Enhancing creativity through design technology : opportunities for developing children's creative thinking

Creative problem solving is essential to technology education. In our research project we explored the suggestion that creativity may need to include a time of ‘non-thinking’ during which innovative responses to problem tasks are generated. The period of non-conscious cognitive process (NCCP) time is considered to be when the brain makes connections between independent ideas and when inappropriate responses can be forgotten, allowing more relevant responses to be made available for problem solving. Our research provided an opportunity for several primary school teachers to focus on enhancing creativity in technology education and to explore the notion of the NCCP time for creative problem solving. In this chapter we review the current literature on enhancing creativity and comment on how the teachers fostered creativity as they implemented a design, make and appraise technological task to produce recycling devices in their classrooms. Classes and children were observed and teachers interviewed about their perception of children’s creativity and the NCCP time. In this study, a time frame of only several days appears to be ideal for non-conscious cognitive processing to occur and more time may hinder creativity. These findings have implications for teachers of technology who assign the same day and time each week for technology learning.
During the non-task time, which included the NCCP time, children were able to discuss their ideas with family members. As children learn in social and cultural contexts, these discussions can be fruitful. The teachers indicated that peer discussions also played an important role after the generation of designs.

Strategic thinking and the creative process in event management

This thesis asserts that event management requires strategic and creative thinking. This is necessary to envision alternative approaches in an evolving communications landscape. Using a rich, qualitative analysis with one major case study, the conclusion is that events must shift from an operationally led to a strategically informed creative process.

Creative marketing : an extended metaphor for marketing in a new age

Creative Marketing challenges mainstream marketing thinking and draws from a diverse range of disciplines in order to inspire entrepreneurial thinking and practice among those marketers who wish to push the boundaries of knowledge.

A values approach to business education in Hong Kong

This paper investigates the learning behaviour, learning environment and learning outcomes of Hong Kong Chinese students enrolled on an Australian university's Bachelor of Business degree course taught by visiting Australian lecturers in Hong Kong. The Chinese students are task-focused and passive learners. They do not demonstrate creative thinking, critical analysis or risk taking in problem solving, and appear to focus on surface-level rote learning. Semi-structured interviews with students and lecturers identified the changes experienced in learning behaviour and teaching strategies. By applying a teaching and learning value chain developed by Radbourne in 2001 and using Biggs's 3P culturally modified model of teaching and learning, new teaching strategies were developed to ensure that the Chinese Hong Kong students graduated with the capabilities required to be effective in the global workplace. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

Student-engineered 'space to think'

The nature of creative and insightful thinking of Year 8 students in mathematics classes was studied through simultaneous examination of post-lesson video stimulated interviews and lesson video. One case is used to illustrate these findings. The concept of Space to Think emerged as a space manoeuvred by each of the five (out of eighty-six) students from Australia and the USA who creatively developed new knowledge. This Space to Think illuminates pedagogical moves that provide opportunities for creative thinking.

Exploring metaphor as an alternative marketing language

Purpose: – The main aim of this paper is to stimulate more relevant and critical ideas about marketing and the wider management field by exploring the actual and potential contribution of metaphor to marketing theory and practice. The subsequent connections made can help contribute towards understanding and coping with the theory/practice gap.

Design/methodology/approach: – To date, the majority of metaphor application has tended to be literal and surface-level rather than theoretically grounded. This paper interrogates the literature surrounding metaphor in marketing and management fields, while also examining the contribution of other areas such as art. The paper constructs and debates the conceptual notion of the marketer as an artist.

Findings: – Incorporation of theoretically grounded metaphors into marketing theory can help develop a form of marketing which is capable of dealing with ambiguity, chaotic market conditions, creative thinking and practice.

Originality/value: – Adoption of a metaphorical approach to marketing research helps to instil a critical and creative ethos in the research process. Marketers are concerned with identification and exploitation of opportunities. Metaphor assists in the process by enhancing visualisation of these future directions. We live out our lives to a large degree through the making of metaphorical connections. We should therefore embrace more qualitative, creative associations in marketing theory, as well as practice.

