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Descriptors:
Cognitive Processes; Creativity; Experimental Psychology; Human Body; Motion; Nonverbal Communication; Thinking Skills; Cognitive Ability; Freehand Drawing; Visual Stimuli; Undergraduate Students

Abstract:
Cognitive scientists describe creativity as fluid thought. Drawing from findings on gesture and embodied cognition, we hypothesized that the physical experience of fluidity, relative to nonfluidity, would lead to more fluid, creative thought. Across 3 experiments, fluid arm movement led to enhanced creativity in 3 domains: creative generation, cognitive flexibility, and remote associations. Alternative mechanisms such as enhanced mood and motivation were also examined. These results suggest that creativity can be influenced by certain types of physical movement. (Contains 4 figures and 4 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Program Effectiveness; Classification; Structural Equation Models; Short Term Memory; Mental Computation; Perceptual Development; Cognitive Processes; Correlation; Perception; Undergraduate Students; Foreign Countries; Novelty (Stimulus Dimension)

Abstract:
Working memory is crucial for many higher level cognitive functions, ranging from mental arithmetic to reasoning and problem solving. Likewise, the ability to learn and categorize novel concepts forms an indispensable part of human cognition. However, very little is known about the relationship between working memory and categorization. This article reports 2 studies that related people's working memory capacity (WMC) to their learning performance on multiple rule-based and information-integration perceptual categorization tasks. In both studies, structural equation modeling revealed a strong relationship between WMC and category learning irrespective of the requirement to integrate information across multiple perceptual dimensions. WMC was also uniformly related to people's ability to focus on the most task-appropriate strategy, regardless of whether or not that strategy involved information integration. Contrary to the predictions of the multiple systems view of categorization, working memory thus appears to underpin performance in both major classes of perceptual category-learning tasks. (Contains 8 tables, 12 figures and 3 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Cognitive Processes; Feedback (Response); Delay of Gratification; Perceptual Development; Inferences; Classification; Stimuli; Undergraduate Students; Foreign Countries

Abstract:
Evidence that learning rule-based (RB) and information-integration (II) category structures can be dissociated across different experimental variables has been used to support the view that such learning is supported by multiple learning systems. Across 4 experiments, we examined the effects of 2 variables, the delay between response and feedback and the informativeness of feedback, which had previously been shown to dissociate learning of the 2 types of category structure. Our aim was twofold: first, to determine whether these dissociations meet the more stringent inferential criteria of state-trace analysis and, second, to determine the conditions under which they can be observed. Experiment 1 confirmed that a mask-filled feedback delay dissociated the learning of RB and II category structures with minimally informative (yes/no) feedback and also met the state-trace criteria for the involvement of multiple latent variables. Experiment 2 showed that this effect is eliminated when a less similar, fixed pattern mask is presented in the interval between response and feedback. Experiment 3 showed that the selective effect of feedback delay on II learning is reduced with fully informative feedback (in which the correct category is specified after an incorrect response) and that feedback type did not dissociate RB and II learning. Experiment 4 extended the results of Experiment 2, showing that the differential effect of feedback delay is eliminated when a fixed pattern mask is used. These results pose important challenges to models of category learning, and we discuss their implications for multiple learning system models and their alternatives. (Contains 2 tables, 10 figures and 9 footnotes.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Higher Education; English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Classification; Language of Instruction; Second Language Learning; Academic Discourse; Cues; Writing (Composition); Computational Linguistics; Undergraduate Students; Graduate Students; College Faculty; Teacher Attitudes; Language Styles

