The document discusses the development of creative thinking and innovation within the context of a virtual museum for future learning and collaboration. It reviews historical perspectives on creativity research from the 1950s to the 1990s, emphasizing the importance of environments and processes that foster creativity. The proposal aims to create a community-based knowledge garden co-designed by teens and college students to promote creative self-education.

1. Towards a Creative Thinking & Innovation Pavilion for a Virtual Museum of the Future: Synectics, “Everywhere,” and …? NMC Creativity Symposium in Second Life Ted M. Kahn, Ph.D. DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc. & DesignWorlds for College NMC Fellow © 2007 by DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc .

2. What is DesignWorlds? 10-year old company dedicated to developing and supporting new kinds of collaborative, creative learning & knowledge-making communities Web-based Lifelong Learning Collaboratories DesignWorlds for College, Grad School and Careers

3. “ Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of the imagination” —John Dewey “ Imagination is more important than knowledge.” —Albert Einstein “ Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”—John Lennon

4. “ The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Dr. Alan Kay, visionary creator of the first personal computer (Xerox PARC)

5. Why Man Creates…

7. Creativity Research: 1950’s: J.P. Guilford (USC) 120 Different Intellectual Skills

8. The Act of Creation Arthur Koestler:

9. The Act of Creation Arthur Koestler: “ Bissociation”

10. Creativity Research: 1960’s Creative Personality and Development of Creative Thinking in Education • Institute for Personality Assessment & Research (Psychology Dept., U.C. Berkeley)--funded by Carnegie Corporation • Development of Creative Thinking Curricular Products for K-12 (e.g, Edward de Bono, Covington, Crutchfield, et al.) • Creative Thinking Tests (e.g, Paul Torrance)

11. Creativity: 1970’s • Computer models/simulation of creative thinking and problem-solving (e.g., Newell & Simon’s General Problem-Solver (GPS) program • Birth of Cognitive Science--and dominance of Information Processing Models of all kinds of thinking and cognitive tasks

12. Creativity: 1980’s • Intrinsic Motivation and social psychology of creativity (Teresa Amabile, now at Harvard Business School) • Creative expression tools and explorations using personal computers

13. Creativity: 1990’s • Creativity and Creative Thinking are situated activities : Social, Temporal and Environmental (IRL/Lave & Wenger: Situated Learning and Cognition; “Communities of Practice”) • Systems views of Creativity and “Flow”: Interactions between Knowledge Domains and Social Practices (Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi)

14. Most everyday “real world” learning and professional development are social , informal , and situated activities

17. Synectics W. J. J. Gordon & Tony Poze (1940’s - 1970’s)

18. Synectics Analogies: Making the Strange Familiar and Making the Familiar Strange • Direct Analogies • Personal/Fantasy Analogies • “ Compressed Conflict” or ”Book Title” (e.g., oxymoron phrases, such as “deafening silence”)

19. Making the Familiar Strange…

20. Synectics Groups: The Process (George Prince)

21. Everywhere (Moshe D. Caspi, 1977) • Different spaces have different qualities to develop and stimulate thinking and creative self-education: • Fantasy Room • Common Sense Room • Room of digging into the past • Room of projecting into the future • Connections/analogy room • etc..

22. Towards a Virtual Museum of the Future A Futures Community-based learning & knowledge garden — co-designed and maintained by teens & college students

23. Some Important Related Web Links & Resources • For more information on the Virtual Museum of the Future and Creativity in Education, Synectics and “Everywhere”: Email: [email_address] Web: http://www.designworlds.com/creativity/ Dr. Ted M. Kahn DesignWorlds for Learning, Inc. (408) 252-2285