Post 1: In the beginning there was a cynic

I am not creative……..or so I thought. Last years visual communications assignment caused me a huge amount of stress. The criteria was “Create a piece of visual communication that conveys a sense of place” I had left it until last; after exams were finished. When it came around to starting the project all I could say was the following phrases:

“I can’t do art”

“The assignment is too vague, I don’t get it, I can’t do it”

“This is stupid, why can’t I just write an essay?”

I did not want to do this project; all I wanted to do was read the new history books I had brought on a recent trip to Berlin.

This is what inspired me for the project. I decided my ‘place’ would be East Germany. I am very interested in history, particularly 20^th century European history, and more specifically Soviet Russia. The Soviet control in East Germany after WW2 is still very clear to see in East Berlin and there are many museums and historical sites to visit concerned with this period of German history. This assignment transformed my attitude towards art and creativity and I really truly loved researching and creating my piece. It consumed me and it was all that I did for three entire days straight with absolutely no procrastination and I was very proud of the final result and even prouder when I found out that it achieved a mark of 83%.

  “East Germany”

(Powell 2013)

When this module started I had a new found appreciation for creativity and I was excited and intrigued to find out what we were going to be studying in the new creative approaches to education module. We began by asking ‘What is creativity?’ When you ask google to define this word it says: ‘the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness’ in class we brainstormed the term and came up with this:

Creativity can be categorised as being big C or little c. Big C creativity usually refers to the arts and the end results are masterpieces in paintings, film and music for example. Little c creativity is associated with everyday problem solving and approach to common tasks that people face regularly and is a sign of your brains ability to adapt when necessary. (American Psychological Association, 2003)

After the first lecture I decided to conduct my own creativity investigation. I asked what items I have at home that are creative (either big or little c.) I found the following:

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Prints that were brought in the Museum of Modern Art in New York; on the left is ‘Drowning Girl’ by Lichtenstein (1963) and on the right is ‘Girl Before a Mirror’ by Picasso (1932) These are an example of big C creativity; they are well known artists whose work is displayed in one the most famous art galleries in the world.

The following are framed photographs taken by my partner Ben on a holiday to New York and Venice. Ben is interested in photography and art and so he is mostly responsible for the prints and art books in our house. I would consider this to be an example of little c creativity utilising a big C medium. We simply wanted a way to view our favourite pictures from holiday so we displayed them in a similar way to an art gallery or museum.

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My favourite creative item at home, was a book called ‘Information is Beautiful’ by David Candless.

This book is a collection of ‘Info-graphics’ which attempt to display various types of data regarding subjects as diverse as global wealth, to popular culture and music to politics in some very interesting and beautiful ways. These are my favourite two:

(McCandless, 2012)

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/timelines/

(McCandless, 2012)
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/mountains-out-of-molehills/

Information is Beautiful is a wonderful example of little c creativity. Everyday human beings are bombarded with countless pieces of information about a huge variety of subjects and the author here has turned something that may be considered mundane into something interesting and as pleasing to look at as beautiful painting.

Post 2: Mantle of the Expert

Mantle of the expert is a drama based creative educational approach that can be used for almost any subject area within primary and secondary classrooms. It is a child centred approach which allows pupils freedom of exploration. Children take on the role of an experienced professional of some kind and have to fulfill tasks for an imaginary client. (Sayers, 2011) The examples in the Dore to Learning video included in this post show children taking on the role of Egyptologists who have been asked to find out about items that belong to a man who lives in the local community. The teacher then brings in further dilemmas as the role play becomes more developed and the children have to come to their own solutions.


The Discovering Voice video shows mantle of the expert being used in a classroom with older pupils and concerns a more complex subject area. This video shows in detail the stages involved in the successful use of this approach with the teacher providing a reflective narrative. In this video Jeffery Wilhelm says that during role play children never present themselves as being less intelligent, less powerful or less informed about a topic meaning that they are stretching their abilities in line with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development but in a natural and organic way. I feel that this video really shows how mantle can initiate high quality discussion between pupils allowing them to explore complicated concepts.


While using mantle it looks as though through taking on the role of an expert removes some insecurities that young people may feel when discussing a complex or difficult subject area and show more confidence in their debates and exploration of new ideas. When expressing ones opinions there is a risk that they will not be accepted, they may be ridiculed or they may be received as unintelligent; fears which are more justified within a classroom where children are often unreserved in expressing their opinion of each others views. When expressing thoughts and opinions under the guise of a character some of this fear is removed or reduced making the pupil feel less vulnerable leading to greater participation which in turn leads to a higher quality learning experience.

