quick links -again

From Marginal Revolution:

Nobody would argue that Torrance’s tasks, which have become the gold standard in creativity assessment, measure creativity perfectly. What’s shocking is how incredibly well Torrance’s creativity index predicted those kids’ creative accomplishments as adults. Those who came up with more good ideas on Torrance’s tasks grew up to be entrepreneurs, inventors, college presidents, authors, doctors, diplomats, and software developers. The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was more than three times stronger for childhood creativity than childhood IQ.

From Kottke: How to improve creativity:

A two part (one, two) series on using psychological techniques to improve your creativity.

Interviews with 22 Nobel Laureates in physiology, chemistry, medicine and physics as well as Pulitzer Prize winning writers and other artists has found a surprising similarity in their creative processes (Rothenberg, 1996).

The opposite of teaching creativity

Visit Chris in South Korea and check out the 'Robot Academy" photo.

being creative means actually making things

You can have all the creative ideas you want but if you don't follow through on them, you aren't creative.

"Many people have great dreams, only a few wake up and realize them."

From Why Intelligent People Fail:

Lack of motivation. A talent is irrelevant if a person is not motivated to use it. Motivation may be external (for example, social approval) or internal (satisfaction from a job well-done, for instance). External sources tend to be transient, while internal sources tend to produce more consistent performance.

...

There are 19 more reasons at the site.

Caption contests and ESL

Here's a chance to combine two of my interests. I want to teach creativity and improve my own and I do teach ESL.

Caption contests, where one looks at a picture and adds the caption sounds like win/win to me.

Here are a few I found online, chosen somewhat randomly, but with some thought to my Korean students.

The New Yorker

The Boston Globe

Korea Beat - this is to one specific (and completed) contest, but he seems to have links to others. I'm not sure if he posts this type of contest on a regular basis.

The Korean Tourism Organization has essay and photo contests as well.

technique and ability

Without being knowledgeable about art, I can still say that Picasso had creativity coming out his ears. What I like about this drawing is how simple it is. (Image from Wikipedia)

What I take away form this drawing (in addition to my enjoyment of Don Quixote) is that I might be able to draw this myself. My own ability to draw is quite low but I can still dream to create.

Sculpting with clay

My son asked for and received some 'Light Clay' for his birthday. It works like the play-dough I grew up with, but, as advertised, it is very light and easy to manipulate. The little guy made some blobs and asked me to make him something. I'm kind of proud of my dragon.

Creativity is described as 'production, not reproduction". Still, reproducing things is a way to gain a little technical ability and you finish with a pleasant end product, so it can't be all bad... And, I need a lot of improvement in my technical ability!

video about Dan Pink's Drive

From Moving at the speed of creativity. Describing and displaying creativity: