Module 11:

ARTS AND CREATIVE LITERACY

I. CONCEPT EXPLORATION

Teachers need to be creative by all means because teaching entails critical thinking and
creativity not only in presenting lessons but perhaps in all facets of instructional endeavour.
Therefore, students’ creativity potential should be honed through various pedagogic techniques,
classroom activities and engagement. Techers have to understand creative literacy deeply to guide
them in assessing their own creativity and that of their students.

II. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Define arts and creative literacy.

2. Identify the seven habits of highly creative people
3. Explain eye-hand coordination and some associated disorders, interventions and
developments
4. Compare and contrast visual and verbal creativity
5. Discuss aesthetics and three approaches from a philosophical perspective
6. Cite ways on how to integrate arts and creative literacy in the curriculum
7. Draw relevant life lessons and significant values from a personal experience in creating an
artwork or presenting a performance critiqued by others.
8. Analyze research abstract on creative literacy and its implications to teaching-learning
process.
9. Create an art work and evaluate it using self-made assessment rubric.

III. ABSTRACTION

Arts and Creative Literacy

Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value. Moreover, creativity is the
ability to see the world in new ways. Therefore, creative individuals exhibit the ability to switch
between different modes of thinking shift their mental focus that suggests a connection between
creativity and dynamic interactions of brain networks (Sun, et. al,2019).

Likewise, creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Henceforth, it
is characterized by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make
connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. In involves two
processes: thinking, then producing (Naiman, 2011).

As such, creativity is a combinatorial force: the ability to tap into one’s ‘inner’ pool of
resources, such as knowledge, insight, information, inspiration; and the fragments in the mind to
combine them in extraordinary new ways (Popova, n.d. in Naima, 2011). It is also the process of
bringing something new into being that requires passion and commitment.

Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline, and mastering way of
thinking. It can be learned by experimenting, exploring, questioning assumptions, using imagination
and synthesizing information.
 The ability to generate creative and innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind,
but also a function of five key behaviors that optimize brain for discovery: (1) associating or drawing
connections between questions, problems, or ideas form unrelated fields; (2) questioning or posing
queries that challenge common wisdom; (3) observing or scrutinizing the behavior of others to
identify new ways of doing things; (4) networking meeting people with different ideas and
perspectives; and (5) experimenting or constructing interactive experiences and provoking responses
to see what insights emerge

(http://www.cretivityatwork.com/2014/02/17/what-is-cretivity/)

Developing literacies of the arts and creativity involves design of physical learning
environment, the emotional environment, scheduling, organization and implementation of
curriculum curriculum and instruction and attention to the body and the brain. Therefore, teachers
should be empowered in developing these literacies among students with the support of the
administrators, parents, and other stakeholders.

Seven Habits of Highly Creative People

Naiman (2014) opined that if a person makes a habit of the seven practices, he/she will be
highly creative in his/her field. Thus, these would help teachers attain highest possible level of
creativity.

1. Prepare the ground. Creativity requires an absorbed mind, a relaxed state of focus and
attention by giving the self sufficient time and space needed while letting the desire to
create from the pleasure of creative expression and inspiration.
2. Plant seeds for creativity. It is important to put attention on what you want to create,
not on complaints and set an intention to produce the desired results.
3. Live in the question. Ask questions, instead of trying to find immediate answers answers
and pay attention to questions that other people ask.
4. Feed your brain. Get interested in something that later can provide you wisdom and
ideas if you learn to make connections between people, places and things that are not
usually connected.
5. Experiment and explore. Follow your curiosity, experiment with ideas, and learn from
your mistakes therefore, the quality of your creativity will improve.
6. Replenish your creative stock. You must learn to be self-nourishing and translate
hobbies, talents and skills into wonderful potentials.
7. Liberate your creativity. Your child’s play provides the clue to your creativity, potentials
and passion.

In general, creativity takes on many forms in business, art, design, education and
science. When you express your creativity in these domains, you have ability to make life
indeed a work of art (Naiman, 2011).

Eye-Hand Coordination

In most of our creative activities and endeavors, we integrate eye-hand coordination) is the
coordinated control of eye movement with hand movement and the processing of visual input to
guide reaching and grasping along with the use of proprioception of hands to guide the eyes. Eye-
hand coordination can be observed in diverse activities, such as the movement objects, handwriting,
catching a ball, sports, performance, music, reading, computer gaming, typing, and others. In short,
it becomes part of the mechanisms of performing everyday tasks. Without it, people would be
unable to carry out even the simplest actions in daily life.

Eye-hand coordination therefore, is the ability of the vision system to coordinate the
information received through the eyes to control, guide, and direct the hands in the accomplishment
of a given task. It is also a complex cognitive ability as it unites visual and motor skills, allowing the
hand to be guided by the visual stimulations that the eyes receive. It is the ability to do activities that
require simultaneous use of hands and eyes, like an activity that uses the information that eyes
perceive (visual spatial perception) to guide the hands in carrying out a movement.

Hand-eye coordination is important for child development and academic success, which is
equally important among adults to use in countless activities on a daily basis. Most activities in a
day-to-day life important to develop it as possible. Obviously, visual information is used to correct an
inappropriate behavior in a situation.

We use our eyes to direct attention to stimulus and help the brain understand where the
body is located in space (self-perception). Reciprocally, we use our hands to simultaneously carry out
a determined task based on the visual eye).

Examples of eye-hand coordination

1. In writing. When making lines, the eyes send visual information to the brain to tell
where the hand is placed and if legible.
2. Typing on a keyboard. Although the types of movement are different, but visual
information is used to tell the brain how to guide the hand or if a mistake needs to be
corrected.
3. When driving. It uses visual information to move the hands on the wheel, keeping the
car in the middle of the lane and avoiding accidents.
4. In sports. In any sports, the eyes usually coordinate with the movement of some parts of
the body called “motor coordination. Depending on the sport, either hand-eye
coordination (basketball, tennis, football, etc.) or foot-eye coordination (soccer,
track,etc.) will be more dominant.
(http://www.cognifit.com/science/cognitive-skills/eye-hand-coordination).

Problems and disorders related to poor eye-hand coordination.

Hand-eye coordination can also work poorly even if the person’s eyes and vision are not effected
and if their motor control skills work properly. It is possible for someone with a perfect vision to
have hand-eye coordination problems that will only manifest when they use both the visual and
motor systems together.

Any alteration to the visual or motor systems can significantly affect hand-eye coordination,
like visual or muscular problems, such as strabismus (crossed eyes), amblyopia, muscle hypotopia,
balance problems, or crossed laterality. Brain damage to the motor areas or perceptive areas may
also cause hand-eye coordination problems.

Poor hand-eye coordination can affect activities that may lead to developmental disorders,
learning disorders (related to reading, writing and playing sports), in academics (making mistakes
when they take notes, poor hand writing, poor attention), professional areas (in typing or assembling
objects), and problems with daily activities.

Hence, poor-eye coordination can have a variety of causes, but the following are two main
conditions for inadequate hand-eye coordination.

1. Vision impairment. It is a loss of vision that makes it hard or impossible to perform daily
tasks without specialized adaptations caused by loss of visual acuity, in which the eye
does not see objects as clearly as usual.
 2. Movement disorders. These are characterized by impaired body movements caused by
variety of causes, such as ataxia, which is characterized by lack of coordination while
performing voluntary movements; and hypertonia, a condition marked by an abnormal
increase in muscle tension and a reduced ability of a muscle to stretch.
http://www.cognifit.com/science/cognitive-skills/eye-hand-coordinantion.

Hand-eye coordination development stages. Hand-eye coordination development milestones are

follows:

Between birth and three years

1. Between birth and three years of age, infants can accomplish the following skills can:
1.1 start to develop vision that allows them to follow slowly moving objects with their eyes.
1.2 Begin to develop basic hand-eye skills, such as reaching, grasping objects, feeding,
dressing;
1.3 Begin to recognize concepts of place and direction, such as up, down, in; and
1.4 Develop the ability to manipulate objects with fine motor skills.

Between three and five years

2. Between three and five years of age, little children can:

2.1 continue to develop hand-eye coordination skills and a preference for left or right
handedness;
2.2 continue to understand and use concepts of place and direction, such as up, down,
under, beside;
2.3 develop the ability to climb, balance, run, gallop, jump, push and pull, and take stairs
one at a time; and
2.4 develop eye/hand/body coordination, eye teaming, and depth perception.

Five to seven years

3. Children between five and seven years old can:

3.1 improve fine motor skills, such as handling writing tools, using scissors, etc.;
3.2 continue to develop climbing, balancing, running, galloping and jumping abilities;
3.3 continue to improve hand-eye coordination and handedness preference; and
3.4 learn to focus vision on school work for hours every day.

(http://www.healthofchildren .com/G-H/Hand-Eye-Coordination.htmi#ixzz5xFc4rsqG)

Visual Literacy
In the advent of the internet, students must develop the necessary virtual literacy skills to
navigate the image-intense world.

Therefore, visual literacy refers to interpreting and creating visual images and usually about
communication and interaction.

Visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create visual images. It is a concept that relates
to art and design and has much wider applications. It is about language, communication and
interaction. Visual media is a linguistic tool, with which we communicate, exchange ideas and
navigate our highly visual digital world.

The term was first coined in 1969 by John Debes, who was the founder of the International
Visual Literacy Association Debes explains: “Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a
human being can develop by seeing, having and integrating other sensory experiences.”
 According to Oxford Research Encyclopedia, visual literacy is the ability to interpret,
negotiate and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the
meaning of literacy, which commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. It is
therefore, based on the idea that pictures can be read and the meaning can be through process of
reading.

Serafini (2017) asserted that visual literacy is a set of visual competencies or cognitive skills
and strategies one needs to make sense of visual images. These visual competencies were seen as
images regardless of the contexts of production, reception, and dissemination. More contemporary
definitions stress the visual literacy is a contextualized, social practice as much as an individualized,
cognitively based set of competencies. It is also a process of generating meanings in transaction with
multimodal ensembles that include written text, visual images, and design elements form a variety
of perspectives to meet the requirements of particular social contexts.

Theories of visual literacy can be integrated across disciplines. Therefore, visual literacy now
incorporates sociocultural, semiotic, critical, and multimodal perspectives to understand the
meaning that are potential of the visual and verbal ensembles encountered in social environments
(Serafini, 2017). Digital technology has a greatly impacted our understanding of visual literacy as we
now see children growing up with tablets and computers and what appears to be highly developed
visual literacy instincts. (https://visualliteracytoday.org/what-is-visual-literacy/)

Verbal creativity
In view of the rapidly increasing complexity of the world, creativity is more important now
than before and is even considered as a useful and effective response to evolutionary changes, since
it allows the individual to flexibly respond to the continuously changing conditions around (Runco,
2004 in Fink, et. al., 2015). Torrance, (1969) in Hasan (2017) recognized creativity as important for
the development of a fully functioning, mentally healthy, well-educated and vocationally successful
individual. It is because of growing recognition of the importance of creative functioning and there is
sufficient evidence of the university of creativity.

Scott, et. al (2004) cited that creativity-related skill can be improved by providing specific
rules, techniques or strategies to develop appropriate cognitive skills for the domain at hand. This
could be realized through creative ideation trainings or divergent thinking exercises (Coskun, 2005;
Benedek, et. al, 2006), which aim at stimulating effective search, retrieval, and
integration/combination of remote associations related to a given stimulus word. Divergent thinking
is a useful concept for identifying, supporting and measuring creativity as a process to actualize
one’s self, manipulate internal and external symbols as creation of illustrative ideas based on his/her
knowledge senses regarding people and objects to produce on (Hasan, 2017).

The four major components of divergent thinking are fluency, flexibility, originality and
elaboration, which are very useful for an operational concept. Fluency refers to the total number of
ideas, options and solutions generated for an open-ended problem; flexibility is the number of
conceptual categories; originality is the aspect of created or invented works and is about statistical
infrequency of responses related to the task compared with original ideas; and elaboration is the
ability to expand on an idea with details and the ability to create an intricate plan.

