DU Professor Bruce Uhrmacher works with Denver Art Museum
Just this week the Denver Art Museum went live with its online creativity resource for teachers http://creativity.denverartmuseum.org. A number of Morgridge College of Education faculty and students were behind the creation of the website. In particular, Juli Kramer, a doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction, was instrumental in getting the project up and going by writing 78 lessons. Says Juli about the project:
"The lessons reflect the most recent brain research on cognitive and emotional development that stresses the important of whole-body learning; they also facilitate the use of higher-order thinking skills in the creative process as developmentally appropriate.
Creativity research also guided how I crafted the lessons. Several different conditions must exist in order to facilitate students' creative processes, and I worked to incorporate these in each lesson: multisensory experiences; visual focusing skills, brain warm-ups, exploration of others' creative processes; student sharing and validation; an opportunity for frustration and perseverance; and exercises in critical and divergent thinking. Supportive, emotionally safe, and caring classroom communities are also essential for students to take risks when participating in the artistic process, and the lessons are designed to scaffold students efforts to take those risks (and to support the teachers as they create these types of learning communities).
I worked closely with Ellen Kovacs to revise the lessons as needed and met with several staff members to help them understand the theories behind the lessons and how to best articulate them when communicating with others, including through the online Creativity Resource. I feel so privileged to work with everyone at the Denver Art Museum and to be part of this amazing project. A great deal of work lies ahead as teachers add their insights and the museum tackles developing lessons for another 75 objects by next year!"
Submitted by Professor Bruce Uhrmacher
