This document summarizes the objectives and content of a creative writing workshop for science students. The workshop aims to: 1) Familiarize students with recent articles on creativity in science and define the creative process and characteristics of creative people. 2) Introduce the Creativity Assessment Scale for evaluating creative works. 3) Motivate students to participate in a creative writing competition by having them select a prompt and write a creative text.

1. Creative Writing Workshop for
Science Students
Elena González Ed. D.
April 7, 2015
CADI 108

2. Objectives of the Presentation
Become familiar with recent articles on creativity in
science.
Define the creative process and the characteristics
of a creative person
Become familiarized with the Creativity Assessment
Scale of Silvia et al.
Be motivated to participate in the RISE Creative
Writing Competition
Select a provocative prompt and write a creative
text

3. References
• How creativity powers science
• Some of the best ideas come not from poring over the facts but from a walk in the woods
• BY JENNIFER CUTRARO 2:17PM, MAY 24, 2012
• www.student.societyforscience.org/article/how-creativity-powers-science
• Scientists outshine arts students with experiments in creative
• Aifric Campbell Thursday 6 November 2014 11.30 GMT
• http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/nov/06/scientists-outshine-arts-students-
with-experiments-in-creative-writing
• Scientists Are More Creative Than You Might Imagine
• But original thinking could be declining among students because of the growing emphasis on test-
taking in schools.
• ALEXANDRA OSSOLA NOV 12 2014, 8:00 AM ET
• http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/11/the-creative-scientist/382633/
• The Art of Creative Science Writing: A Conversation with Gerald N. Callahan
• Nov 21, 2013 by Samantha Tucker Iacovetto, Colorado Review Editorial Assistant
• http://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/the-art-of-creative-science-writing-a-conversation-with-
gerald-n-callahan/

4. Scientists outshine arts students
with experiments in creative
Aifric Campbell found:
• Stem students taking a creative writing course
1. welcomed the opportunity to develop their
potential and “resolve a certain tension
between their artistic and scientific interests”.
2. became more tolerant of uncertainty.
3. were willing to take more risks.
4. were more humble.

5. Scientists outshine arts students
with experiments in creative
Aifric Campbell found STEM students:
5. came up with more creative solutions to
engineering problems.
6. envisioned software programming and
creative writing as creative problem solving.
7. Discovered creative writing as a way to
engage the public in a dialogue about what’s
new in science

6. Scientists outshine arts students
with experiments in creative
• Campbell, English professor at Imperial College
London, states, “A year of reading and writing
fiction raises all sorts of ethical and moral
questions that inspire Stem students to apply
their talent for sceptical enquiry to an analysis of
human behaviour. And isn’t this precisely what
we would all wish for our scientists, engineers,
technologists and doctors – that the men and
women who build, design, code, fix and shape
our world are enriched by their exploration of our
human condition? (2013, parag. 13).

7. How creativity powers science
• Jennifer Cutraro interviews Robert DeHaan, a cell biologist
who studies the teaching of creative thinking.
• Dehaan indicates that science is not merely a body of
knowledge, but more importantly a process of learning.
(Others call it the journey or quest for knowledge).
• If we see science as a process, then, it is easier to
incorporate the teaching of creativity within the teaching of
science.
• Scientific researchers invent from the data they collect
possible explanations. “Creativity is about imagining
possibility and figuring out which one of these scenarios
could be possible…” (Cutraro, 2012, parag. 19)

8. How creativity powers science
• How does the creative process work?
• 1. brainstorming (distributed reasoning)
hearing different ideas helps you to make
unexpected connections
2. unfocus the mind – (associative thinking)
free the mind to make possible
connections between unrelated things
3. naïveté – a lack of experience, knowledge or
training

9. Scientists Are More Creative Than You
Might Imagine
• The author, Alexandra Ossola, quotes from Albert
Einstein, “The greatest scientists are artists as
well.”
• The 4 stages of creativity were described in 1926
by the social psychologist Graham Wallas in his
book “The Art of Thought”.
• Stages of creativity
– Preparation
– Incubation
– Illumination
– Verification

10. Scientists Are More Creative Than You
Might Imagine
• Rex Jung, a professor of neurosurgery explains:
“In incubation you rely on the neural connections
your brain uses for brainstorming-a system known
as the default-mode network. You use the region of
your brain involved in daydreaming and
imagination. It allows ideas to bounce around and
intersect in novel ways.
The cognitive control network takes control once
your brain wants to articulate and implement an
idea.”

