Creativity In The Early Years

Creativity In The Early Years Creativity in an early years setting is difficult to define, although definitions have been provided on the basis of the attempting to define the process of creativity, the product of a persons creativity or the personal attributes that contribute to creativity. Creativity has, for example, been defined as, a novel and appropriate response to an open-ended task (Amabile and Hennessey, 1992) or as very much a processà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦often with no clearly identifiable outcomes or productà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(allowing children the scope) to explore new possibilities and create new and exciting connections between people, places and thingsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦to discover meanings in their world (Department for Children, School and Families, 2007). I believe, from my personal point of view, that creativity is actually a mixture of all three of these perspectives: people who have certain attributes are more likely to be able to think, and respond, creatively to certain situations and tasks, via certain processes than people who lack these attributes. Creativity, however, is more than the possession of certain attributes and is certainly not linked to intelligence: it is a factor that individuals can bring to all aspects of their lives, in terms of solving problems in all aspects of their lives in terms of approaching tasks in a creative manner in order to find creative solutions to these tasks, be these artistic endeavors or tasks related to music, mathematics or science. As the Department for Children, School and Families (2007) explain, creativity can transform understanding by fostering critical thinking, allowing children to review, reinvent and make new meanings for themselves. Creativity thus understood defines all aspects of a childs school life, not only traditionally artistic endeavors but also all other disciplines such as mathematics and the sciences: creatively thinking about numbers, for example, can lead children to understand the beauty of mathematics and the fascinating world of physics, which can open their minds to new worlds and new possibilities. Teaching mathematics by rote, seeking only the right answers to set questions will only lead children to hate mathematics classes and to view mathematics as an abstracted idea that is not useful to them, practically, in their lives. Creativity, in this sense, then, can be fostered by encouraging children to explore their surroundings, allowing them to seek their own questions about their surroundings and helping them to arrive at interesting answers for their questions, where interesting answers can be understood as answers that will satisfy them and lead them to further questions. Guiding childrens learning in this manner can encourage creative thinking, giving power to childrens ideas and thoughts, allowing them to creatively solve problems. Allowing children to enjoy the process of thinking, of learning, of researching, can embody creativity in them, in terms of allowing them to develop their own creative responses to their learning experiences and their own creative ways of understanding the world around them. As Amabile and Hennessey (1992) argue, people will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction and challenges of the work itself rather than by external pressures with such self-directed motivation leading to higher incidences of creativity and self-determined competence. Self-determination, as Amabile and Hennessey (1992) argue, is central to the development of meaningful creativity, i.e., creative thinking that can have real meaning in the lives of children, allowing them to produce creative solutions to all problems they encounter. Creativity can only be fostered, and used in practice to develop meaningful ways of thinking, when three components are present: domain-relevant skills (such as knowledge, experience and talent in a particular domain); creativity-relevant skills (such as independent, flexible, risk-oriented thinking); and task motivation (with intrinsic, not extrinsic motivation being more likely to lead to creative thin king) (Amabile and Hennessey, 1992). As Duffy (2006) argues, the promotion of open-ended thinking, via the use of open-ended activities, can encourage creativity in young children, encouraging the development of creative solutions via experimentation, exploration, discovery and invention. This encouragement of open-ended thinking, argues Duffy (2006) makes learning more meaningful to young children, allowing them, as it does, the scope to develop their own thoughts about themselves, their environment and their relationships, allowing them to develop their own creative responses to the questions that arise for them, from this understanding. Creativity can, thus, argues Duffy (2006) be encouraged and can, through this encouragement, be learned, with its ramifications, as Craft (2002) argues, being lifewide, equipping young children with the tools they need to develop and maintain a positive, open-minded approach to learning. As Prentice (2000) argues, it can be difficult, within the structure of early years education, with its curriculum and its goals that have to be attained, to encourage such creative thinking, in terms of not having the space to foster the conditions most likely to promote creative thought and action. In my experience, classrooms are often not conducive to the fostering of creative thinking, rather being geared towards the attainment of curriculum goals, and right answer dominated thinking, i.e., teaching, and learning, aimed solely at getting the right answer, not at teaching, or, rather, engendering, creative thinking processes. My personal view of the topic is that creativity is a fundamentally important skill to teach to young children in an early years setting, in terms of equipping children with the tools they need to approach all of their subsequent learning and to move in to the world, in order to deal, not only with their academic work, but with all the situations that their life might present to them. Creative thinking, the creative invention of solutions to problems, can better help children to face not only their academic work but also their lives, allowing them to deal creatively with problems they might encounter, equipping them with the tools they need to move positively through their lives. Conclusion Creativity is fundamentally important in the early years setting, equipping children with a whole way of viewing, exploring and understanding their world, allowing them to explore new possibilities in the ways in which they learn. The importance of creativity in the early years setting cannot be underestimated and, in my personal view, more should be done to foster creativity in young children. Although the Early Years Foundation curriculum highlights that childrens creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and playà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and (children) must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, creativity, ideas and feelings (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2009), recent research, as highlighted in this essay has shown that the forging lifelong, lifewide, creativity in children is a more intrinsic, more involved, more holistic process than simply providing children the opportunity to learn through pla y.