During the seminar we participated in our own mantle of the expert. In groups of four we took on the role of a bridge building company who were trying to secure a building contract from Swansea council. The group consisted of me, Emma, Rachel and Nadia. We began by assigning specific roles within our fictional company. These roles were assigned based on our existing skills and experience. Nadia is very artistic so she was the architect/designer, I work in a bank so, I was finance director, Emma likes to work practically and be hands on so she took on the role of structural engineer and Rachel was the big boss and became our Project Manager. We had to think carefully about our business; how and when we began, what our values and ethos were, previous projects we had undertaken:

Bridging the Gap

“Making Connections”

Bridging the gap is a seventh generation construction company that began life in 1858 building tram lines for Blaenavon Colliery. The company has a passion for local improvement and worked on the Cardiff Bay regeneration project in the late nineties, Merthyr Tydfil town centre and Cwmbran town centre. Bridging the gap has also committed a lot of time and resources to humanitarian projects. In 1958 we helped re build a bridge in Vancouver Canada which had collapsed and in 1974 also sent a team to Ontario to help rebuild another bridge that had collapsed. Just after hurricane Katrina in 2005 the company sent out a construction team to New Orleans to assist with general repair and building work.

Presenting our company to Swansea council seemed very natural and adopting a character and imagining a boardroom environment came easily. Emma was deadly serious throughout the role play and this attitude was transferred to everyone else who stayed true to role. Brainstorming in a lot of detail was essential for us to be able to answer the councils’ questions without hesitation and contradiction between group members, I feel this was a particular strong point for us and we were able to be specific in our answers.

The second part of Mantle of the expert consisted of us building a model bridge to present to the council as an example of the work we would undertake should we be awarded the building contract. This session was more relaxed and gave us an excuse to act like kids a bit by taking advantage of the art resources and letting our imaginations run wild; there was a lot of excitement at this point. As a group we were also able to act as committee members and ask questions to other groups about their proposal, allowing us to experience this approach from both perspectives.

I found mantle of the expert to be a very positive experience. I was very happy with the quality of work the group produced and the methods were really enjoyable. It was a fun, rich learning experience and I feel like I gained an understanding of its value within education.

Post 3: The Leonardo Effect

There is a long standing debate about whether the arts and the sciences are separate disciplines, with opposing methodologies and different aims. The arts are often perceived as being predominantly creative in nature while science is often seen as mechanical and methodical with little room for artistic expression. However many professionals who work in a scientific field argue that creativity is a major part of and is essential for scientific enquiry.

John Dewey: ‘Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of the imagination.’ (Naiman, 1999)               

This was a hot topic in a discussion during a lecture:

These words are specifically about science and the words that we decided were associated with creativity were mainly to do with specific artistic disciplines like music, drama and painting. Initially we didn’t see the relationship between these two but it didn’t take long to make the connection.

The Leonardo effect is a creative educational method which brings creativity into the sciences. It is very much child led and allows a huge amount of freedom to explore. It is described as a synchronised integration of science and art, which can transform the learning experience for pupils and teachers and motivate disengaged students. (The Leonardo Effect, 2011) 

The Leonardo Effect is a four stage method starting with discussion and leading to pupils asking questions about general topics; this directs the rest of the process. Next pupils use their questions to lead their research and are not confined by rigid subject boundaries, the pupils are free to explore and find answers through a variety of mediums utilising many learning styles. Once the research has been conducted pupils take what they have learnt and present it in a creative manner which reinforces the learning. Lastly the pupils reflect on the learning by communicating to other class members and teachers enabling other groups to benefit from the information discovered.

Two seminar sessions were spent on putting the Leonardo Effect into practice ourselves. The class was split into four groups and we were each given a basic element; earth, air, fire and water. This was the only teacher direction that was given. As a group we brainstormed lots of key words and questions about fire:

We narrowed our investigation to some key questions, Caren and I investigated the following:

What is needed for a fire?

What are the temperatures of different colours of flame?

We scoured the internet using mainly educational sites such as BBC bite size to gather our information.

We presented our findings to the rest of the seminar group using a diagram of the fire triangle which shows the elements necessary to start and maintain a fire and we used cue cards that had a colour written on one side and were flipped to show the chemical that burns that colour and the temperature of a flame of that colour.

