Teaching Creative Thinking: Developing learners who generate ideas and can think critically

by Bill Lucas

Teaching Creative Thinking is action-oriented and research-led and is packed with examples and case studies of successful practice, and pitfalls to avoid. Teaching Creative Thinking explores the ways in which teachers can help learners to cultivate the dispositions which evidence suggests are going to be valuable to them both at school and in later life. Creative thinking is original, purposeful and valuable. In many ways, creative thinking is a social activity and it usually takes place in response to an issue or problem facing an individual or group. Successful students value knowledge and skills at the same time as understanding the importance of developing their capabilities as learners in every lesson they experience. Teaching Creative Thinking is action-oriented and research-led and is packed with examples and case studies of successful practice, and pitfalls to avoid.

Genres: Teaching

216 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2017

About the author

Bill Lucas is Professor of Learning and Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL). He founded CRL in 2008, together with Prof. Guy Claxton.

In 2017 Bill was appointed by the OECD as co-chair of the strategic advisory group for the 2021 PISA test of Creative Thinking which will draw on the work of the CRL. Bill is an international adviser to the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority in Australia, to Vinnvard in Sweden and to the OECD/CERI research into critical and creative thinking in France. Bill is Director of Learning for the Fellowship Programme of THIS, the new Healthcare Studies Institute at the University of Cambridge.

Bill is known internationally as a speaker on the subjects of learning, change, creativity, healthcare improvement and leadership. He travels extensively to present keynotes, most recently in Sydney, Philadelphia, Helskinki, Qatar, Stockholm, Melbourne, Auckland, Belfast and Dubai. He is a prolific, award-winning writer, and has authored and co-authored over forty books and chapters and many peer-reviewed papers.

With Guy Claxton he is the creator of one of the biggest teacher researcher groups in the world, the Expansive Education Network.

Reviews

[Kate Schwarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The school at which I'm teaching next year required all faculty to read this book over the summer, and it's a good one. Basically, it is an argument to teach dispositions as well as skills and knowledge. The author uses examples from Australia and the UK, very few from the U.S., of schools who are doing this well on a bigger scale. It is nicely broken up roughly 50-50 in theory and practice advice, ideas, and guidance about how to implement the theory in various ways. Very much worth reading!

[Thanos Tsolakis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, very helpful for teachers, parents, and any person that wants to find a creative way to teach. It gives a round understanding of the skills required to have as an educator and the different ways students can absorb information.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's surprising to see a book on teaching creativity to take something of a reductionist view of creativity, defining creativity relative to a set of five capabilities. The implication being that if you have these five capabilities then "you to will be creative". It's a bit like "the habits of highly effective people". Having these habits is no guarantee that you'll be creative (or "highly effective").

The book also ignores the inherently contextual nature of creativity: what might be creative in one context (domain, physical situation, social situation, time etc.) might not be seen as creative in another. A more practical definition of creativity might be:

“Creativity is the interaction among aptitude, process, and environment by which an individual or group produces a perceptible product that is both novel and useful as defined within a social context”*

The book also seems to engage with a lot of the psych literature around pedagogy ("growth mindset"), but ignore much of research into actual creativity.

* Plucker, J.A., Beghetto, R.A., and Dow, G. (2004). Why isn’t creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potential, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologists, 39, 83-96.