Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit explores the nature of imagination and creativity, and the potential they offer education today. As the world of education becomes dominated by government and business directives for accountability, the encouragement of originality, inventiveness and deeper thinking in decision-making, which are fostered through imagination and creativity, become critical abilities for the adults of tomorrow. This unit embraces a broad understanding of the concepts of imagination and creativity, and explores ways in which teachers might adopt principles and practices to encourage the imaginative and creative learning behaviours of their students, and the imaginative and creative learning and teaching behaviours of themselves.
The aim of this unit is to enable pre-service teachers to explore the nature of imagination and creativity, and the potential they offer to education today.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Research and evaluate the various definitions and ...
Learning Outcome 01
Research, critique and design for the effective as...
Learning Outcome 02
Design a framework that enables the development of...
Learning Outcome 03
Reflect on and apply the use of various technologi...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Defining imagination and creativity in education
- Imagination and self
- Creativity and self
- Imagination, creativity and curriculum
- Imagination, creativity and assessment
- Imagination, creativity and technology
- Cultural contexts of imagination and creativity
Assessment strategy and rationale
A range of assessment procedures will be used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Such procedures may include, but are not limited to, online asynchronous discussions, podcasting and report writing.
Minimum Achievement Standards
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.
The total of assessment tasks will amount to the equivalent of 5,000 words.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1 Collaborative online discussio...
Assessment Task 1
Collaborative online discussions and personal reflective critiques of learning module content.
20%
Assessment Task 2 Promotional and transformation...
Assessment Task 2
Promotional and transformational multimedia task around embedding imagination and creativity in an educational setting.
40%
Assessment Task 3 Development of an imagination ...
Assessment Task 3
Development of an imagination and creativity curriculum framework for implementation in school or early childhood contexts.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Pre-service teachers will be involved in a variety of teaching-learning strategies to progress and demonstrate their understandings in this unit. Participants will be involved in a variety of teaching-learning strategies to support learning, including: Learning Management System (LMS) access, self-paced readings, online discussions, experiential learning, problem solving, and an exploration of content through a broad range of technologies.
This 10-credit point unit is generally taught fully online across a 12 week semester. Participants should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for this unit including a variety of flexible teaching and learning strategies, dependent on the needs of the particular group and the technologies available.
Representative texts and references
Craft, A. (2005). A language for creativity (pp. 17-25). In Creativity in schools: tensions and dilemmas. Routledge: London.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Finding Flow. Psychology Today, 30 (40), 46-71.
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations for the Council of Australian Governments (DEEWR) (2009). Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Canberra, ACT: DEEWR.
Duffy, B. (2006). Supporting creativity and imagination in the early years (2nd ed,). London: Open University Pres,Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Oxford, UK: Capstone Publishing Limited.
Robinson, K. & Aronica, L. (2015). Creative Schools: Revolutionizing Education from the Ground Up. UK: Penguin.
Websites
Ken Robinson http://www.sirkenrobinson.com
Kieran Egan https://circe-sfu.ca/kieran-egan/