Creative Learning Environments

Creative Learning Environments

Every learning environment contains physical, social, emotional, and virtual elements that support creative thinking and arts-based learning. Four main elements are climate, relationships, space, and time (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999; DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry, 2010; Davies et al., 2013; Kuh, 2014; Starko, 2014). Each of these is discussed next.

Climate

Climate is the emotional and academic feeling one gets from the environment and dictates to what extent children can be productive, engaged thinkers and learners. A classroom climate that promotes children’s creativity and the arts has the following:

· Teachers who care about children’s creative expression, intentionally plan active learning experiences that engage children in interesting projects, have high expectations for all students’ success, support children’s efforts in both the art forms and the subject areas, and create aesthetically stimulating classrooms.

· Children who feel safe enough to take risks, feel valued and appreciated, can invent, explore and initiate ideas, become engaged in learning, feel supported by the people in the environment, and have choices about work to be done. Asking questions, finding and solving problems are enthusiastically welcomed.

· Materials that capture and sustain children’s interest and imagination, are stored attractively and orderly, and spark ideas and active learning.

· Spaces that are aesthetically pleasing and evoke a warm, homey quality such as carpeted surfaces; soft, interesting colors and textures; multiple sources of light, and comfortable furniture in a safe, flexible, and orderly environment.

Classroom climate is greatly influenced by children’s relationships and by an environment’s aesthetic appeal (DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry, 2010; Gandini, Hill, Cadwell, & Schwall, 2005; Isbell & Raines, 2012; Kuh, 2014; New & Kantor, 2013). For example, Reggio schools explicitly create environments to build positive relationships and also appeal to children’s aesthetic senses. A visitor to such a school might see environments full of light, color, plants, and mirrors selected for their aesthetic characteristics. Great care is taken to create a beautiful environment—detail is given even to such seemingly inconsequential considerations as how bathrooms are decorated, how materials are stored, and how lunches and snacks are presented. Children are supported by the other children, the teachers, and the families for their unique ideas and abilities. The Reggio environment is caring, warm, and beautiful and is taken as seriously as is instruction.

Relationships

Guideline 1 of developmentally appropriate practice explains the importance of a caring classroom (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Such an environment values children’s relationships with each other, with teachers, and within their families. Relationships affect all aspects of children’s development and learning and school success. Environments with high-quality relationships affirm diversity, have an “ethic of care,” and connect with children’s families.

Creative Learning Environments

· Affirm diversity: High-quality relationships help children feel valued so they can be productive learners. They affirm the diversity of each child, provide equal access to learning opportunities, and educate children for a diverse world. The children live values of cooperation, equality, tolerance, and shared learning (Bullard, 2014; Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; Williams & Cooney, 2006).

· Have an ethic of care: Caring is at the heart of healthy relationships. You can show care by learning about children’s interests and offering enough support so children can become responsible learners. The ethic of care is aptly discussed by Nel Noddings (1995), who states that caring teachers are an essential part of responsible education.

· Connect with children’s families: It is well accepted that strong families make strong environments for learning. Involving families shows that you value their children and want to build respectful, two-way communication about their children’s learning (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009; National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2005). Sending home positive notes, emails, or hands-on learning activities to be used at home lets families know that you care about their child’s progress.

Positive relationships among all the people in the learning environment directly affect how children learn to think, develop, create, and grow.

Space

Space sends a message to children about creative thinking. Space should be organized, have a purpose, respect children, enhance their learning and creative thinking, and be aesthetically pleasing. At a minimum, you will need space that accommodates different numbers of children as well as some open space where children can engage in dramatic retellings, share their learning through movement, and enjoy each other’s creative work. Most teachers use classroom space quite inventively (Clayton, 2001; Crawford, 2004; DeViney, Duncan, Harris, Rody, & Rosenberry, 2010; Starko, 2014).

Consider the following types of spaces you will need in your environment.

· Spaces for a range of group sizes. Children need spaces to work alone and in small and large groups. Teachers can use flexible materials and furnishings, such as easels, movable cabinets, storage shelves, and tables to define areas and maximize the potential of any room regardless of its size or shape. If, for example, children are in a school building that is undergoing renovations and want to reconstruct what they are seeing with blocks or other large materials, flexible furnishings allow for spaces to be increased and decreased in response to the children’s current project needs and interests.