11. Scientists Are More Creative Than You
Might Imagine
• Imaginability- the ability to play out ideas in
one’s mind. It is done in the default mode
while the conscious mind is busy doing
something else.
• Recess in school and breaks in academic work
are important to access the default mode.

12. How creativity powers science
• How does the creative process work?
unfocus the mind
– Use associative thinking. Associative thinking is a
process in which the mind is free to wander,
making possible connections between unrelated
ideas. So go for a hike in the woods and let your
mind wander.
– The exploration of other fields by scientists can
give them unimagined creative insights.

13. How creativity powers science
An example of exploring another field of study
• Herschbach, a chemist, learned of a technique in
physics called molecular beams.
• The technique made him think about the possibility of
crossing 2 beams (chorine and hydrogen). After several
years of collecting data, he and a collegue won the
Nobel Prize for discovering new insights into the
behavior of colliding molecules.
• Herschbach recalled that the idea seemed so simple
that it was naïveté.

14. Creative Science Writing Prompt:
Two Frogs in a Vat
By Bill Manhire
http://wewantedtobewriters.com/our-authors/bill-manhire/
Creative Science Writing Prompt-
“One evening two frogs fell into a vat of milk. One was
a scientist. The other was a poet.”
Creative Solution-
• Which of the two was able to survive ‘til morning and
why?

15. Royal Society of New Zealand
Manhire Prize for
Creative Science Writing
Anthology of winners 2007-2010
http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/competitions/manhire-prize/

16. Two Frogs in a Vat
Here is a story I once heard from a Dutch writer.
“One evening two frogs fell into a vat of milk. One was
a scientist. The other was a poet.
The scientist trod water for a while, then did a rapid calculation
involving the buoyancy of his frog-body in milk. It was clear that he
could not last. He gave a sigh and sank to the bottom, where he
drowned.
The poet tried to remember what he knew about
milk. ‘Something about the milk of paradise,’ came
to mind. There was something, too, about the milk
of human kindness.

17. Two Frogs in a Vat
Some lines for a new poem of his own also occurred to
him, though we will not quote them here. And all the
while he went on treading water – or, more accurately,
milk – occasionally wondering how long he could last.
In the morning, the farmer’s wife came into the dairy.
There in the vat was a large block of butter and … lying on
top … a small, exhausted frog.”
Bill Manhire

18. • Definitions of Creativity

19. Definitions of Creativity
1. “Mental activity” providing an answer to a novel
situation.
2. A “process” resulting in one of a kind ideas.
3. A thought “experience” that demonstrates
uniqueness, divergent thinking, imagination, and
fearlessness.
4. The “generation” of the most unusual thoughts .
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at The Iowa State University
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/creativity/defining.html

20. Terms Used to Describe Creativity
• Fluency – number of ideas generated
• Originality and imagination – unusual, unique, and
novel ideas
• Elaboration – ability to explain ideas in detail
• Flexibility, curiosity, resistance to closure – ability to
generate multiple solutions
• Complexity – details and implications of ideas;
recognition of patterns, similarities and differences
• Risk taking – willingness to be wrong and to admit it
The Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at The Iowa State University
http://www.celt.iastate.edu/creativity/defining.html

21. Stages in the Creative Process
Dennett in Gaboras sees the creative process as a two stage cyclic process:
• The generative stage – you brainstorm
Preparation
This stage is characterized by obsessiveness. A period devoted to trying
to solve the problem and collecting data through traditional approaches.
Incubation
In this stage you unconsciously work on the problem.
• The evaluative stage – you focus
Illumination
Here you make an association between the problem and something
familiar. You discover a previously unknown or underlying order.
Verification
The idea is materialized, can be proven, and is diffused or communicated.
Gabora, L. (2002) Cognitive mechanisms underlying the creative process. In (T. Hewett and T. Kavanagh, Eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on
Creativity and Cognition , October 13-16, Loughborough University, UK, 126-133

22. Variable Focus as the Key to Creativity
In sum, creativity is associated with conceptual
fluidity and focus or control.
The focus is variable:
• First you brainstorm an idea (generative stage)
• Then you focus attention on the creative idea
(evaluative stage).
Gabora, L. (2002) Cognitive mechanisms underlying the creative process. In (T. Hewett
and T. Kavanagh, Eds.) Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on
Creativity and Cognition , October 13-16, Loughborough University, UK, 126-133

