Creativity Projects

This week, we had the chance to present our creative projects to the class. I greatly enjoyed these classes, even if I wasn't as confident in my project after seeing some of the amazing products created by my classmates. I liked that we had projects from a wide range of mediums, since I think a number of us have said in the past that we didn't think we were very creative. I particularly liked the use of comedy in several presentations. I thought it was an outside-the-box way of thinking about a topic, and it made the presentations entertaining and memorable.

Although I didn't think my presentation was anything special, I was proud of my creative project. I had fun making my collage. I can't draw or paint or anything like that, but I consider myself a visual person and I like making things aesthetically pleasing. This was a good project for me to work on, not only for the creative expression, but because I had to teach myself various Photoshop techniques that will no doubt be useful in the future. I really enjoyed this creativity project, and I am proud of the product that I created.

Should creativity be considered in admissions decisions?

This debate brought up a number of good points from both sides of the argument. Even after all of the evidence was presented, I still found it impossible to make a decision one way or another. I can see the advantages and disadvantages of both sides.

In favor of creativity being considered, I think it would be good to further diversify admissions criteria to encourage a wider spectrum of applicants. Creativity tests could help us move away from the "teach to the test" mindset that we face in today's school system and trickle down to more creativity in the classroom. It would also place less pressure on students to do well on the SATs and give them more freedom to prepare for the admissions area that they felt they could perform best in.

In opposition, many schools already implement tests of creativity for the majors that would require the most creativity. For example, the music department at Etown requires a separate audition process from the regular college admission process. Introducing creativity tests would add another element of stress for applying students. Even if creativity was only used as a component of the overall picture of a student, it would still be looked at as a possible means of failure to exceed by those students. Performing poorly in one area could make or break a student's acceptance and many may think it would be an unnecessary and unfair means of measuring a student's possible success.

At the end of this debate, I was still unsure about my position because I could see the advantages and disadvantages of both sides. I think the debaters did an excellent job of concluding our class's debates.

SCAD 2015

This year, SCAD had a number of interesting presentations. One particular presentation focused on the perceptions of strangers by people with color-aura synesthesia (meaning that they "see" a type of aura when looking at other people). The researcher used two synesthetes and compared the reported auras to see if there were any similarities, which would indicate that there could possibly be a similarity in brain structure or processing between cases. The results showed that there was a fair amount of similarity between the synesthetes when they were given 12 colors from a wheel to choose as descriptors. The responses themselves ranged from basic to very intricate, and I began thinking about if creativity may have an influence on the responses. For example, would a more creative synesthete report more intricate auras? The intricate responses made me think of artwork, as they detailed textures and shapes, rather than just colors (pink spikes, jagged edges). When I am taking Research in Perception next semester, I would like to look into this topic, even though it would be difficult to find enough synesthetes to conduct research on the topic.

Is creativity related to mental illness?

This debate brought up many interesting points about the topic of mental illness and creativity. I went into the debate thinking that yes, there is a connection between the two. However, as the negative side presented the research and its low-correlation results, I began to think about our culture and how we tend to view mental illness, especially when the team asked if it was mental illness that caused great creative outcomes or if we remember the creators more for their mental illness.
       I thought back to elementary school in art class, when we learned about great artists from history. When we learned about Van Gogh, one of the first and most prominent things we learned was that he removed his own ear. This seemed a bit macabre to be a topic of discussion in an elementary school, especially since we went into great detail about how his self-portraits after that were painted from the other side of his face to hide the injury. This episode still remains an iconic memory of Van Gogh and his legacy; sure enough, when you type "Van Gogh" into Google Search, the first result is "Van Gogh ear," followed by "Van Gogh starry night" which is one of the most famous paintings in the world. Instead, his mental illness is a more popular topic. Why do we remember Van Gogh for being "tormented artist", rather than solely his work?
      As the debaters talked about the media's portrayal of mental illness, I immediately thought of the recently released movie, The Imitation Game, which chronicles Alan Turing's invention of Turing machine that was used to break Nazi codes during World War II. Although accounts detail that Turing had certain eccentricities, the movie portrays Turing as possessing characteristics of Asperger's and other autism spectrum disorders. Acquaintances report that Turing was sociable and humorous, a direct contrast to Cumberbatch's portrayal in the film. Asperger's may not be the type of mental illness that was debated, but it still reflects our society's preoccupation with the stereotypical "tormented artist" or troubled genius. Maybe we remember certain creative geniuses because we find it easy to sympathize with them, or perhaps our culture just loves a good tragic story. No matter what the reason, this debate brought up a lot of thought-provoking points about our society and culture.

