pp. 7–75). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Craft, A. (2005). Creativity in schools: Tensions and dilemmas. London: Routledge.
Crawford, V. M., & Brophy, S. (2006). Adaptive expertise: Theory, methods, findings and emerging issues. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Cremin, T., Burnard, P., & Craft, A. (2006). Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 12, 108–119. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2006.07.001.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1988). Society, culture, and person: A systems view of creativity. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), The nature of creativity (pp. 325–339). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999). Implications of a systems perspective for the study of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 313–335). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Davie, S. (2001, November 27). Education set for major change. The Straits Times, p. H7.
Efland, A. D. (2002). Art and cognition: Integrating the visual arts in the curriculum. New York: Teachers College Press.
Fiske, E. B. (Ed.). (1999). Champions of change: The impact of the arts on learning. Washington, DC: The Arts Education Partnership.
Florida, R. (2004). The rise of the creative class: And how it’s transforming work, leisure, community, and everyday life. New York: Basic Books.
Gadsden, V. L. (2008). The arts and education: Knowledge generation, pedagogy, and the discourse of learning. Review of Research in Education, 32(29), 29–61. doi:10.3102/0091732X07309691.
Garmston, R., & Wellman, B. (1999). The adaptive school: A sourcebook for developing collaborative groups. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.
Gopinathan, S. (2012). Fourth way in action? The evolution of Singapore education system. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 11, 65–70.
Gott, S., Hall, P., Pokorny, A., Dibble, E., & Glaser, R. (1992). A naturalist study of transfer: Adaptive expertise in technical domains. In D. Detterman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), Transfer on trial: Intelligence, cognition, and instruction (pp. 258–288). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination: Essays on education, the arts and social change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Greene, M. (2008). Education and the arts: The windows of imagination. LEARNing Landscapes, 2(1), 17–21.
Hargreaves, A., & Shirley, D. (2012). The global fourth way: The quest for educational excellence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1984). Two courses of expertise. In Research and clinical centre for child development annual report (pp. 27–36). Hokkaido, Japan: Hokkaido University.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In H. A. H. Stevenson & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan (pp. 262–272). New York: Freeman.
Hatano, G., & Oura, Y. (2003). Commentary: Reconceptualizing school learning using insight from expertise research. Educational Researcher, 32(8), 26–29.
Hung, D., Lim, K. Y., Chen, V. D.-T., & Koh, T. S. (2008). Leveraging online communities in fostering adaptive schools. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 3(4), 373–386. doi:10.1007/s11412-008-9051-7.
Jeffrey, B. (2006). Creative teaching and learning: Towards a common discourse and practice. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(3), 399–414. doi:10.1080/03057640600866015.
Kublin, K. S., Wetherby, A. M., Crais, E. R., & Prizant, B. M. (1989). Prelinguistic dynamic assessment: A transactional perspective. In A. M. Wetherby, S. F. Warren, & J. Reichle (Eds.), Transitions in prelinguistic communication (pp. 285–312). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.
Lea, M. R., & Nicoll, K. (2006). Distributed learning: Social and cultural approaches to practice. London: Routledge Falmer.
Loi, D., & Dillion, P. (2006). Adaptive educational environments as creative spaces. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36(3), 363–381.
Ministry of Information and the Arts. (2000). Renaissance city plan I: Culture and arts in Renaissance Singapore. Singapore: National Heritage Board.
Ministry of Information and the Arts. (2005). Renaissance city report II: City 2.0. Singapore: National Heritage Board.
Ministry of Information and the Arts. (2008). Renaissance city plan III: Heritage development plan. Singapore: National Heritage Board.
Ministry of Information Communications and the Arts, Singapore. (2004). Report of the committee on specialised arts school. Singapore: Author.
Nicholls, J. (1972). Creativity in the person who will never produce anything original and useful: The concept of creativity as a normally distributed trait. American Psychologist, 27, 517–527.
Nolan, V. (2004). Creativity: The antidote to the argument culture. In M. Fryer (Ed.), Creativity and cultural diversity (pp. 45–51). Leeds, UK: The Creativity Centre Educational Trust.
Parsons, M. (2004). Art and integrated curriculum. In E. W. Eisner & M. D. Day (Eds.), Handbook of research and policy in art education (pp. 775–794). Mahwah, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pennycook, A. (2005). Teaching with the flow: Fixity and fluidity in education. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 25(1), 29–43. doi:10.1080/02188790500032491.
Perkins, D. N. (1992). Smart schools: From training memories to educating minds. New York: The Free Press.
Perkins, D. N. (1993). The connected curriculum. Educational Leadership, 51(2), 90–91.
Perkins, D. N., & Salomon, G. (1992). The science and art of transfer. In A. L. Coata, J. Bellanca, & R. Forgarty (Eds.), If minds matter: A foreword to the future (Vol. 1, pp. 201–210). Palatine, IL: Skylight.
Piirto, J. (1999). Talented children and adults: their development and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Piirto, J. (2004). Understanding creativity. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.
Rhodes, M. (1961). An analysis of creativity. Phi Delta Kappan, 42, 305–310.
Runco, M. A. (1999). Tension, adaptability, and creativity. In S. W. Russ (Ed.), Affect, creative experience and psychological adjustment (pp. 185–194). Ann Arbor, MI: Brunner/Mazel.
Sawyer, R. K. (2004). Creative teaching: Collaborative discussion as disciplined improvisation. Educational Researcher, 33(2), 12–20.
Sawyer, R. K. (2006). Educating for innovation. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1, 41–48. doi:10.1016/j.tsc.2005.08.001.
Schwartz, D. L., Bransford, J. D., & Sears, D. (2005). Efficiency and innovation in transfer. In J. Mestre (Ed.), Transfer of learning: Research and perspectives (pp. 1–51). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Beyond IQ: A triarchic thoery of human intelligence. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tishman, S., & Grotzer, T. (2010). Art works for schools. Project zero. Retrieved June 30, 2012, from http://pzweb.harvard.edu/research/ArtWks.htm
Woods, D. D., Johannesen, L. J., Cook, R. I., & Sarter, N. B. (1994). Behind human error: Cognitive systems, computers, and hindsight. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH: CSE-RAIC.
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed., Vol. 5). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tan, L.S., Ponnusamy, L.D. (2014). Adaptivity and Creativity in the Arts: The Nexus and Affordances. In: Hung, D., Lim, K., Lee, SS. (eds) Adaptivity as a Transformative Disposition. Education Innovation Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-17-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-17-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-4560-16-0
Online ISBN: 978-981-4560-17-7
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)