A "Toolbox Approach"for Developing

Thoughtfully Structured,Creative Art Experiences

MICHAEL HANCHETT HANSON AND REBECCA SHULMAN HERZ

A rt and creativity are closely linked in the minds of most people.

When asked to explain why art should be part of the school curric-

ulum, respondents commonly answer that art provides an oppor-tunity for students to be creative and express themselves. As

professionals who have worked with art education for years-an adminis-

trator who works closely with teaching artists engaged in long-term class-room-based teaching residencies, and a psychologist specializing in thedevelopment of creativity-we suggest a different perspective. In thisarticle we draw on research that shows how difficult it is to teach studentsto be creative, and how lessons, including art lessons, need to be thought-fully structured in order to foster creativity.

To help teachers facilitate students'creative development, we offer a 'toolboxapproach' to teaching creativity. Thisapproach encourages teachers to mineexisting research as well as personalexperiences to develop strategies that canfoster creativity. A teacher's CreativityToolbox is a set of concepts and tech-niques that a teacher develops over timeto help students think and act creatively.In collaboration with students, teachersmay also develop a class toolbox, whichincludes relevant concepts and techniquesthat are part of a classroom culture.Finally, students can develop their owntoolboxes, which include interests,activities, goals, and habits of mind thatspark their curiosity and help them tothink creatively.

Art teachers, like other teachers, facethe challenge of cultivating creativitywithin a structured environment. In orderto teach skills, concepts, and informationeffectively, art lessons sometimes requirewell-defined processes and outcomes, andthe very idea of creativity resists suchrecipes. In successful classrooms we haveobserved, art teachers and teaching artistsfind ways to challenge students toconsider new possibilities, engage inself-directed processes, and create uniqueproducts that reflect students' own ideas.1hey innovate in ways that are appro-priate but could not have been predictedby the teacher. Students in these class-rooms are engaged in interesting,sophisticated, creative, and oftensurprising work.

In this article, we start by examiningways of defining creativity, as it is aconcept that even people immersed increative work find difficult to describe. Wewill make suggestions for art teachersregarding developing their own CreativityToolboxes. Finally, we will give anexample of a classroom in which a teacherputs some of these ideas into practice.

Creative Development over aLifetime

Ihere are two general approaches tothinking about creativity. The first is tounderstand it as development of a uniquepoint of view over a lifetime; the second isas a set of specific techniques or haltsthat help people think in different ways.Each of these approaches has supportingresearch and implies certain approachesto teaching.

Creativity can be understood asdevelopment of a unique point of viewover a lifetime. This idea is recognized bya number of prominent creativityresearchers (e.g., Gardner, 1993; Stokes,2006; Torrance, 2002). Howard Gruber(1989, 1999) found that people who docreative work at some point, or over time,come to commit their time and resourcesto creative goals and then organize theirlives and activities-what Gruber referredto as their network of enterprise-to meetthose goals.

January 2011 / ART EDUCATION 33

"There are, however, significant problems inapplying this long-term view of creativity tothe classroom. First, it requires teachers tothink simultaneously of the class as a whole,learning a shared set of skills and knowledge,and of individual students, developingparticular interests, talents, goals, andperspectives. Certainly, almost all teachersaccomplish this to some extent, but theclassroom context forces a primary focus tobe shared classroom goals as outlined in aunit or lesson plan. A second problem is thatthe ultimate creative outcome, developmentof the individual's unique point of view, doesnot happen within any individual class, but isa long-term pursuit.

Even when we think of creativity as agroup process, as in recent research ondistributed creativity (Sawyer, 2007; Sawyer &DeZutter, 2009), individual team membersbring their knowledge and ways of thinking,their own Creative Toolboxes, to the group. Itis individuals who take what they learn fromthat group to their future work. In aclassroom, unlike a business setting, learningis a primary objective. Thus, thinking about aclass project as a creative group process mayadd important collaborative skills to astudent's toolbox, but it does not escape thechallenge of addressing each individual'screative development.

Techniques that Help StudentsThink in Different Ways

The second way to think about creativity ismore reductive: to teach students specifictechniques or habits that help them thinkcreatively. The idea of divergent thinking(Guilford, 1950; Torrance, 1963/1984) as acognitive trait of people who tend to think"outside the box" is one such idea. Otherapproaches tend to prescribe processes, evenproviding formulas. For example, theOsborn-Parnes approach, known as theCreative Problem-solving Process (Osborn,1963; Parnies, 1981), prescribes six steps:objective-finding (or "mess-finding"),data-finding, problem-finding, idea-finding,solution- finding, and acceptance- finding. In

this approach, each step includes a brain-storming or divergent thinking phase wherenumerous ideas are produced, followed by aconvergent thinking phase where ideas areevaluated.