The Leonardo Effect takes a unique approach to previously rigid subject and opens up boundaries between topics. It allows children to direct their learning which increases motivation and participation, especially in previously disengaged pupils. I do like the idea of the Leonardo effect due to the autonomy it allows pupils. However I feel that at a primary school level this method could lead to a certain degree of chaos and distraction. Young pupils choosing their own research questions and investigating using their chosen methods has the potential to lead to unproductive behaviours and children going completely off topic and not actually achieving any worthwhile research aims or having a meaningful learning experience. The process would need to be adapted depending on the age of the group to avoid negative behaviours such as aimlessly browsing the internet and research questions that have little educational value.

Post 4: Film in Education

The use of film in education is a very recent development. This medium for learning is being advocated more and more often and its benefits are being recognised:

“Film engages young people in learning, it stretches the most gifted and engages those that are hard to reach or that have become disengaged, it increases cultural and social awareness, whilst building transferable skills and knowledge in a digital media age.” (Film Agency Wales, 2006)

Film in education can be used in a very similar way to books and plays; where the content is examined and questions are asked and the pupil is expected to demonstrate their interpretation of the content.

As demonstrated in the following link a film clip of less than two minutes provides a resource which can initiate lengthy and detailed discussion. The Film Education website has clips from various films and provides comprehension style exercises to go with them. http://www.filmeducation.org/slumdogmillionaire/clip1.html

I have had first-hand experience of film being used in education. In my year ten English class we watched the 1967 film ‘In the Heat of the Night’ which deals with the racial tension between African American Virgil Tibbs and the police force and residents of a Mississippi town. In class the use of this film lead to historical investigation and speech writing based on pioneers of the US civil rights movement such as Martin Luther King. This was considerably more interesting and engaging than studying Shakespeare plays or decades old literature. It captured the imagination of the entire class and I remember vividly the work we completed being successful.

It is fairly safe to assume that almost every household in the UK contains a television making this medium familiar to almost every schoolchild. Books and other literature however can be an alien concept to some students. By incorporating film into lessons pupils aren’t facing such a new challenge. This valuable medium has been overlooked for a long time and its use was considered to be purely for time filling with no educational value.

This video is a two and a half minute trailer for 2011 film ‘The Help’

In that short space of time I was able to pick up on the following themes:

Coming of age

Racial disparity

Discrimination

Segregation

Deep South (Mississippi)

Religion

Retribution

Civil Rights

Class Divisions

Children

Family

Keeping up Appearances

Even a short video clip is filled with many themes and can initiate lengthy discussions and debates within the classroom.

To me using a familiar and accessible medium in the classroom makes sense. In addition resources for film education are in abundance; a simple film clip or movie trailer can be found for free through the internet. Film does not discriminate against those with low literacy levels and is a teaching medium that incorporates a variety of learning styles at the same time.

Post 5: Conclusion

The creative approaches studied in this module have been interesting and the benefits within education are clear to see. I have been opened up to many new ways of incorporating creativity into everyday lessons and almost any subject. Previously I would have categorised creativity as being a part of the arts but it’s now clear that it is useful in any subject area and can produce very positive results compared to traditional methods. As I hope to become a primary school teacher this module has proved incredibly valuable and I hope to make use of all of these methods as part of a modern and dynamic teaching environment where children can be engaged and inspired.

Post 6: References

References

American Psychological Association, 2003. apa.org. [Online]
Available at: http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov03/creativity.aspx
[Accessed 27 04 2014].

Bramwell, G. et al., 2011. Creative Teachers. Roeper Review, Volume 33, pp. 228-238.

Film Agency Wales, 2006. filmagencywales.com. [Online]
Available at: http://www.filmagencywales.com/education-strategy-full.php
[Accessed 22 April 2014].

In the Heat of the Night. 1967. [Film] Directed by Norman Jewison. USA: The Mirisch Corporation.

Lichtenstein, R., 1963. Drowning Girl. [Art] (MOMA).

McCandless, D., 2009. Information is Beautiful. 2nd ed. London: Harper Collins.

Naiman, L., 1999. creativityatwork.com. [Online]
Available at: http://www.creativityatwork.com/2012/01/04/quotations-creativity-in-science/
[Accessed 22 04 2014].

Picasso, P., 1932. Girl Before a Mirror. [Art] (MOMA).

Powell, C., 2013. East Germany. [Art] (Swansea Metropolitan University).

Sayers, R., 2011. The implications of introducing Heathcote's Mantle of the Expert approach as a Community of Practice and cross curricular learning tool in a primary School. English in Education, 45(1), pp. 20-35.

The Leonardo Effect, 2011. leonardoeffect.com. [Online]
Available at: http://www.leonardoeffect.com/
[Accessed 21 April 2014].