Creative Responses to
Place
Emma Morley
University of Winchester
Geography: The Big Picture
University of Derby 8-10 April 2010
There’s an awful lot of nonsense talked about
creativity, so we have to untangle it and get the ‘nots’
out of it before we can start teaching it….
http://www.guyclaxton.com/documents/New/A%20Gui
de%20for%20the%20Advanced%20Learner.pdf
Creativity is not grand….
Creativity is not particularly artistic……
Creativity is not just one thing…….
Creativity is…….
‘An advanced form of learning that involves a finely
tuned orchestra of mental attitudes and capabilities
playing together in complicated rhythms. Creativity is
learning at its deepest and most powerful and it builds
on all the mastery of basic skills and habits of more
familiar kinds of learning. It follows that creativity
cannot be trained in any simple mechanistic
sense of the word. It can be cultivated, coached
even but it can’t be engineered let alone taught’
(Guy Claxton, 2003)
Session Aims
 To reflect critically on the term ‘creativity’ and the
value of a cross – curricular approach to learning
 To undertake a range of practical tasks to develop a range
of geographical teaching and learning strategies
 To promote an understanding of an emotional /
creative response to place
 To develop an understanding of the uniqueness of
place at a variety of scales and a variety of times
The New Primary Curriculum
‘Subjects will be complemented by worthwhile and
challenging cross-curricular studies that provide ample
opportunities for children to use and apply their subject
knowledge and skills to deepen understanding.’
(DCSF Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum
Executive Summary & Recommendations April 2009
Paragraph 11 )
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A note of caution…
‘The very nature of creativity in education remains
ambiguous. To what extent creativity in primary
education is conceived of as involving creative
partnerships, as opposed simply to valuing and
nourishing children’s ideas in multiple contexts, is not
clear. To what extent collective or collaborative
creativity is valued as against individualised models, is
also unclear; similarly there are still slippages in
language between ‘creative teaching’, ‘teaching for
creativity’ and ‘creative learning’.
( Cambridge Primary Review, 2010)
Take one Picture
http://www.takeonepicture.org/
'Take One Picture' is the National Gallery's
countrywide scheme for primary schools. Each
year the Gallery focuses on one painting from the
collection to inspire cross-curricular work in
primary classrooms’
Geographical Detectives
- Read the story of the landscape
- Read the landscape storyboard
- Unravel the mystery of places
- R.E.A.D.
- Real life skills-skills for everyday
(Jeff Stanfield-County Geography Inspector-Hampshire, Freelance
Geography Consultant)
Activity 1
WEAVING WORDS
Activity 2
ON OUR DOORSTEP
ABOVE AND BELOW
Activity 3
 What might the rest of the street look like- now, in
the past, in the future…why?
 Who might be in the picture…why?
 What is the street like from where the photo was
taken?
 What would you see if you were standing in the
photo?
 How would you feel if you were in the photo?
Suggested Reading
 Cowley, S. Letting the Buggers be Creative. London: Continuum
 Craft, A. (2005) Creativity in Schools: Tensions and Dilemmas.
Abingdon: Routledge
 Fisher, R. (2004) Unlocking Creativity: Teaching Across the
Curriculum. London: David Fulton
 Jones, R. and Wyse D. (2004) Creativity in the Primary Curriculum:
Theory and Practice. London: David Fulton Publishers.
 Kelly, P. (2005) Thinking Skills in the Primary Classroom. London:
Paul Chapman
 QCA (2005a) Creativity: Find It! Promote It! London: QCA / DfEE
 QCA (2005b) www.ncaction.org.uk/creativity/about.htm
 Wilson, A. (Ed.) (2005) Creativity in Primary Education. Exeter:
Learning Matters
 http://www.creepingtoad.org.uk/
 http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/primarycurriculumreview/
 http://www.primaryreview.org.uk/
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