Abstract:
As demand for English-medium higher education continues to grow internationally and participation in higher education increases, the need for a better understanding of academic writing is pressing. Prior university wide taxonomies of student writing have relied on intuition, the opinions of faculty, or data from course documentation and task prompts. In contrast, our classification is grounded in analysis of all 2858 BAWE (British Academic Written English) corpus texts actually produced by undergraduate and taught postgraduate university students in England for assessment purposes. This builds on the American tradition of classifying university student writing tasks (e.g. Horowitz 1986; Hale "et al." 1996; Melzer 2009) and the very different Australian tradition of classifying primary and secondary school children's written texts as genres (e.g. Martin and Rothery 1986; Coffin 2006). Understanding our classification of 13 genre families enables more meaningful interrogation of the BAWE corpus by teachers and researchers. The diversity in student genres across disciplines and levels of study is noteworthy for academic writing materials developers and all interested in the nature of higher education. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Play; Researchers; Teaching Methods; Young Children; Imagination; Child Development; Cognitive Processes; Creativity; Thinking Skills

Abstract:
For play researchers, no one looms larger than Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky viewed play, particularly pretend play, as a critical part of childhood, allowing a child to stand "a head taller than himself." His biggest theoretical contribution may have been the Zone of Proximal Development: the idea that children are capable of a range of achievement during each stage of their lives. In the right environment, with the right guidance (later dubbed "scaffolding"), children can perform at the top of that range. For instance, Vygotsky explained, when a child can pretend that a broomstick is a horse, he or she is able to separate the object from the symbol. A broom is not a horse, but it's possible to call a broom a horse, and even to pretend to ride it. That ability to think abstractly is a huge mental leap forward, and play can make it happen. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Cognitive Processes; Experiential Learning; Teaching Methods; Creativity; Theaters; Classification; Oral Interpretation; Reading; Writing Instruction; Writing (Composition); College English; English Instruction; Higher Education; Theater Arts

Abstract:
The pedagogical principle of experiential learning embodied in the oral interpretation of literature through Readers' Theater provides an avenue to accomplish a seemingly daunting task. Students' participation in reading, interpreting, discussing, writing, assessing, and performing their own creative responses to a literary work promotes a learning activity that leaves an indelible mark on their educational process as they explore complex and abstract levels of thinking--in real time, no less. The activity entices students out of the virtual world of technology to explore a tangible sphere of performance. The thought processes that the activity demands cover the gamut of Bloom's taxonomy of skills, which defines levels of intellectual behavior important to learning. The synthesis and evaluation elements at the top of the taxonomy demand creative behavior. Anderson and Krathwohl's revision of the taxonomy--remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating--also places creativity at the top of the hierarchy of skills. Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Academic Discourse; Critical Literacy; Ethnography; Play; Nonfiction; Young Children; History; History Instruction; Reader Text Relationship; Imagination; Creativity; Emergent Literacy; Literacy; Writing Instruction

Abstract:
This article examines the relationship between literacy and play in six- and seven-year-olds' engagement with non-fiction writing. I draw from a year-long ethnographic study (Erickson, 1986) of a US classroom's "writing time", intentionally structured on children's own interests and enquiries. Rather than strict adherence to monolithic models described in the school region's mandated curriculum and assessments, the children treated genres as porous and used writing as a tool for multi-modal play. In authoring and interacting with non-fiction texts, they blended "real" and "imaginary" worlds as they communed with historical figures on their own terms. Children used play to enquire into and manipulate the parameters of non-fiction, authoring their relationships with knowledge in the process. Through their exchanges with one another, children became familiar with non-fiction topics. At the same time, their play positioned conventional academic discourses as being open to transformation. This article makes an argument for a more synergistic conception of "serious" and "playful" authoring practices, and for the role of play as a component of critical literacy. (Contains 5 figures.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Motivation; Self Efficacy; Emotional Response; Social Environment; Video Technology; Imagination; Environmental Influences; Psychological Patterns; College Students; Creative Thinking; Thinking Skills; Creativity