Following such a formulaic concept ofcreativity consciously, however, has at leastthree big problems. First, a formula forcreativity is self-contradictory. Second, whileformulaic models offer techniques that cangenerate creative products, creativity candescribe processes as well as products.Finally, these approaches assume thatcreativity is equivalent to problem solving.But creativity is not just problem solving, it isalso a process of problem posing. Creativepeople do not choose a discipline, such aspainting or composing music, just becausethey have to solve a specific problem. Rather,they find that they have an attraction to adiscipline, and then pose problems orchallenges to further engage with thatdiscipline (Gruber & Wallace, 1999). Vincentvan Gogh did not become a painter to findnew ways to paint a landscape; rather, heidentified painting landscapes as his way tobe engaged with the discipline of painting.

No single lesson, unit, or even teacher canindependently teach a child to be creative; atbest, he or she can offer encouragement andtools. To help students develop creativity,teachers should feel empowered to define

creativity for their own classroom contexts,while recognizing that there is no singlemethod to ensure or assess the impact on anysingle student's creativity. From thisperspective, the wealth of approaches tocreativity is a boon to teachers, who candelve into a variety of concepts and selectones that make most sense for a given projector group.

A key idea that teachers can introduce tostudents is that creativity is a commitment tolong-term development of a unique point ofview. In whatever ways students decide to becreative, they will need to appreciate theirown distinct perspectives and will need tolearn to express those distinctive aspects ofthemselves in skillful and powerful ways thatothers can appreciate.

The Toolbox ApproachTo help teachers use the vast resources

available, and to think about creativity in amanageable way, we propose the idea ofCreativity Toolboxes that work at threelevels:

1. The teacher's toolbox is part of his or herlifelong development. T[his is a varied setof concepts and techniques for helpingpeople appreciate how they already thinkand explore different ways of thinking.The teacher assembles this toolbox overtime by studying, and experimenting.with, various approaches to creativity.

2. The class's toolbox is a set of skills andtechniques that become part of aparticular classroom culture that theteacher introduces and that the studentsbring to the table as well.

3. Individual students' toolboxes are theinterests, activities, goals, and habits ofmind that they accumulate over many artclasses and experiences and that strikethem as motivating and exciting, andbecome part of their long-termdevelopment.

What are possible tools for teachingcreativity, and when do we use them? Howcan teachers create their own approaches toteaching creativity? Luckily, there has been agood deal of research on encouragingcreativity in the classroom. Some leadingthinkers have synthesized these into veryhelpful descriptions of how the techniquescan work together (e.g., Nickerson, 1999;Runco, 2007; Starko, 2004; Sternberg, 2003;Sternberg & Williams, 1996). A few of themore prominent techniques that tend toappJar in these descriptions include:"• Modeling creative behaviors and

attitudes (including studying lives ofcreative people)

"* Talking about creativity as an educationalgoal

"* Using open-ended tasks (with many validsolutions)

• 'Encouraging people to define/redefineproblems

* Providing choices so that people canfollow their intrinsic motivations-andencouraging people to follow theirinclinations (find what they love to do)

• Linking ideas and perspectives (includinganalogic thinking/metaphor andcollaboration)

• Questioning assumptions

34 ART EDUCATION / January 2011

In whatever ways students decide to be creative, they will need

to appreciate their own distinct perspectives and will need to

learn to express those distinctive aspects of themselves in skillful

and powerful ways that others can appreciate.

• Encouraging sensible risks and toleratingmistakes

How can teachers decide which aspects ofcreative thinking to apply? Many researchersagree that modeling desired skills andattitudes is one of the most important tech-niques (Runco, 2007; Starko, 2004; Stemnberg,2003; Sternberg & Williams, 1996). That isin keeping with the idea that the teacher isdeveloping his or her own toolbox. Eachteacher, therefore, has to develop his orher own creative abilities. Ultimately, thequestion of which tools to use is a questionof goals. Each teacher must ask himselfor herself, "When I say I want to promotecreativity, to what extent do I mean that Iwant to..."

"* help students appreciate the thrill ofthought and discovery to have that"Aha!" experience?

"* give students confidence in theirindividual potential to instill a belief thatidiosyncratic ways they see the world canbe valuable?

"* expand students' senses about thepossible by shaking up conventional waysthey have come to see the world andteaching them to use imagination, makebroad associations, consider metaphors/analogies, break frames, and takechances?

"• show students that a particular modalityof expression, like visual art, is valuableand engaging?

"* help them discover new roles forthemselves as artists, as leaders, asthinkers, etc.? or help them engage intheir current roles more robustly?