23. Applying the Creative Process
to Scientific Writing

24. Narrative, Protagonist, and Triumph
• “The central task of science writing for a broad
audience is...how to make science human and
enjoyable without betraying nature. The best
writers achieve that end by two means. They
present the phenomena as a narrative...and they
treat the scientists as protagonists in a story that
contains...the mythic elements of challenge and
triumph."
Edward O. Wilson The Best American
Science and Nature Writing 2001
http://www.jacobberkowitz.com/science-writing/

25. How to Write Creatively about Science
• Don’t just summarize facts. Place the scientific
facts within a story or narrative of triumph.
• Instead of concentrating on the investigative
problem, concentrate on the investigative
triumph.
• Instead of keeping the scientist obscure, make
the scientist the protagonist in the narrative.
• Either that or write a narrative about the
consequences of the scientific triumph or
problem posed.

26. Narrative of the Consequences of a
Scientific Problem
2007 Royal Society of New Zealand Manhire Prize for
Creative Science Writing
Inspiration: Climate Change (Biology)
• Many scientists and social scientists believe that
climate change is a serious threat to human
civilisation. Regardless of climate change, we need
to find sustainable forms of agriculture,
manufacturing and energy. How will we respond?
How can we respond?
• Fiction winner: Bryan Walpert 16 Planets
• Non fiction winner: Alison Ballance Touchstones

27. Fiction winner: Bryan Walpert 16 Planets
• Read pages 6-14 of Shift: Anthology of
Winners

28. 2011 Manhire Award
Chemical World
Fiction biography
• http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/programmes/
competitions/manhire-prize/2011-
information/

29. • REPORT ON THE BIRS WORKSHOP
“CREATIVE WRITING IN MATHEMATICS AND
SCIENCE,”
BANFF, 2-6 MAY 2010

30. RISE Creative Writing Competition
• Writing about the RISE Seminars
• Tell a story about a seminar presentation in
which the scientist is the protagonist.
• Describe the triumphs and challenges of
his/her investigation.

31. RISE Creativity Writing Competition
• Instructions handout

32. Assessing Creativity
Referene:
Silvia, P., Winterstein, B., Wellsi, J. Barona, C., Cram, J., Hess, K., Martínez, J., & Richard, C.
(2008). Assessing creativity with divergent thinking tasks: Exploring the reliability and
validity of new subjective scoring methods. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the
Arts 2(2), 68-85. DOI: 10.1037/1931-3896.2.2.68

33. Creativity Assessment Scores
• Score of 1 - Not at all creative
• Score of 2 - Somewhat creative
• Score of 3 - Creative
• Score of 4 – Very creative
• Score of 5 – Highly creative

34. Creativity Assessment Criteria
Uncommon
• “Any response that is given by a lot of people
is common, by definition.”
• “Unique responses will tend to be creative
responses, although a response given only
once need not be judged creative. For
example, a random or inappropriate response
would be uncommon but not creative.”

35. Creative Assessment Criteria
Remote
• “Creative ideas are remotely linked to everyday
objects and ideas. For example, creative uses for
a brick are “far from” common everyday uses for
a brick, and creative instances of things that are
round, are “far from” common round objects.
Responses that stray from obvious ideas will
tend to be creative, whereas responses close to
obvious ideas will tend to be uncreative.”

36. Creativity Assessment Criteria
Clever
• “Creative ideas are often clever: they strike
people as insightful, ironic, humorous, fitting,
smart. Responses that are clever will then to
be creative responses. Keep in mind that
cleverness can compensate for the other
facets. For example, a common use cleverly
expressed could receive a high score.”

37. Instructions for Judging Creativity
• Creativity can be viewed as having three facets
– uncommon, remote, and clever.
• Creative responses will generally be high on all
three criteria.
• A low score on one criteria will not eliminate
the possibility of a high rating.

38. Creativity Assessment Scale
Criteria 1 2 3 4 5
Uncommon
Remote
Clever

40. Application Exercise
Writing Science Fiction
The Royal Society
• http://invigorate.royalsociety.org/ks2/creating-and-
discovering/science-fiction.aspx
• Instructions:
• Click on the doors. Click on the library. Click on one of the books.
• Search through the books until you find an illustration that inspires
you to write a creative story.
• Select one illustration and write a creative story about it.
• Use the prompt and guide questions for inspiration or just use your
own imagination.

41. Closing
• Questions or comments
• Please, assess the workshop before you leave.