Introduction to the Research

What is this research project? Addressing the U-Shaped Decline with an Imaginary Mall

Here's a little excerpt of my Thesis Capstone Project. I will be creating a book!

“Imagination is not merely frivolous fantasy of minor importance. Imagination assumes an important educational role when we think of it as students generating meaningful patterns of ideas that are useful in real context” (Clements & Wachowiak, 2010, p. 177).

The Introduction

Can engaging with an imaginary mall aid in better problem solving in children?

‘Higher order thinking’ which includes creative thinking and problem solving are identified as key 21st century skills that children need to be successful in the future, especially in today’s rapidly evolving world (Gozen, 2016). The ability to think of unique and out of the box solutions is the key to creating today’s inventions for much needed solutions, but many students are missing these skills (Davis, 1997). Faced with problems with solutions that are not linear or forthcoming they give up and engage in “Stuck in the Hole Thinking,” a thought process that possesses a negative point of view, looking only at the hole, not out. There are no thoughts to escape the problem, but instead those that keep one stuck.

This loss in creative thinking skills is marked by a developmental stage where creativity declines. The U-shaped Decline happens between the ages of 9 and 11, which can be seen when the focus for art becomes representational rather than expressive (Davis, 1997), and children lose free-flowing originality in their artwork. Other factors involved as the cause include instruction that focuses away from the imagination and more on facts (Carroll, et al, 2010); a reliance on assessments that focus on standardized testing results and pressure for the right answers (Baer & Garrett, 2010, Davis, 1997, Kim, 2011); and, the “initial teaching of socialization and conformity behaviors,” a.k.a, peer pressure (Saggar, Xie, Beaty, Stankov, Schreier, Reiss, 2019). Because of the frustration of being unable to recreate imperfect drawing representations, many children give up their artistic expression altogether (Davis, 1997), later creating adults that have abandoned their earlier creative talents and artistic endeavors.

What is needed is a “creative approach to problem solving … a crucial cognitive process which is critical for children’s capacity to make a strong contribution to innovation in their future life” (Gozen, 2016). The Idea Emporium is an activity book that uses design lessons as a solution. The book facilitates creative problem solving and thinking through engagement in imaginative design activities addressing these gaps in creativity and replenishing those lost skills.

Facilitating Design Thinking, or using processes that designers use in their thinking, is one such relatively new approach that will be used for the book. Gozen (2015) discovered that there is a “strong link between creative problem solving and the act of design thinking.” Design Thinking has been used to encourage creative thinking and strengthen better problem solving in several successful experimental programs including a pilot course created by Greek designer Dimitris Grammencos (Grammencos & Antona, 2017), and Take Design Thinking to Schools Program in California (Carroll, et al, 2010). By using Design Thinking practices better problem solving strategies will be taught.

The other antidote for this gap used in the book is the promotion of nurturing the imagination as a key tool in the children’s toolbox for generating better problem solving. “Imagination is not merely frivolous fantasy of minor importance. Imagination assumes an important educational role when we think of it as students generating meaningful patterns of ideas that are useful in real context” (Clements & Wachowiak, 2010, p. 177). This nurturing of the imagination falls under the realm of Possibility Thinking, the opposite of “Stuck in the Hole Thinking,” which offers an expansive and hopeful point of view (Fleming et al, 2016). Theorist Ziauddin Sardar (quoted in Fleming et al, 2015) “contends that the imagination shapes reality, which is therefore, dependent on “the quality of our imagination” (Sadar, 2010, p. 443) making imagination an important tool to develop.

And finally, the Idea Emporium’s setting takes place in an inviting imaginary mall. This creates an immersive, engaging environment known to increase engagement and motivation to learn (Barab, Arici, & Jackson, 2005).