James Kaufman said studies do suggest some kind of link between mental illness and “genius-level” creativity. He said that is balanced by many studies that show there is no cause and effect relationship: “Creativity doesn’t lead to mental illness, and mental illness doesn’t lead to creativity,” he said.
But he worries that perception may too often be accepted as fact, which might lead someone to put off treatment, or stop taking medication, for example, out of the mistaken belief that it could stifle creativity.
As social scientists who study coaching and leadership in sport, we’re starting to see a double standard at play – one that holds female coaches to a different standard than their male counterparts.
“We really need to think systematically about how to permit charter schools to exist in a way that won’t deleteriously impact school districts,” Preston Green says. “So understand that when I’m calling for a moratorium, I’m not calling for a backdoor closure but, rather, really thinking deliberately about how they can exist and be situated in a way that their inefficiencies are lessened.”
CSCH Steering Committee member Lisa Sanetti interviews CSCH affiliates Xiaomei Cong and Angela Starkweather about their work in the UConn Center for Advancement in Managing Pain.
Ronald Beghetto explains why all students need to be creative thinkers. He considers whether creativity is a generic skill, and how – or if – we should assess it in schools.
University of Connecticut baseball coach Jim Penders ’94 (CLAS), ’98 MS became the all-time winningest coach in program history on Thursday night as the Huskies defeated Tulane by a 8-5 score in New Orleans.
“I fully expect that over the next few years, Ivy will become not only a beloved teacher, but also a leader in the schools where she teaches and in the broader educational field,” says Horan’s faculty advisor and Neag School Prof. Dorothea Anagnostopoulos. “She will be a force to reckon with as she works to improve schools for and with her students and their communities.”
James Kaufman, a professor at the Neag School of Education, theorizes that creativity is both a widespread phenomenon and critical to human development. Rather than reserving the term “creative” for the favored few who produce globally acclaimed works of art or world-changing discoveries, he said, creativity is a label just as easily applied to the prosaic activities of everyday life — learning, problem-solving or making a junior high art project.
“Of course games and other forms of playful learning have a place in classrooms! Board games, card games, video games, role-playing game, simulations, even Kahoot!™ quizzes with leaderboards and badges—they can all contribute to student engagement, motivation, and the creation of an interactive situated-learning environment,” says Young.
Opportunities for students to take notice and observe the world around them are essential to the inquiry process. In any investigation, students practice patience while closely observing, collecting and organizing evidence, and synthesizing ideas. Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) has the potential to develop these skills, and can be integrated into almost any content area.
