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dc.contributor.authorCraft, Anna
dc.contributor.authorCremin, Teresa
dc.contributor.authorBurnard, Pamela
dc.contributor.authorDragovic, Tatjana
dc.contributor.authorChappell, Kerry
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-31T10:45:48Z
dc.date.issued2012-05-16
dc.description.abstractThe authors have, for some years, studied the concept of ‘possibility thinking’ (PT), or ‘what if’ and ‘as if’ thinking in children aged 3–11, which generates novelty – and the pedagogical strategies which foster it. They have argued, on the basis of previous qualitative studies, that ‘PT’ is at the core of creativity in education. Having begun as a conceptual study for 7 years, this team has undertaken empirical studies of PT in classrooms. This paper discusses findings from the third phase of empirical work focusing on 9- to 11-year olds. The particular research question addressed here is ‘What characterises possibility thinking as manifest in the learning engagement of children aged 9–11?’. In a small-scale qualitative study, involving co-participation with teachers, the paper features episode analysis of naturalistic video data featuring children aged 9–11 in two schools. It focuses on PT evidenced by children engaged in a range of classroom activities, some established as individual activities and others as group work. The study reveals some features of PT in both sites (question-posing [Q-P], question-responding [Q-R], self-determination, intentional action, development, being imaginative, play/playfulness, immersion and innovation) to differing degrees of strength. Risk-taking was absent in both and a new feature, collaboration, evident in both. Differences were documented in how Q-P and Q-R manifest, compared with earlier studies with younger children. This study seeks to make an evidence-based contribution to the characterisation of PT as driving creativity in the classroom, with implications for research and practice.en_GB
dc.identifier.citationVol. 41, No. 5,pp. 538–556en_GB
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/03004279.2012.656671
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10871/15778
dc.language.isoenen_GB
dc.publisherTaylor and Francisen_GB
dc.subjectpossibility thinkingen_GB
dc.subjecttheorising everyday creativity in educationen_GB
dc.titlePossibility thinking: culminative studies of an evidence-based concept driving creativity?en_GB
dc.date.available2014-10-31T10:45:48Z
dc.identifier.issn0300-4279
dc.identifier.journalEducation 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Educationen_GB


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