Some tools work better for particular goalsor art projects than others. And some willwork better with particular groups. As withother creative tasks, there is no single, rightanswer.

To illustrate how an art teacher mightcreate a Creativity Toolbox that helps achievehis or her personal goals for students, weoffer an example of a teaching artist from theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum LearningThrough Art Program. In this programpracticing artists conduct art lessons atschools over 20 weeks during a school year.The teaching artist works with a dassroomteacher to develop a curriculum thatcomplements topics covered in other subjectareas.

We chose this teaching artist, Ascha KellsDrake, because we had seen her teachpreviously, and she impressed us with herthoughtfulness and commitment to teachingyoung students to think like artists. She hasarticulated two important goals related tocreativity: she wants students to haveconfidence in their own voices and potential,

and she wants them to try taking on the roleof artist. Below is the beginning lesson thatwe observed, in which Drake put her toolboxto use to achieve these goals.

Creating Structures Inspired byFrank Gehry

At P.S. 153 in Manhattan, fifth-gradestudents are gathered on the rug, with animage of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao infront of them (Figure 1). Drake asks studentsto look closely and notice details, to think ofquestions they might ask the architect, FrankGehry, and to think about materials Gehryused. "It reminds me of a fun house," sharesone student. Others notice shapes, colors,weather, and materials. They want to knowwhat might have inspired Gehry.

Drake tells them, "Frank Gehry was veryinspired by his grandfather, who had ahardware store. Growing up Gehry workedwith pieces of metal and wood, and theexperience of playing with these materialstransformed him into an architecte She thenasks the students to think back to theirearlier experiments with paper. As a groupthey list techniques they used in creatingpaper sculptures: folding, twisting, cutting,ripping, rolling, crumpling, and bending asthese also will apply to work they are doingtoday with cardboard.

Then she explains the task at hand. "Youwill be invited up to get four pieces ofcardboard. There are two types of cardboardyou can choose from. As an artist I makechoices about what materials to use, and onechoice I made for today is to use maskingtape. We have thin masking tape and thickmasking tape, so it's your choice which tapeworks better for you. Your challenge is to usethe cardboard to create a structure." Todemonstrate, she takes four pieces ofcardboard and asks students what she shoulddo with them. They guide her in rolling,cutting, and taping the pieces. As thestudents talk she adds new words to the list:Stack. Build. Slot. Tab. Before she sendsstudents back to their seats, she tells them,"Everyone's going to come up with a differentsolution."

Figure 1. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.Photo by David Heald,

January 2011 / ART EDUCATION 35

After students have worked for about 15minutes, she says, "Everybody has abeginning form. Take that form and turn itand look at it in a different way. Considerworking on it that way-orientation of thestructure changes things. Mid-class, Drakegathered students on the rug and asked themto reflect on their work (Figure 2). Sheintroduced the reflection by saying, "This is areally important part of an artist's process. Ido this in my own studio. You're lucky. As agroup of artists you have each other to learnfrom" She then asks students to chooseanother student's work and share what theylike about it. For example one student says:"I like the one over there, because they triedrolling, and also making little triangles,cutting the cardboard" After hearing from anumber of students, Drake asks, "Doeseveryone have one new thing they want totry from having looked at the other artists'works?"

We can see in this example some of thechoices Drake made about her CreativityToolbox. She actively models creativebehaviors and attitudes through both talkingabout her own work, and sharing thebiography of other artists, such as FrankGehry. She explicitly relates these stories tothe students' own experiences, telling themthat the work they do with her may inspiretheir own futures in unpredictable ways.Drake treats students as individuals andyoung artists with their own ideas andencourages them to learn from their fellowstudent artists in the classroom.

Drake poses explicit, open-endedchallenges in the art room. She provides anobjective for the project, but then takes thestudents through data-finding, as theybrainstorm a list of techniques they hadlearned for working with paper and evaluatewhether or not these might now be appliedto cardboard. As the students work, theyengage in their own problem-finding andsolution -finding.

If Drake's understanding of, and goal for,teaching creativity was to expand students'sense of the possible by shaking up conven-tional ways they have come to see the world,she would need to re-think her toolbox.However, the tools she has gathered workextremely well for motivating and encour-aging students to have confidence in theirown voices and to be prepared to solve moreindividual, in-depth problems that wouldresult from this initiating experience.

The lesson featured here was a motiva-tional part of a unit that engaged students inthinking about their own neighborhoods,and what types of structures might transformit in positive ways. Students learned aboutstructures, public art, and architecture;studied their neighborhood; and wrote aboutwhat their neighborhood needed to becomea better environment in which to live.Suggestions included a space to hang out, avolunteer corps, and more schools with fewerstudents. Ultimately in another lesson, theycreated prints, inspired in part by theirimaginative cardboard structures, whichcould serve these functions (Figure 5).

