How to Do Things With Words

Two speakers describe various methods to encourage creativity in the music classroom, also providing examples of creative activities that can be provided to students. The major contribution of an imaginative, skilled and trained music teacher in developing creativity in the classroom is highlighted.

Creativity in the Classroom

This article makes a case for why teaching about ‘ideas and evidence’ requires more attention t o the teaching of argument in school science. Based on research work at Kings’ College London conducted with local teachers, it outline s various practical methods and strategies b y which this might be achieved. The difficulties and obstacles are also explored. Why argument ? Contemporary science impinges directly upon man y aspects of people’s lives. Individuals and societies have to make personal and ethical decisions about a range of s ocio-scientific issues, such as genetic engineering, reproductive technologies and food safety, based on information available through the press and other media. Often accounts of ne w developments in s cience report contested claims. Evaluating such reports is not straightforward as it requires, for instance, the ability to assess whether the evidence is valid and reliable, to distinguis h correlations from causes or hypotheses from observations (Millar and Osborne, 1998). Within the context of a s ociety where scientific issues increasingly dominate the contemporary landscape (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1999), there is an urgent need to improve the quality of y oung people’s understanding of the nature of scientific ‘argument’. Consequently, an important task for science education is to develop children’s ability to understand and practise valid ways of arguing in a s cientific context. They need to be able to recognise not onl y the strengths but also the limitations of s uc h arguments. In our work, then, we have sought to stud y whether the quality of y oung people’s ‘argument’ about scientific issues, and their critical capabilities, can be enhanced in science lessons. For instance, ca n the abilities to r eason, use and criticise argument within a scientific context be taught? And, perhaps more importantly, can these abilities be improved? This is what we are attempting to do in our project ‘Enhancing the Quality of Argument in School Science’ (EQuASS), funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council. First, it is important to point out that by ‘argument’ we do not mean the pejorative use of the word wit h its confrontational connotations. We mean the putting forward of r easons where claims are justified b y relating them to the dat a on which they are based. Evidence for any claim consists of at least tw o components – dat a and warrants. Warrants are essentially the means by which the data are related t o claims providing the justification for belief. Thus the claim that diversity of species is a product of random variation and selection by the environment was supported originally by Darwin’s data on the variety of finches’ beaks found in the Galapagos. The warrant was that each adaptation gave each species a competitive advantage that ensured their survival on a particular island. A s imple representation of a n argument is provided by Toulmin (1958) (Figure 1).

Enhancing the quality of argument in school science: developing teachers' practice

E. Cassirer (1928) tells of a patient with complex disturbances of higher intellectual functions whom he observed in a Frankfurt neurological institute. This patient could previously repeat a phrase he heard with no difficulty, but could now relate only real situations that matched his own concrete, sensory experience. One time during a visit in clear and bright weather, he was asked to repeat the sentence, “The weather today is bad and rainy.” He could not do this. The first words were pronounced easily and confidently, then the patient became confused, stopped and could not finish the sentence as it was said to him. He always made a transition to another form that agreed with reality.

Imagination and Creativity in the Adolescent

Expert and exceptional performance are shown to be mediated by cognitive and perceptual-motor skills and by domain-specific physiological and anatomical adaptations. The highest levels of human performance in different domains can only be attained after around ten years of extended, daily amounts of deliberate practice activities. Laboratory analyses of expert performance in many domains such as chess, medicine, auditing, computer programming, bridge, physics, sports, typing, juggling, dance, and music reveal maximal adaptations of experts to domain-specific constraints. For example, acquired anticipatory skills circumvent general limits on reaction time, and distinctive memory skills allow a domain-specific expansion of working memory capacity to support planning, reasoning, and evaluation. Many of the mechanisms of superior expert performance serve the dual purpose of mediating experts' current performance and of allowing continued improvement of this performance in response to informative feedback during practice activities.

/pdf/theories-and-research-in-clinical-decision-making-and-skill-3yaggixgq1.pdf

Theories and Research in Clinical Decision Making and Skill Acquisition in Nursing Practice : Skill Acquisition ; Expert and exceptional performance: evidence of maximal adaptation to task constraints

Qu'apportent les relations entre les eleves pour apprendre ? Comment l'enseignant s'y prend-il pour favoriser et mettre en oeuvre dans la classe des situations dynamiques d'interaction entre les eleves ? Quelles sont les conditions favorables aux processus d'enseignement-apprentissage ?

/pdf/les-interactions-sociales-en-classe-reflexions-et-2o62x84gto.pdf

Les interactions sociales en classe : réflexions et perspectives

https://doc.rero.ch/record/19949/files/Giglio_Marcelo_-_L_acte_cr_atif_au_coeur_de_l_apprentissage_20100721.pdf

L'acte créatif au coeur de l'apprentissage

Creative Collaboration in Teaching

https://doc.rero.ch/record/28053/files/Giglio_Marcel_-_A_teaching_sequence_granting_space_to_the_students_20111223.pdf

A teaching sequence granting space to the students‘ collaborative creation in the music classroom : some observations

This contribution is about the design of innovative teaching practices. Innovation is fostered by a focus on creative tasks for school pupils, and supported by teacher education courses. Two examples of teacher education practice are presented, both requiring from student teachers to produce innovative pedagogical de- signs. A pedagogical design is defined by a specific set of tasks, by a social setting and by a sequence. The first example requires pedagogical designs offering a thinking space to learners, while the second example is based on an iterative research methodology (PIO). The discussion of these two examples stresses two features of these practices, that can be considered supporting creativity and agency in classroom activities: the anticipation and confrontation between prediction and observation, and the articultion of collective and solitary moments of work in specific sequences. Future research could investigate the potential support the various combinations of collective and solitary moments of activity offer to creativity. These combinations can be designed for teaching practices to fit specific pedagogical and learning objectives, and can be evaluated through micro-design research.

/pdf/from-innovative-teacher-education-to-creative-pedagogical-7o01ksj98x.pdf

Marcelo Giglio

Papers

Les interactions sociales en classe : réflexions et perspectives

L'acte créatif au coeur de l'apprentissage

Creative Collaboration in Teaching

A teaching sequence granting space to the students‘ collaborative creation in the music classroom : some observations

From innovative teacher education to creative pedagogical designs