Ongoing colonial legacy : contemporary education beliefs and practices in Papua New Guinea

In the late 1980ˇ¦s, a realisation that the western education system bequeathed to Papua New Guinea at the time of Independence had functioned to devalue and marginalise many of the traditional beliefs, knowledge and skills students brought with them to education, led to a period of significant education reform. The Reform was premised on the report of a Ministerial Review Committee called A Philosophy of Education. This report made recommendations about how education in Papua New Guinea could respond to the issues and challenges this nation faced as it sought to chart a course to serve the needs of its citizens on its own terms. The issues associated with managing and implementing institutionalised educational change premised on importing western values and practices are a central theme of this thesis. The impact of importing foreign curriculum and associated curriculum officers and consultants to assist with curriculum change and development in the former Language and Literacy unit of the Curriculum Development Division, is considered in three related sections of this report: „P a critical review of the imported educational system and related practices and related issues since Independence „P narrative report of the experience of two colleagues in western education „P evidential research based on curriculum Reform in the Language and Literacy Unit. How Papua New Guinea has sought to come to terms with the issues and challenges that arose in response to a practice of importing western curriculum both at the time of Independence and currently through the Reform, are explored throughout the thesis. The findings issues reveal much about the capacity of individuals and institutions to respond to a post-colonial world particularly associated with an ongoing colonial legacy in the principle researcherˇ¦s work context. The thesis argues that the challenges Papua New Guinea curriculum officers face today, as they manage and implement changes associated with another imported curriculum are caught up in existing power relations. These power relations function to stifle creative thinking at a time when it is most needed. Further, these power relations are not well understood by the curriculum officers and remained hidden and unquestioned throughout the research project. The thesis also argues that in the researcherˇ¦s work context, techniques of surveillance were brought to bear and functioned to curtail critical thinking about how the reformed curriculum could be sensitive and respectful of those beliefs and traditions that had sustained life in Papua New Guinea for thousands of years. Consequently, many outmoded beliefs and practices associated with an uncritical and ongoing acceptance of the superiority of western imports have been retained, thereby effectively denying the collective voices of Paua New Guineans in the current curriculum Reform.

Integrating e-simulations in teaching business information systems

Students’ early exposure to the fundamentals of business and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), creation of a professional skill base, as well as, the gaining of practical experience in applying such knowledge and skills, are the determinants of success in their study and development as Information Systems (IS) professionals. This chapter argues that e-simulations, or computer-based and online simulations, can be effectively used to engage learners in interactive learning activities and provide them with real world practical experience in the safety of an educational setting. A research project is subsequently described. A suite of e-simulations were developed and deployed across two institutions to support teaching and learning of Information Systems. Using staff discussions and online surveys, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the staff and students. The collected data were then analysed to evaluate and guide a sequence of curriculum and technology changes with a view to arriving at an optimum support model for students and teachers using the e-simulations. The findings of the study emphasise the usefulness of e-simulations to accommodate the learning styles of generation Y students, to stimulate their interest and creative thinking, and in meeting industry expectations of IS graduates’ ability to fulfil professional roles. Based on these insights, in its concluding remarks, the chapter outlines a conceptual framework for the inclusion of e-simulations in Information Systems curriculum development and teaching delivery.

Come play with me : an argument to link autism spectrum disorders and anorexia nervosa through early childhood pretend play

This article builds on the argument of a link between behaviours observed in persons with autism spectrum disorders and persons with anorexia nervosa. In describing these behaviours, a link is made between deficits in social cognition, lack of flexible and creative thinking, theory of mind, and deficits in early pretend play ability. Early pretend play ability is a strong avenue to the development and strengthening of social cognition, problem solving, language, logical sequential thought, and understanding social situations. Currently, there is no literature on the pretend play ability of persons who develop anorexia nervosa. This article argues for research into this area which may potentially contribute to developments in new intervention strategies for these persons.

Sustainable development in developing countries: the role of social entrepreneurs

This article adds to the ongoing debate on the relationship between poverty reduction, profits, and environmental sustainability. Drawing from the literature, it presents a conceptual model with propositions to explain how social entrepreneurs can lead to sustainable development in developing countries. These propositions are further strengthened by using a descriptive case of Waste Concern—an initiative of social entrepreneurs—in Bangladesh. Findings illustrate that, despite contextual constraints in developing countries, it is possible to have sustainable development with no trade-off between poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. This win-win outcome is possible through the innovative approaches and creative thinking of social entrepreneurs who, rather than being hindered by contextual constraints, act as catalysts for sustainable development. The findings have implications for academics and policy-makers, highlighting the significance of supporting social entrepreneurs to come up with innovative methods for sustainable development.

The complete fool: Insights and trajectories from an ancient path

This study presents a novel and accompanying exegesis which explore the fool behind the Fool by stripping away his usual costume and arenas of power and folly to expose an essence – an impulse of potentiality – that helps explain the Fool’s perpetuity and argues his critical significance as a catalyst for creative thinking.