The PS. 153 fifth-grade class developed itsown Class Creativity Toolbox. Their toolsincluded observing art (both their own andthat of professionals) in an open-mindedway, making free associations with otherthings that interested them, and usingimagined scenarios to stimulate theircuriosity such as what they now would askFrank Gehry. They alternated betweenimaginative thinking and rooting ideas intheir own real-life neighborhoods, openingup a world of possibilities, but also makingconcrete connections. They also keptsketchbooks, in which they recorded notesand saved copies of images viewed, as well assketched out their own ideas. With thesupport of these sketchbooks, they adopted amulti-modal approach to their work,alternating between visual and verbal modesof thinking. The students at PS. 153 lookedto each other as resources, asking each otherfor advice, and borrowing ideas from oneanother as projects developed.

Finally, each student developed his or herown Creative Toolbox. For example, one ofthe students, Brian,i is interested inthree-dimensional art, and experimented

Figure 2, Students' cardboard strutures.

36 ART EDUCATION / January 2011

Rgures 3 and 4. Ascha KeRs Drake helps students create prints of their imaginary neighborhood strutures.

with ways to make two-dimensional printsas layered and three-dimensional aspossible. He also used engineering books asresources, studying different parts ofarchitectural structures. Brian createdinteresting titles for his work, evidencing hisfluency in moving between visual andverbal modalities. Brian's emerging creativeinterests and skills are obvious. 'lhe teacher,however, may never know all of the interestsand skills that students develop and maysomeday trace back to this class. Ihinkingof the students' creative development aspersonal toolboxes, however, can be helpfulas teachers look for opportunities to helpstudents find their interests, deepen theirmotivations, explore new ways of thinking,and develop useful skills.

Surprise: The UnderlyingChallenge

Biographies of creative people are full ofstories of skipping school, going dayswithout sleep, and, in general, disregardingmrnýy of societal norms and rules. Trulycreative ideas and people challenge us, and acreative student can catch a teacheroff-guard. A student engaged in posing hisor her own problems may not complete anassignment as outlined by a teacher. Astudent who uses materials in an innovativeway may appear not to be completing anassignment and may even disrupt the class.Responding to that moment may be one ofthe most difficult teaching skills to develop.Again, there is no right answer, there aremany appropriate answers, and no teacher ison target all the time.

One of the biggest surprises we saw Drakeaddress was during a printmaking lesson latein the project. After weeks spent exploringtheir neighborhood and imagining structuresthat might transform their communities in apositive way (Figure 3), studeqLts werecreating prints of their imaginary structures.They had printed earlier in the year, creatingprint plates and prints based on existingbuildings. By this point in the project,students were able to combine theirexperiences printing, their envisionedbuildings, and their strong identity as artists.Drake asked each student to choose a singleink color for this print (Figure 4). Onestudent, however, combined'ink colors,creating a print with horizontal lines of color.This solution was not what the Drakeenvisioned, and the surprise was a bitdisturbing, amid the effort of managing 30

Drake treats students as individuals and young artists with their own ideas and encourages

them to learn from their fellow student artists in the classroom.

January 2011 /ART EDUCATION 37

Figure 5. Prints inspired by a neighborhood transformation lesson.

fifth-graders making prints. In the finalreflection, though, Drake told the class,"I really appreciate that this artist took thetechniques in a totally new direction. It'staught me as a printmaker a new way to usethis material:'

A commitment to teaching creativity is acommitment to helping each studentdiscover his or her inner artist, rebel, andthinker. Teaching individuals, and creating aspace where individuals act differently-sometimes, very differently-is more difficultthan teaching a skill such as color mixing, ora concept such as composition. The art

classroom can be a place for developingcritical thinking. The difference is in carefulconsideration of goals and techniques byapplying insights and skills that teachersdevelop over the course of their professionallives. Likewise, facilitating creativityeffectively in an art lesson requires carefulconsideration of the goals for-and defini-tions of-creativity, as well as supportingthese goals with a Creativity Toolbox oftechniques and approaches that they havedeveloped and continue to expand on as theyhelp students develop their own CreativityToolboxes as both class members and asindividuals.

Michael Hanchett Hanson is Director,Masters Concentration in Creativity andCognition, Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity, Department of HumanDevelopment. E-maik Mah59@columbia.edu

Rebecca Shulman Herz is Head ofEducation, The Noguchi Museum, LongIsland City, New York. E-mail rherz@noguchi.org

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ENDNOTEiNot student's real name.

38 ART EDUCATION / January 2011

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A "Toolbox Approach" for Developing Thoughtfully Structured, Creative ArtExperiences

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