Prof. Joe Reimer January 2014
Education 163b - Creativity and Caring: Educating for Mindful Engagement
Introduction
Creativity and caring are two significant human capacities that are not often thought of as related. Creativity is often associated with a way of thinking and caring with a way of feeling. When we think of creative people, they often are not the same as those we think of as being most caring. When we educate for creativity, we rarely think of that as a way of building greater capacity for caring; the same is true in reverse.
This course will examine what we mean by “creativity” and “caring” and what might be possible relationships between them. We will draw primarily on literature from developmental and social psychology. We will think of these capacities as building upon in-born strengths and growing gradually and differentially over our childhood, adolescent and adult years. We will also think of them as social in nature: involving our relations to other people and how we deal with problems in our social world.
We will ask questions like these: What does it mean to be creative and caring?
How do we conceptualize these capacities? How do creativity and caring change over time? What in the social environment affects our capacity to be creative and caring? How might caring and creativity be related?
We will also look at whether we can educate for creativity and caring. How might educators help students to become more mindfully creative and caring? What might that ask of us as educators? Finally, should educating for creativity and caring become a priority, and if so, how should that look?
Learning Goals for this Course
- Students will learn a variety of understandings of what it means to be “creative” and “caring” and will develop their own understandings as well.
- Students will learn how selected psychologists have conceptualized creativity and caring and will analyze the limits of their methodologies.
- Students will learn how selected psychologists view creativity and caring functioning in the lives of children and adults in our society and the social constraints that can limit or enhance their functioning.
- Students will consider whether and in what ways educational and social institutions may influence the development of creativity and caring in the lives of participants – and how creativity and caring may overlap and interact in their lives.
Student Requirements and Assessment for Education 163b
1.Students will beexpectedto come to all class having done the readings and prepared to discuss the questions that arose from those readings. If you cannot attend due to a legitimate conflict or illness, please let me know in advance () and be sure to catch up on what you missed.
2. Students will be required to write three major papers (5-7 pages).The first will be on creativity (due 2/25) the second on caring (due 3/25) and the third on possible relationships between creativity and caring (due 4/29). More details will follow.
3. Students will be required to write seven1-page reflective papers during the earlier weeks of the semester. These will be due on 1/16, 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 3/6 and 3/13. Please bring these to class. More details will follow.
4.Students will be expected to participate in three small groups in class corresponding to the three parts on the course. Interested students are invited to join an extra credit small group that will focus on educating children for caring and creativity. See more below.
The final grade will be based 20% on class preparedness and participation, 10% on the one-page papers, 50% on the first two major papers and 20% on the third and final paper.
Small Group Participation
In almost all class sessions we will devote about a half-hour to small group discussions that will focus primarily on the readings for that day. Each student will be assigned to one small group for each part of the course; everyone will be a member of three small groups. Each student will be asked to lead the group discussion at least once during each part of the course. That leading will be considered an important component of your participation in class discussion.
Teaching Assistant
Tali Friedland, who is a senior and took this course last year,will serve as the TA for the course. She is here to assist students who need help and will be holding office hours. Tali will also be leading a once a week group on educating children for creativity and caring. This will be open to everyone and those who volunteer to participate regularly will receive extra credit of 10% on their grade. Tali will also be reading the one-page reflective papers.
If you are a student who needs academic accommodations because of a documented disability,please contact me and present your letter of accommodation as soon as possible.If you have questions about documenting a disability or requesting academic accommodations, you should contact Beth Rodgers-Kay in Academic Services (x63470 or ).Letters of accommodation should be presented at the start of the semester to ensure provision of accommodations. Accommodationscannot be granted retroactively
Required Readings for Education 163b
Books
Please acquire these at the beginning of the semester. We will read in this order. Most are available in paperback at Amazon.com.
- Ellen J. Langer (2006) On becoming an artist. Ballantine Books.