MacArthur Genius Grant - Deborah Bial

Deborah Bial, who received the grant in 2007, created the Posse Foundation, which aims to make college more accessible for underrepresented and less privileged students who wish to pursue higher education. She focuses primarily on youths from urban environments. The program emphasizes skills that are traditionally considered less important in our school system. Students are chosen for the program based on their personal qualities, such as leadership, communication skills, and ability to work in a team. The chosen students become part of a school-year-long "college training" program that further refines these skills and acts as a support system. Bial's program has a high school graduate rate of nearly 90%, which is far higher than the national average of around 80%. Bial also communicates with the admissions offices of numerous colleges and universities across the nation and emphasizes the importance of alternative admission qualifications and diversity within schools.

I greatly admire Bial's work because she herself has created a program that works directly with youths to help them pursue higher education. For someone in her position as an education strategist, it would be easy to simply advocate for these issues, rather than actually taking action and working with the youths themselves. Her program also aims to send these small groups of youths that have gone through the 8-month program together to the same college in hopes that they will have an already-consolidated support network and will encourage them to stay in school together. This is a unique approach that I have not seen before and I think it is a brilliant solution to the problems that may arise in one's social environment. I think it is simple enough to take an underprivileged youth and help them get into college, but ensuring that they feel comfortable enough to make such a drastic change in their environment is more difficult and I think that is a problem that similar programs may run into.

Introduction to Creativity Research - Week 8

This week, we began our discussion on creativity. We started in a rather strange way, by competing in our own version of a Craft Corner Deathmatch. I particularly enjoyed this activity because it was a fun experience and it allowed us to examine our own creative processes after the activity was over. Our group created a bulletin board of sorts that included a collage of pictures related to psychology. During the activity, I felt that our idea was very creative, but after seeing the other groups' creations, I started thinking that we could have done so much more . The idea was mine and it was the first thing that I thought of when the challenge was presented. I wish that we had spent more time brainstorming.

My favorite creations from the class were the brain sculpture and the art piece that used the textbook cover as a background. I thought that the brain sculpture was especially unique because it used the textbook pages for their physical structure and ability to be shaped, rather than using the images printed on them. I thought that this was a great way of thinking about the materials and really encompassed what the challenge was about: going beyond the expected typical use of the materials.

Overall, I thought that this class was a great way to shake things up and put our own creativity to the test before we began discussing it.

Intelligence Tests in Admissions - Week 7

I enjoyed this week's debate on whether or not intelligence tests should be used in college admissions. I have heard people raise the idea of this issue before, but I have never really listened to the arguments before. In my opinion, I think they should continue to be used but not because they are a "complete picture" of an applicant. I think that colleges should continue to use SAT/ACT scores as a part of the admissions process, but only a part. In our current system, other factors such as class ranking, GPA, extracurriculars, and application essays are considered, but our society seems to put more weight on SAT scores.

In order to make the admissions process fair to all applicants, we need to remember that those scores are only part of the picture. Getting a lower score should not make teenagers feel inadequate, which unfortunately it tends to do. We put so much stress on the importance of improving our test scores and buying practice test books and paying for prep courses, rather than accepting that some people may not test as well as others and moving on from that to focus on other aspects that can reflect their intelligence and abilities.