Creative Responses to Place Emma Morley University of Winchester Geography: The Big Picture University of Derby 8-10 April 2010

Theres an awful lot of nonsense talked about creativity, so we have to untangle it and get the nots out of it before we can start teaching it…. de%20for%20the%20Advanced%20Learner.pdf Creativity is not grand…. Creativity is not particularly artistic…… Creativity is not just one thing…….

Creativity is……. An advanced form of learning that involves a finely tuned orchestra of mental attitudes and capabilities playing together in complicated rhythms. Creativity is learning at its deepest and most powerful and it builds on all the mastery of basic skills and habits of more familiar kinds of learning. It follows that creativity cannot be trained in any simple mechanistic sense of the word. It can be cultivated, coached even but it cant be engineered let alone taught (Guy Claxton, 2003)

Session Aims To reflect critically on the term creativity and the value of a cross – curricular approach to learning To undertake a range of practical tasks to develop a range of geographical teaching and learning strategies To promote an understanding of an emotional / creative response to place To develop an understanding of the uniqueness of place at a variety of scales and a variety of times

5 The New Primary Curriculum Subjects will be complemented by worthwhile and challenging cross-curricular studies that provide ample opportunities for children to use and apply their subject knowledge and skills to deepen understanding. (DCSF Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum Executive Summary & Recommendations April 2009 Paragraph 11 )

A note of caution… The very nature of creativity in education remains ambiguous. To what extent creativity in primary education is conceived of as involving creative partnerships, as opposed simply to valuing and nourishing childrens ideas in multiple contexts, is not clear. To what extent collective or collaborative creativity is valued as against individualised models, is also unclear; similarly there are still slippages in language between creative teaching, teaching for creativity and creative learning. ( Cambridge Primary Review, 2010)

Take one Picture 'Take One Picture' is the National Gallery's countrywide scheme for primary schools. Each year the Gallery focuses on one painting from the collection to inspire cross-curricular work in primary classrooms

Geographical Detectives - Read the story of the landscape - Read the landscape storyboard - Unravel the mystery of places - R.E.A.D. - Real life skills-skills for everyday (Jeff Stanfield-County Geography Inspector-Hampshire, Freelance Geography Consultant)

Activity 1 WEAVING WORDS

Activity 2 ON OUR DOORSTEP

ABOVE AND BELOW Activity 3 What might the rest of the street look like- now, in the past, in the future…why? Who might be in the picture…why? What is the street like from where the photo was taken? What would you see if you were standing in the photo? How would you feel if you were in the photo?

12 Suggested Reading Cowley, S. Letting the Buggers be Creative. London: Continuum Craft, A. (2005) Creativity in Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas. Abingdon: Routledge Fisher, R. (2004) Unlocking Creativity: Teaching Across the Curriculum. London: David Fulton Jones, R. and Wyse D. (2004) Creativity in the Primary Curriculum: Theory and Practice. London: David Fulton Publishers. Kelly, P. (2005) Thinking Skills in the Primary Classroom. London: Paul Chapman QCA (2005a) Creativity: Find It! Promote It! London: QCA / DfEE QCA (2005b) Wilson, A. (Ed.) (2005) Creativity in Primary Education. Exeter: Learning Matters