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Contemporary Perspectives on Research in Creativity in Early Childhood Education

Edited by:
Olivia Saracho, University of Maryland

A volume in the series: Contemporary Perspectives in Early Childhood Education. Editor(s): Olivia Saracho, University of Maryland.

Published 2012

Recently, a new understanding of creative thought and creative performance has surfaced. It has also attracted the attention of early childhood professional organizations and researchers. Professional organizations have included it in their publications and conferences. While current creativity researchers have initiated a far more sophisticated understanding of young children’s creative thinking, ways to assess creativity, strategies to promote creativity, and research methodologies.

The purpose of this volume is to present a wide range of different theories and areas in the study of creativity to help researchers and theorists work toward the development of different perspectives on creativity with young children. It focuses on critical analyses and reviews of the literature on topics related to creativity research, development, theories, and practices. It will serve as a reference for early childhood education researchers, scholars, academics, general educators, teacher educators, teachers, graduate students, and scientists to stimulate further “dialogue” on ways to enhance creativity. The chapters are of high quality and provide scholarly analyses of research studies that capture the full range of approaches to the study of creativity --- behavioral, clinical, cognitive, cross-cultural, developmental, educational, genetic, organizational, psychoanalytic, psychometric, and social. Interdisciplinary research is also included, as is research within specific domains such as art and science, as well as on critical issues (e.g., aesthetics, genius, imagery, imagination, insight, intuition, metaphor, play, problem finding and solving). Thus, it offers critical analyses on reviews of research in a form that are useful to early childhood researchers, scholars, educators, and graduate students. It also places the current research in its historical context. The volume is also of interest to the general readers who are interested in the young children’s creativity. The chapters are authored by established scholars in the field of young children’s creativity.

CONTENTS
PART I: INTRODUCTION. Young Children’s Creativity in Different Contexts, Olivia N. Saracho. PART II: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CREATIVITY. The Theory of Personal Creativity and Implications for the Fulfillment of Children’s Potentials, Mark A. Runco and Nur Cayirdag. Domain Specificity of Creativity: Implications for Early Childhood Education, John Baer. Vygotsky’s Theory of Creativity: Figurative Thinking Allied With Literal Thinking, Larry Smolucha and Francine Smolucha. PART III: CHILDREN’S CREATIVE PROCESSES. Reconceptualizing Creative Thought Processes in Young Children: An Integrative Review of the Research, Mary Renck Jalongo and Rae Ann Hirsh. The Creative Process in Early Childhood Education, Olivia N. Saracho. The Creativity DisEase, Felicity McArdle and Susan Grieshaber. PART IV: CHILDREN’S ARTISTIC AND CREATIVE EXPERIENCES. Acknowledging the Role of Motor Domain in Creativity in Early Childhood Education, Vasilis Grammatikopoulos, Athanasios Gregoriadis, and Evridiki Zachopoulou. Movement, Embodiment, and Creativity: Perspectives on the Value of Dance in Early Childhood Education, Eeva Anttila and Adrienne Sansom. Reconsidering the Educative Potential of the Arts in Early Schooling, Jolyn Blank. Significant Moments: The Development of Private Speech and Drawing as it Relates to Creative Activity in Early Childhood, Julia M. Matuga. PART V: PERSPECTIVES ON PLAY AND CREATIVITY. Cultivating Creativity in Early Childhood Education: A 4 C Perspective, Ronald A. Beghetto, James C. Kaufman, C. Boyd Hegarty, Heather L. Hammond, and Amanda Wilcox-Herzog. Play, Creativity, and Social-Emotional Development: Weaving the Threads of Influence, Cheryl Wright and Marissa L. Diener. Creativity and Young Children: Review of Literature and Connections to Thinking Processes, Sally Blake and Duane M. Giannangelo. PART VI: IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING. Strategy-Based Instruction for Creativity: An Incremental Approach to Education, Michael D. Mumford, Jensen Mecca, Carter Gibson, and Vincent Giorgini. Understanding Young Children’s Kinds of Creating, Margaret L. Adams and Jie-Qi Chen. Teachers’ Perceptions and Behaviors on Creativity, Olivia N. Saracho. Creativity and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Early Childhood Education, Diana Bairaktarova and Demetra Evangelou. PART VII: CONCLUSION. Young Children’s Creativity in a Contemporary World, Olivia N. Saracho. About the Contributors.

REVIEWS
"Readers with a variety of goals, whether research or practice, will find something worthwhile in this volume." Heather T. Snyder in PsycCRITIQUES (Read full review)

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