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Children’s Creativity in Art: A Study of Types

1965; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 2; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3102/00028312002003125

1935-1011

Elliot W. Eisner,

Education, Achievement, and Giftedness

Through research, the conception of creativity has undergone an important change. Once considered an elusive, almost mystical gift belonging to a special few, creativity is now being seen as a capacity common to all-one that should be effectively developed by the school. Once considered a rare type of behavior limited to the arts, creativity is now viewed as penetrating, to some degree, almost all kinds of human activity. Even educators who are usually chary of accepting new responsibilities for an already overloaded curriculum are fascinated by the idea of teaching for the development of creativity. Art education has long been concerned with the development of creativity. Unlocking the creative impulse has been a major function of the teacher of art. Although he may sometimes have confused mere impulsivity with serious creative art, his concern with creativity has been real and sincere. Viktor Lowenfeld (1939, 1957), Herbert Read (1945), and Henry Shaefer-Simmern (1948) are only a few of those who have contributed to both the theory and the practice of developing children's creativity in the arts. The recent flow of creativity research by psychologists is beginning to persuade those working in other academic fields that education for creativity is not solely the responsibility of those working in the arts. Thus, research based largely on scientific grounds is providing new and important directions in American education.