Fink, et. al (2012) explained that cognitive stimulation through common or moderately
creative ideas, was effective in improving verbal creativity, and most importantly, stimulation effects
were also apparent at the level of the brain. As such, a widespread creativity-related neural network
includes left middle and superior temporal gyri along with right parietal cortex being sensitive to
cognitive stimulation.
Aesthetics
Britanica defines aesthetics, also spelled esthetics, as the philosophical study of beauty and
taste. It is closely related to the philosophy concerned with the nature of art and the concepts of
which individual works of art are interpreted and evaluated.

In perspective, it is an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: realm of the beautiful,

the ugly, the sublime and the elegant; of taste, criticism and fine art; and of contemplation, sensuous
enjoyment and charm. In all these phenomena, similar principles operate and similar principles
operate and similar interests are engaged.

The nature and scope of Aethetics. Aesthetics deals not only with the nature and value
of arts but also with those responses to natural objects that find expression in the language of the
beautiful and the ugly. The terms beautiful and ugly are too vague in application and too subjective
in meaning. Everything on earth may be perceived as beautiful by someone from his/her point of
view while different people may use the word differently that often may have little or nothing in
common but all are simply based on judgement. It may also be that the term beautiful has no sense
except as the expression of an attitude, which in turn, people may associate it to different matters.

Moreover, in spite of the emphasis of philosophers on the terms beautiful and ugly,
aesthetics becomes an insignificant issue for discussion in the description of what appeals in nature.
Just like when appreciating a poem, it can be described as ironic, moving, expressive, balanced and
harmonious. Likewise, in characterizing a favorite stretch of countryside, it can be noted as peaceful,
soft, atmospheric, harsh, and evocative, rather than beautiful.

Three Approaches to Aesthetics

Britanica laid down three approaches to aesthetics a follows:

1. it is the study of aesthetic concepts to aesthetic concepts or the analysis of “language of

criticism,” in which particular judgements are singled out and their logic and justification
are presented.
2. It is a philosophical study of certain states of mind, responses, attitudes and emotions
that are involved in aesthetic experience.
3. It is the philosophical study of the aesthetic object that reflects the view that problems
of aesthetics exist because the world contains special objects toward which people react
selectively as described in aesthetic terms. (https://www.britannica.com/topicaethetics)

Integrating Arts and Creativity Literacy into the Curriculum

The following are the strategies and initiatives in embedding arts and creative literacy in the
curriculum.

1. Physical environment- Design a physical environment to support creativity, such as

castle-designed school building, well-architecturally designed edifice, roofs and ceilings,
creative murals, beautiful garden landscape, colourful blocks and benches in the math
and science garden, structured music and arts studio, an atelier, student lounge,
amphitheatre, etc.
2. Emotional Environment- Take time to create and maintain a climate of respect, caring
and support to someone when making mistakes.
3. Project-based (PBL)- Provide students time, space, opportunity to express themselves-
their ideas, emotions and insights through arts. Design and plan any projects that are
relevant, rigorous and real-world to attain motivation, engagement in learning.
4. Teach creative thinking skills- Teach students about “metacognition” or “thinking about
their thinking” even to the little ones through the process of brainstorming, reasoning,
 comparing and contrasting, problem-solving, concept mapping, analysing, evaluating
and more.
5. Alternative assessments- Instead of just a worksheet or an assignment, provide different
authentic assessment like performance, systems, design, product/output making, visual
arts creation, task-based, project-based, portfolio and others provided with rubrics and
other forms of metrics.
6. Scheduling- Project-based curriculum and performance-based assessment need ample
time and proper scheduling in either structured or unstructured manner.
7. Student-centered and personalized learning- Provide students freedom to choose on
what they will learn, how they will lean it and how they will demonstrate what they have
learned.
8. Incorporate arts- Integrate seamlessly music, art, drama and dance into the curriculum
to develop creativity.
9. Integration of technologies- Encourage students to create and utilize blogs and websites,
Glogster, VoiceThread, student publishing, video game design, coding, filmmaking,
photography, global collaborative classroom projects using Google Hangouts, etc.
10. Preparing the body and brain for creativity. Create activities that induce body-mind
integration, such as yoga, ballet, jazz, zumba, calisthenics, etc.