Hemingway’s novel “The Old Man and the Sea” Essay

Hemingway’s late novel â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† lends itself readily to allegorical and religious interpretation; indeed, myriad critical texts exist wherein   â€Å"solutions† to the novel’s extensive and haunting symbolism crowd the pages until the reader begins to doubt the efficacy of any single interpretation. The complexity of Hemingway’s â€Å"fish† story demands as wide an appraisal as can be summoned by the reader and critic, forfeiting claims to any single or final statement on the novel’s specific religious connotations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Without a doubt, traditional components of Roman Catholicism (as well as ancient pagan religious imagery and themes) form a vibrant part of the novel’s theme. For example, the concepts of sin (and original sin) rise as central to the tension, suspense, and character development of the novel. Santiago, the novel’s protagonist undergoes two seemingly separate battles during the course of the novel: first against a gigantic marlin he hopes to catch while fishing alone, far at sea; the second battle he wages – against sharks who â€Å"steal† his prize – leads to a pyrrhic victory. Along the way, both external events blend with Santiago’s internal monologues, which indicate an inner, spiritual struggle, one which first intimates itself and then clearly reveals itself to be universal, rather than personal, in nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By creating a deeply sympathetic character during the first third of the novel, and extending this reader-identification through the more morally ambiguous and treacherous parts of the story, Hemingway allows for universal reader sympathy. Santiago’s portrayal is one of honor, courage, compassion, and humility. These aspects of his character align him with a state of â€Å"purity† or sinless-ness, as though his world mirrors that of the â€Å"pre-fallen† Eden. After killing the great marlin and then losing this trophy to a feeding frenzy of sharks, Santiago embodies the original sin of all men, women and, in fact, Satan Himself, as described by traditional Catholicism.   The sin, stated simply is: pride. A more complex interpretation: that Santiago by traveling far out to sea beyond where any other fisherman would go and in attempting to catch a bigger fish than any fisher man could catch alone, demonstrates Santiago’s will toward individualism and – so – a will against his hitherto modest station in life.  Ã‚   When the sharks attack, Santiago construes them as a punishment for what he has done, by venturing out â€Å"beyond all people. Beyond all people in the world.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the first night of his fight with the marlin, Santiago starts to feel a sense of guilt for what he is doing. â€Å"I am only better than him through trickery,† he thinks, â€Å"and he meant me no harm.† Previously, Santiago believed that fishing for food was a noble act, at sea, fighting the marlin, he begins to believe differently. His self-directed comment about trickery parallels the idea of the Tree of Knowledge and original sin. Mankind’s pride in intelligence leads to senseless destruction, fueled not by need, but by vanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Santiago’s plight brings upon intense reader-sympathy and the inner-struggle described through Santiago’s monologues helps introduce and sustain the spiritual catharsis Santiago experiences, also in the reader. One perceives that an act of vanity or pride carries deep repercussions even if it may seem trivial: a fisherman who fishes not for food but for fame  Ã‚   will wound and destroy   beauty.   At the end of the novel all that is left of the great fish is a skeleton washed away in the tide. Santiago’s sin is that he should have loved and not hunted and killed the great marlin, but in falling prey to his vanity he enacted a universal, human urge, which ultimately produced tragedy and then †¦ wisdom, rather than mere â€Å"trickery.†