Abstract:
The present study explored which environmental and psychological variables influenced the imagination of video/film major university students, and the effects these variables had on their imaginative capability development. The hypothesis of the study--that "intrinsic motivation" played a mediating role in imaginative capability development--was partially supported. The structural model also showed that both "inspiration through action" and "self-efficacy" demonstrated positive, direct effects on reproductive imagination, while "negative emotion" had a negative, direct effect. Creative imagination was positively influenced by "inspiration through action," but negatively influenced by "negative emotion." In addition, "organizational measure," "social climate," "generative cognition," "positive emotion," "inspiration through action," and "self-efficacy" had significant and indirect effects on both types of imagination. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Descriptors:
Curriculum Design; Journal Writing; Goal Orientation; Likert Scales; Measures (Individuals); Internet; Teaching Methods; Semi Structured Interviews; Computer Literacy; Classification; Cognitive Processes; Thinking Skills; Qualitative Research; Statistical Analysis; Critical Thinking; Problem Solving; Creativity; Teacher Attitudes; Questionnaires; Social Theories; Educational Technology; Online Searching; Intervention; Reflection; Foreign Countries; Elementary School Teachers; Secondary School Teachers

Abstract:
This quantitative and qualitative interpretive exploratory case study investigates whether exposure to an Internet based "Extended Cyberhunt" strategy enables teachers to attain a set of outcomes similar to Prensky's "Essential 21st Century Skills" and the "Critical Outcomes of the South African National Curriculum Statement (NCS)". The outcomes referred to include effective planning, designing, decision making and goal setting; improved computer and data searching skills; enhanced confidence, interest, reflective ability, collaboration, judgment and creative and critical thinking; as well as effective problem solving and the ability to communicate and interact with individuals and groups. The Extended Cyberhunt strategy, which focuses on enabling participants to become the designers of questions on curriculum related topics at different cognitive levels of Bloom's "Taxonomy", was introduced to teachers who were first time users of the Internet, Microsoft "Word" and "PowerPoint". The intention was to ascertain these teachers' perceptions of the utility of the strategy in terms of assisting them to implement the critical outcomes described above with school level learners. Data on their perceptions and experiences related to these outcomes were generated and triangulated by means of a pre and post-Likert scale questionnaire, an open ended questionnaire, qualitative semi-structured interviews, reflective journal writing, and implementer reflections. Positive gains were revealed in terms of all of the above outcomes after exposure to the Extended Cyberhunt strategy. These findings are considered in terms of differences between the approach used and traditional teacher-centred teaching, and the strategy is examined using activity theory as a lens. While we are aware that many alternative approaches exist that may be just as successful in terms of attaining the desired outcomes, we believe that the Extended Cyberhunt strategy is both a fruitful extension of "WebQuests" and other existing Internet-based approaches, and a relatively easily implementable and viable way of attaining the desired outcomes. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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Creativity; Semantics; Figurative Language; Cognitive Processes; Information Processing; Task Analysis; Neurology; Research; Brain; Models; Investigations; Classification; Science Education

Abstract:
Creativity has emerged in the focus of neurocognitive research in the past decade. However, a heterogeneous pattern of brain areas has been implicated as underpinning the neural correlates of creativity. One explanation for these divergent findings lies in the fact that creativity is not usually investigated in terms of its many underlying cognitive processes. The present fMRI study focuses on the neural correlates of conceptual expansion, a central component of all creative processes. The study aims to avoid pitfalls of previous fMRI studies on creativity by employing a novel paradigm. Participants were presented with phrases and made judgments regarding both the unusualness and the appropriateness of the stimuli, corresponding to the two defining criteria of creativity. According to their respective evaluation, three subject-determined experimental conditions were obtained. Phrases judged as both unusual and appropriate were classified as indicating conceptual expansion in participants. The findings reveal the involvement of frontal and temporal regions when engaging in passive conceptual expansion as opposed to the information processing of mere unusualness (novelty) or appropriateness (relevance). Taking this new experimental approach to uncover specific processes involved in creative cognition revealed that frontal and temporal regions known to be involved in semantic cognition and relational reasoning play a role in passive conceptual expansion. Adopting a different vantage point on the investigation of creativity would allow for critical advances in future research on this topic. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.) Note:The following two links are not-applicable for text-based browsers or screen-reading software. Show Hide Full Abstract

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