Running Head: UNIT 5: CREATIVITY IN STRUCTURE 1

Unit 5: Creativity in Structure

April Hurtado

California State University, Sacramento

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Unit 5: Creativity in Structure

Its seems counterproductive to talk about creativity and structures or systems. The two

concepts seem to be opposites, sitting on different ends of a scale or coin. Creativity however,

may be used to combine different, seemingly unrelated structures in novel ways. Pink (2006)

refers to this as a Symphony, a trait of the creative mind that allows us as humans to relate and

organize unrelated concepts in unprecedented ways to approach things in new ways. Structures

are often perceived as limiting, but when utilized with symphony can serve as guidance and goal-

setting tools, which is how some teachers have approached meeting educational standards. While

creativity may seem oppositional to structure, Pink (2006) and Eisner (2002) would describe

them as being able to work together to push thinking, ability, and experiences to their potential.

An activity that embodies this is Chance operations where the creation of a piece was

directed by a set of guidelines. In this activity structure serves as a home base from which to try

new and different things. In groups it can be a fun collaborative project allowing for students to

get to work quickly, after only brief instruction. This actually means that experimentation can be

started more quickly. When working with smaller groups or older children it would be ideal to

allow children to gradually adjust the structure of the activity by interpreting rules differently, or

implementing additional and varying materials. It would also be interesting to have alternate

instructions to provide for even greater variation of pieces and experiences. That said structure

often feels imperatively boring or like the rest of students classes every day, as a practice in

following instructions, so its important to monitor the students feelings and help assure children

that deviation is encouraged, and that structure can in fact facilitate creativity. Structure with

flexibility, can actually facilitate creative thinking, this is an exercise in using symphony to

consider the different way structures can be interpreted and used to produce different results.
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References

Eisner, E. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York, NY: The
Berkeley Group.