Walmart And Its Impact On Society - 1019 Words

People like to think of Walmart as a store with many varieties, because you can get almost anything for low prices. Although Walmart is an American retail corporation, there are many branches of Walmart, not only in the United States but also other places around the globe, making it the largest company by revenue. Because of its variety in products and worldwide locations, Walmart has a significant effect on society, both economically and most importantly the impact of environmental issues. Like many other global industries, Walmart has developed strategic ways in the sustainability of the environment not only for the environmental issue we face, but also a market strategy which forms a connection between society and businesses. Walmart is a business founded by Sam Walton and still owned by the Walton family. The company was first established in 1962 with the first store opening in Roger Arkansas. Like any thriving company, it started out as a small business, which was incorporated in 1969 and gradually became the Walmart we know today. By 1980 Walmart continued to grow with thousands of stores and sales in billions of dollars, quickly moving to online shopping, and offering its consumers new means of shopping experiences by the 2000s. Without Sam Walton, all progress made on Walmart today would not have occurred. Sam Walton said, â€Å"If we work together we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone...we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have aShow MoreRelatedWalmart Stores And Its Impact On Society Essay1894 Words   |  8 PagesIntroduction Walmart is one of the largest corporation in the world. It is widely known for its products that are sold at low prices. There are about 6,300 Walmart stores which millions of people have been given the opportunity to work in. 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Competitive Environmental and Market Analysis of Superdry Free Essay Example, 3750 words

It is evidently clear from the discussion that Porters have developed a strategic tool of five forces that collectively review the competitive pressures as follows: Bargaining Power of Buyers: a Large number of fashion brands offering a wide range of products has considerably increased the power of buyers. Bargaining Power of Supplier: is moderate as the company has been consistently increasing its supply base to deal proactively with risk The threat of New Entrant: growth in the consumers confidence in the retailers and apparel sector has increased this threat considerably. Operation in a large number of countries also increases the threat. The threat of Substitute: is low as fashion changes with the passage of time; however, there will always prevail any fashion in the industry and will not be substituted. Industry Rivalry: a Large number of players in the local and international market has increased this pressure to high end. The global fashion apparel industry is witnessing the growth of around four percent every year from $2,560 trillion (2010) to the $3,180 billion in 2015 mainly accounting the luxury products. Moreover, global brands such as ZARA, Nike, Next, H M, American Eagle and other. We will write a custom essay sample on Competitive Environmental and Market Analysis of Superdry or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Most of the fashion brands are growing global to expand their market base. The market is divided on the basis of the various factors such as age, income, preference for fashions, etc. The market segment for Superdry brand includes the young people mainly of the age segment 15-25 age brackets. Among the people of aforementioned age bracket, men and women who are inclined to buy a branded product with a reasonable price and better quality. Superdry has targeted the customer with the customer with for the affordable products that are offering premium quality clothing and accessories. With a focus on this segment, Superdry has developed a range of the products that has expanded its customer base beyond the core target segment. Positioning refers to the perception of the brand build in the minds of the existing and potential customers. The positioning of the Superdry clothing among the existing and the potential target customers is based on the psychogra phics features. The brand is the mixture of three cultures i. e. Americana vintage, Japanese inspirational graphics combined in the British style.