Examples of Creativity-Building Activities
Community Building & Well-Being
Across the spectrum, creative work promotes community because, in trying something novel whose outcome is uncertain, creative work entails risk. When undertaken in a supportive environment, such creative risk allows class members to experience vulnerability. Activities such as Lyrical Questions, Multiple Narratives, and Meet Your Muse connect students to their innate creativity and cultivate empathy for others, which forges bonds that last well beyond the boundaries of a block.
Recent courses include:
- PY260- Positive Psychology, Tricia Waters
- PS276- Syria in Revolution and War, Sofia Fenner
- DA200- Moving Writing/Writing Movement, Shawn Womack & Jane Hillberry
- AS205- Painting, Jameel Paulin
Creative Communication Modules
Creative Communication modules help students access their creativity and find new ways to communicate complex, discipline-specific concepts to audiences who may not share the same context. The activities teach students how to focus on cultivating their audience’s understanding rather than their performance and also help them hone visual, analogical, and data communication skills. Modules can be offered as stand-alone units or combined into a thematically linked sequence throughout a course.
Recent courses include:
- CP341- Topics in Computer Science: Python for Science, Cory Scott
- MB350 - Advanced Genomics, Sara Hanson
- BU113- Negotiation, Christina Radar
- MB209- Molecular Biology, Olivia Hatton
Concept Mapping
A concept map is a visual learning tool representing meaningful relationships between and among concepts. It constitutes a form of systems thinking that involves examining the connections among elements of a larger whole and identifying how they interact. Systems thinking can lead to insights into a system’s structure, how it changes over time, and its underlying assumptions by focusing on a holistic, big picture rather than individual parts.
Recent courses include:
- PY382- Social Psychology, Jason Weaver
- CC105- Discovery of New Antibiotics, Amy Dounay & Oliva Hatton
- CC104- Power, Place & the Southwest, Karen Roybal
- BE105- Biology of Plants, Roxanneh Khorsand
Visual Learning
Vision provides us with data about our surroundings that we cannot obtain in other ways, for example, facial expressions or colors, and helps us learn skills, copy movements, and respond to other people's emotions without conscious intention. Cultivating the ability to look at an object, image, landscape, experiment, or situation closely without drawing premature conclusions as to meaning provides a more robust ‘bank’ of information that can lead to nuanced and creative interpretations. C&I offers a variety of exercises and programs, including Visual Notebooks (link), that develop students’ capacity for visual learning. We offer a variety of observation exercises that can be modified to support multiple learning goals.
Recent courses include:
- PY178- Designing a Brain, Lori Driscoll
- CC106- Surveillance Society, Casey Hughes
- CC102- Directing and Acting for the Cinema, Arom Choi
- AN102- Cultural Anthropology, Sarah Houtzinger
Creative Problem-Solving in Action
C&I offers a variety of problem-solving workshops that can help students leverage their intellect and imagination in equal measure to solve messy, ill-defined problems and generate ideas. Workshops include: Solving Problems through Metaphor, Ten Questions for Problem-Finding, Introduction to Design Thinking, and Create in a Flash.
Recent courses include:
- CC100 - Feminist & Gender Studies Junior Seminar, Nadia Guessous
- CC100 - Marketing: The Power of Story Part I, John Mann
- EC110 - Markets & Morality, Dan Johnson
- When Work is Fun: The Mattel Half-Block, Dan Johnson and Ryan Bañagale