- Shelley Carson (2012) Your creative brain. Harvard Health Publications.
- Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi (1997) Creativity. Harper Perennial.
- Keith Sawyer (2007) Group Genius. Basic Books.
- Nel Noddings (2003) Caring (2nd edition) University of California Press.
- Erich Fromm (1956/2006) The art of loving. Harper Perennial
- Barbara Frerickson, (2013) Loving2.0 Hudson Street Press.
All other readings will be available through LATTE.
Course Outline for Caring and Creativity: Education 163b
Part One: Creativity
Session 2 1/16 (1) Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist. Chapters 1-4.
(2) Ellen J. Langer, Mindfulness. Chapter 5.
Session 3 1/21 (1) Ellen J. Langer, On Becoming an Artist. Chapters 5-7. 9-10.
Session 4 1/23 (1) Teresa M. Amabile, Creativity in Context. Chapters 2&4.
Session 5 1/28 (1) Shelley Carson, Your Creative Brain. Chapters 1-7
Session 6 1/30 (2) Shelly Carson, Your Creative Brain, Chapters 8-13.
Session 7 2/4 (1) Barbara Hennessy “Intrinsic Motivation in the classroom”
(2)Ron Berger, An Ethic of Excellence. Chapter 3.
(3) Jonah Lehrer, Imagine, “The Shakespeare Paradox.”
Session 8 2/6 (1) Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Flow. Chapters 4&9.
(2) S.A. Jackson and M. Csikszentmihalyi, Flow in Sports, Chapters
1&3.
Session 9 2/12 (1) Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Creativity. Chapters 1-6.
(2) Kenneth Hope, “Giving it away at the MacArthur Fellows
Program.”
Session 10 2/14 (1) Keith Sawyer, Group Genius, Chapters 1-7.
.
Part Two: Caring
Session 11 2/25 (1) Nel Noddings, Caring. Chapters 1-3&5.
Session 12 2/27 (1) Jean Mercer, Understanding Attachment. Chapter 3.
(2) Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis. Chapter 6, pp.107-17.
(3) Mary S.D. Ainsworth, “Attachment: Retrospect and prospect.”
Session 13 3/4
(1) Simon Baron-Cohen, The Science of Evil. Chapter 2.
(2) S.A. Denham and A. Kochanoff, “Why is she crying? Children’s understanding of emotion from preschool to preadolescence.”
Session 14 3/6 (1) Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence. Chapters 1-2,8.
(2) J.J. Gross and O.P. John, “Wise emotional regulation.”
Session 15 3/11 (1) N. Noddings, The Challenge to Care in Schools, Chapters 2,4.
(2) Paul Tough, How Children Succeed, pp. 21-48.
Session 16 3/13 (1) Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis. Chapter 6.
(2) Robert Weiss, “Attachment in adult life.”
(3) Daniel Hruschka, “Sex, romance and friendship.”
Session 17 3/18 (1) A. Colby and W. Damon, Some Do Care, Chapters 1,3.
Session 18 3/20 (1) Howard Gardner, Creating Minds. Chapter 9 on Gandhi, pp.311-
356.
Part Three: Relationship between Creativity and Caring
Session 19 3/25 (1) Amabile and Kramer, The Progress Principle, Chapter 3.
(2) Keith Sawyer, Group Genius, Chapters 8-9
Session 20 3/27 (1) Barbara Fredrickson, Positivity, Chapters 2,3, &7
Session 21 4/1 Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving. Chapters I, II&IV.
Session 22 4/3 Barbara Fredrickson, Love 2.0 Chapters 1-4.
Session 23 4/8 (1) Barbara Fredrickson, Chapters 5-6
(2) Erich Fromm, Chapter 11.
Session 24 4/10 Stephen A. Mitchell, Can Love Last? Introduction& chapter 1.
Session 25 4/24 How do you integrate Creativity and Caring?
Session 26 4/29 Group Creativity/Caring and summing up
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