EDUC06024 2022 Nurturing Creativity and Playfulness

Explore and welcome unpredictability and uncertainty, as inherent components in the development of their creativity and learning for a complex world, by embracing learning opportunities, in different domains, (Arts and creative practices), that foster their playful creativity, aesthetic awareness, meaning-making, imagination and personal fulfilment.

Engage in different strategies of respectful, collaborative and open-ended learning practices, promoting democratic engagement and exercising judgement in unfamiliar situations.

Examine the complexity of the term and concept of Creativity and its theoretical, historical, cultural, environmental, political, educational and philosophical underpinnings.

Discuss, at a foundational level, practical and theoretical perspectives on the role of the creative and playful adult, in relationship with babies, toddlers and young children in ECEC contexts.

Continuously review, evaluate, and reflect on their module learning experiences individually and collectively, utilising reflective practice theories and models.

Develop intrapersonal, interpersonal and self-awareness skills, applying reflective practice theories, to support their social engagement and to encourage their wider participation, furthering knowledge and application to practice.

This module will provide time and space for being playfully creative and will support the student in their development as a playful and creative adult. A focused one week experiential problem-based learning approach will be used with remaining module hours delivered weekly in the following 5 weeks. A social constructivist approach will underpin the module and theories and practices from creativity, education, play, psychology and the Arts will be incorporated throughout.

This module will be underpinned by Aistear and Siolta and specifically the Aistear Siolta Practice Guide, Pillar of Play, with specific reference to the playfulness aspects, the Aistear & Siolta Principle of Play, the Siolta Principle of Pedagogy and the Siolta Standard of Play.

To support this the following strategies may be used: accessible course material, active learning, Thought Showers, Buzz Groups, Consideration of diverse learning abilities, Debate, Discussions, Enquiry-based learning, Feedback Loop, Field trips, Flipped classroom, Group work, Inclusive teaching, Integration of prior knowledge, Interactive, Modelling, Peer-review, Planning, Presentation, Problem Solving, Reading, Reflecting, Researching, Short Quizzes, Silent reflection and Meditation, Specified learning activities, Team teaching, Tutorials, UDL, Use of Moodle as a repository, Workshops, process drama and creative practices.

Types of assessment:

This is an individualised, reflexive self-audit in the form of a multi-media learning e-portfolio. 

Students will receive formative feedback for learning from both peers and the teaching team at different points in the module and will be provided with clear and timely notification of assessment requirements. Criteria for success will be shared when the assessment brief is published.

The repeat assessment for failure to meet the assessment brief for the e-portfolio, is a repeat e-portfolio.

LO 1) Explore and welcome unpredictability and uncertainty, as inherent components in the development of their creativity and learning for a complex world, by embracing learning opportunities, in different domains, (Arts and creative practices), that foster their playful creativity, aesthetic awareness, meaning-making, imagination and personal fulfilment.

Questions which could be explored through these learning opportunities include:

• What does creativity mean to me?
• What is creativity?
• What myths exist about creativity?
• Why is creativity important?
• How can I think and work creatively?
• How can I 'be' creative?

LO 2) Engage in different strategies of respectful, collaborative and open-ended learning practices, promoting democratic engagement and exercising judgement in unfamiliar situations.

Students will be offered opportunities to engage in experiences that are play-based, problem-based and involve creative practices. For example, Inquiry Cycles such as Kath Murdochs' Inquiry Cycle may be used to explore real-world problems creatively.  Through working together, students may be introduced to key figures, such as James Rhodes and his 4Ps approach of thinking about and defining creativity. 

LO 3) Examine the complexity of the term and concept of Creativity and its theoretical, historical, cultural, environmental, political, educational and philosophical underpinnings.

Students will examine modern proposals of a definition for creativity. They will read and research the work and writing of others, for example, the work of Anna Craft and questions such as:

• What are the different perspectives on creativity?
• What are the key concepts of creativity?
• What are the different approaches to the study and research of creativity?
• What are the educational approaches to creativity?
• What are the situational causes and factors for creativity and creative behaviours?
• What are the advantages, risks, and implications of the application of the standard definition of creativity and who gets to decide?
• How does this impact the non-conformist, the marginalized, the amateur, and the child?

LO 4) Discuss, at a foundational level, practical and theoretical perspectives on the role of the creative and playful adult, in relationship with babies, toddlers and young children in ECEC contexts.

Students will explore the concept of playfulness from different perspectives which could include characteristics of playfulness, playfulness as a character trait, playfulness as a disposition, the playful environment (Moyles,1989). They will also explore the role of playfulness (Bundy, 1993 & Walsh, McGuinness, and Sproule 2017). Through their exploration of play and creativity, adult and child relationships, the student will also explore some psychological perspectives on creativity, the work of Melanie Klein, for example, and questions such as:

• What do psychologists say about creativity and individual differences?
• What can psychoanalytic theory contribute to our understanding of relationships and creativity?
• How does meditation foster creativity?
• How can teachers, families and peers encourage creativity?
• What are the links between creativity, play, imagination and intelligence?
• What can I discover about my identity as a novice Early Childhood Educator through studying these ideas?

LO 5) Continuously review, evaluate, and reflect on their module learning experiences individually and collectively, utilising reflective practice theories and models.

Arts based methods, models of inquiry, for example, the work of Kath Murdock and Mindfulness meditation are some approaches that may be used to support ongoing reflective practices throughout the module.

LO 6) Develop intrapersonal, interpersonal and self-awareness skills, applying reflective practice theories, to support their social engagement and to encourage their wider participation, furthering knowledge and application to practice.

An experiential learning approach to the module will facilitate the development of these key skills, so too an introduction to Mindfulness practice and the work of Kabat-Zinn. Group based work and individual work will be used throughout. The e-portfolio will be key to supporting students in these areas. Students will also engage in and attend community and educational events, such as the IT Sligo Science Fest and visit arts and cultural centres, eg: The Model in Sligo.