Volume 4, nr. 2: Undren og livsvarme i undervisningen

In educating the creative mind, it becomes imperative to reach a deeper understanding of the creative mind and of creativity itself. A vast number of creativity research studies conducted in recent years indicates that creativity is closely related to art, artistic practice and artistic modes of relating to and communicating with the world around us. Furthermore, creativity researchers in the field generally agree to base their definition of creativity on value and novelty, and they thus agree to presuppose a more or less tacit range of utilitarian and anthropocentric categories. In educating the creative mind, it is therefore also imperative to investigate the teleological basis for our understanding of the creative mind – what is the purpose of creativity and how does creativity relate to and influence our lives, practice, learning and the world around us? This paper examines the nature of the arts and the creative process and proposes a definition of creativity that places the arts and arts-based education as one of the many ways to promote creative thinking and innovation. Finally, the paper argues as one of its main conclusions that any change towards more creative preschools and early elementary schools presupposes a change of the culture of the schools and that this change in its turn presupposes a deep and unfolded understanding of the very culture that we want to enrich.

Denne artikel tager udgangspunkt i nogle lærings- og dannelseserfaringer fra arkitekt-skolerne i Danmark og særlig Designskolen Kolding, hvor en mere fænomenologisk og undringsbaseret undervisningstilgang i disse år bliver afprøvet. Kan man tænke sig en alternativ form for universitetspædagogik, hvor de Fire Stemmer (System, Fag, Person og Sag) kommer i spil, og hvor ’practicebased research’ tænkes fra en grundlæggende fænomenologisk-hermeneutisk position og ud fra en idé om en ’forsknings-poetik’? Og hvorledes skaber man undringsfællesskaber i undervisningen? Kan man undre sig uden ord?

Vi evaluerer skoler, skønhed, musik, skiferier, hjemmehjælp, sygehuse, skraldemænd, aviser, mekanikere, reklamer, læger, kommuner, fødsler, øl, ægtefæller og hjemmesider som aldrig før i historien. Vi investerer mængder af energi i at tale om livet. Vi nøjes nemlig ikke bare med at leve det – men hvirvles ind i en evindelig, selvkommenterende kultur & der er ingen mulighed for at undslippe – endsige for at råbe: Stop verden – jeg vil af!

Arts-based disciplines in the schools and the creative thought those classes generate are recognized in the areas of research and education. But arts education courses in our schools are being threatened with extinction. Do adolescent students see the arts-based classes offered at their schools as important to their creativity? This study explores the question “Does arts education have a relationship to eighth-grade rural adolescent students’ creativity?” Student questionnaires, focus-group interviews, and follow-up interviews were data collection methods used with 92 eighth-grade teen students. Strong emphasis was placed on gathering personal narratives, comments, and opinions directly from the students. Content analysis was used to analyze the student interviews. The students in this study had much to share on the arts courses offered in their school.