Jason T. Hilton, PhD Slippery Rock University AMLE Conference 2015

 Divergent thinking  Divergent thinking at the middle level  Creation of divergent thinking activities  Assessment of divergent thinking

 Create a list of uses for a pool noodle

 J.P. Guilford (1950) – act of seeking multiple solutions to a problem without one specific answer, or thinking from multiple perspectives  Vincent, Decker & Mumford (2002) – “the ability to generate multiple alternative problem solutions, [representing] a key capacity underlying creative thought.”

“Curriculum is challenging, exploratory, integrative, and relevant”

Convergent Learning Activities Divergent Learning Activities

 What is half of eight? 8

 Creativity is hard to capture and measure  Divergent thinking is foundational to creativity and more easily measured

 Intelligence: overall mental capacity  Expertise: accumulated knowledge and skills

Greater capacity for divergent thinking is predictive of: Higher judgments of creativity and openness Increases in writing and artistic achievement

 What are the three best adjectives you could use to describe Donald Trump?

 Fluency – ability to put forth many ideas  Flexibility – attempts to devise new strategies where others fail  Originality – clever and/or unexpected ideas

One teacher Increase content- specific divergent thinking Team of teachers Increase overall creativity

Cause – structural changes in schooling  Differentiation by subject  Higher use of convergent teaching strategies  Increases in peer pressure to conform Effect – “fourth grade slump”  Large declines in divergent thinking that do not begin to recover until later adolescence

Divergent thinking activities are: - Developmentally responsive - Challenging - Empowering - Equitable

 What are the potential results of being able to specifically edit genetic code in living cells?

Most Important!! Teacher’s skill in selecting an appropriate task that allows students to practice divergent thinking skills while being able to generalize to other learning assignments within the same discipline.

Four common divergent thinking tasks  Given a writing or a visual, generate questions  Given a common item, create a list of flaws  Given a common item, create a list of uses  Given an object, transform it into another

Sample 1 Sample 2

 List ways in which this could be true?

Four steps to create a divergent thinking activity 1. Identify a discipline-specific case that can have a variety of answers 2. Ensure that students have basic foundational knowledge 3. Select an appropriate short period of time (usually one or two minutes) 4. Select an appropriate assessment strategy

Must measure one or more of the three parts of divergent thinking  Fluency – Count the number of ideas  Flexibility – Count the number of new strategies devised where others fail  Originality – Count the number of ideas that stand out as different from a standard set of responses

Table 1. Sample divergent thinking tasks TaskAssessment Fluency English - List possible motivations a character might have for beginning a challenging journey – one minute Total number of valid motivations listed Science - List possible impacts of a 3” rise in sea water – two minutes Total number of realistic impacts listed Flexibility Social Studies - Determine ways in which the introduction of the wheel could be useful to civilization – two minutes Instances of wheel use that address problems or enhance people’s lives Science - Determine ways to gather and/or create essential resources to sustain human life if stranded on a deserted island – five minutes Solutions for the physiological needs: air, water, food, warmth, shelter, clothing, and sleep. Originality English - Create as many metaphors or similes as possible for the relationship between children and adults – five minutes Number of meaningful answers given that only one other person provides. Social Studies - Create a list of issues a presidential candidate could campaign on – two minutes Total number of issues listed that only two other persons provide.

 Hard to assess all three for each activity – teachers may wish to alternate  For more engaged and prolonged activities, use a “Top 2” approach Students generate a wide range of answers to a given task, then they pick what they believe are the two best examples of their work – submit for grading

Alternating Approach Slightly more reliable “Top 2” Approach Much stronger validity

 Either working alone or with a partner you are going to create a divergent thinking task  The task should be specific to one or two content areas  Once you determine what students will do, determine how you will grade this  Be prepared to share

 Divergent thinking tasks represent an opportunity to counteract decreases in creativity in the middle level  In a world that is increasingly connected, both between people and to accumulated knowledge, creativity will lead to empowerment