· Spaces for quiet and noisy activities. Well-balanced classroom space separates quiet and noisy activity and creates safe traffic patterns. It also provides small spaces necessary for young children to create imaginative play worlds in which they can engage for long periods of time. These arrangements give both children and teachers more control and choice over their creative work and their play.

· Spaces for privacy. Some children need a periodic rest from the activity of the classroom in a place to restore energy or to think quietly before resuming classroom work. Certain activities, such as listening to a story tape, may be enjoyed more fully in a secluded place. It is important to have a special, comfortable place with pillows, soft animals and furnishings, and soft lighting where children can be alone. If classrooms lack such places, children often create their own, such as the first graders who found that the space underneath their teacher’s seldom used desk was a favorite place to read. Figure 9.1 lists ways of creating small spaces to increase the quality of children’s play and creative thought.

Figure 9.1 Suggestions for Creating Small Spaces

Spaces for sharing work. These spaces may be physical, such as bulletin boards or display cases, or virtual such as wikis or blogs where children can share their learning. Sharing work helps children stay engaged and communicate their learning—an important 21st-century skill.

Children often need time alone before resuming classroom work.

· Spaces that accommodate children with special needs. Adapting space for children with special needs helps them feel part of the classroom community. A child in a wheelchair, for example, needs additional space to maneuver or sit at a table. Children who are impulsive often need two distinct spaces—one space to work alone and one space to be in a group. Children who are ELLs need spaces where they can collaborate with peers in English so they are not always working alone. How you arrange and use space impacts how you will use your time to nurture children’s creative work.

Creative Learning Environments

Time

Time conveys the importance of an activity or experience. More than 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin referred to time as “the stuff of life.” The same could be said about time and teaching, for many teachers think there never is enough time to cover the material.

There is no doubt that the creative process takes time. Children need enough time to explore and examine many ideas before completing them. Time influences three aspects of creative thinking: self-expression and self-regulation, attention span, and complex thinking.

· Time influences children’s self-expression and self-regulation. When children have enough time during the school day to think creatively, they become more self-directed learners. Long blocks of time build children’s ability to persist, concentrate, and stay motivated with an experience. Teachers who are sensitive to time factors must decide when to extend or stop an activity or when to capitalize on a “teachable moment.” Classroom environments need ample time to foster children’s imaginative spirit and original thinking.

· Time affects children’s attention span. Many teachers erroneously believe that because children have short attention spans, activities must be changed constantly. When children are engaged in meaningful learning, they can concentrate for comparatively long periods of time. In the schools of Reggio Emilia, for example, very young children remain with a topic for as long as they show an interest in it. Often these topics last for several months (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998; New & Kantor, 2013). In elementary schools, children remain with highly interactive and engaging projects and investigations for long periods of time.

· Time affects the complexity of children’s thinking. With ample time, children can use the kinds of complex thinking processes used by inventors—curiosity, persistence, imagination, communication, and problem-solving. Higher levels of play, such as sociodramatic play, require considerable amounts of time to plan and carry out an activity that is particularly engaging and meaningful to the child (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998; Garreau & Kennedy, 1991). Long-time blocks increase children’s ability to move from exploration to more complex investigative play with materials, people, and events. To illustrate, one primary-grade teacher helped her children observe and record changes of plant growth over time. The children classified those data by similarities and differences in types of plants, answered questions using scientific processes, and concluded their study with cooking, dramatizing, and illustrating the plant growth cycle. In this example, long blocks of time investigating a process (change in plant growth) helped the children deepen their conceptual understanding. These influences on the learning environment—climate, relationships, space, and time—are critical for children’s creative processes. Classrooms that value children’s exploration and inquiry within safe and secure settings support children’s sense of wonder and their changing needs, interests, and abilities. Figure 9.2 contains a checklist for identifying key elements that affect creative learning environments. What questions do you have about implementing these environmental factors?

ORDER NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER!!! Creative Learning Environments

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.