1. The Journalism Lab:
Brewing Creative Minds
Through the Introduction of
Creative Learning Processes
Sheila Jones, CJE
JEA National Convention
Denver, Colorado
April 2015

2. The Journalism Lab:
Sheila Jones, CJE
tosheilajones@msn.com
To view this and previous years’ presentations,
see SlideShare link at end of this
slideshow and/or pick up a card from me
with SlideShare URL

3. Journalism Creativity
TOGETHER?!?
Principal John Doe
OMG – Are those journalism
kids making things up?

4. Journalism & Creativity Do Coexist
“Is Print Journalism Creative?”
Janet Fulton, University of Newcastle, Australia
http://ejournalist.com.au/v11n2/Fulton.pdf
[P]rint journalists are creative when they
understand the rules and procedures from
the domain, understand the preferences of
the field and use this knowledge to produce
an article that is novel and appropriate.

5. Significant Voices….
Sir Ken Robinson
Out of Our Minds:
Learning to be Creative
Daniel Pink
A Whole New Mind:
How Right-brainers will Rule the World
Jonah Lehrer
Imagine:
How Creativity Works
Images:
SirKenRobinson.com,
DanielPink.com,
JonahLehrer.com,
Amazon.com
Donald J. Treffinger, Ph.D.
with Patricia Schoonover
and Edwin Selby
Educating for Creativity &
Innovation.

6. Additional voices 2014 and 2015….

7. Working definition of Creativity
“Creativity is the production of something
original and useful…. There is never one right
answer. To be creative requires divergent
thinking (generating many unique ideas) and
then convergent thinking (combining those
ideas into the best result).”
– Bronson and Merryman, The Creativity Crisis

8. A Difference in Opinion
Stacey Khadaroo.
“Schools Tap 21st
Century Skills,”
Christian Science
Monitor, Jan. 8,,
2009.

9. IBM 2010 Global CEO Study
https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/31670.wss

10. Other corporate voices
“Smart creatives thrive on
interacting with each other.
The mixture you get when you
cram them together is
combustible, so a top priority
must be to keep them
crowded.”
Eric Schmidt, 2015
“It is the focus on people —
their work habits, their talents,
their values —that is absolutely
central to any creative venture.”
And “[W]orking with change is
what creativity is about. ”
Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc,
2014

11. IQ vs CQ
The Good News!
Kids are getting smarter
The Flynn Effect: In the U.S., with each passing generation, IQ scores are
increasing by about 10 points!
The Bad News!
CQ is both more durable and declining
Using 50 years of data from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking,
recent studies show:
• “The correlation to lifetime creative accomplishment was
more than 3 times stronger for childhood creativity than
childhood IQ.” – Jonathan Plucker, Indiana University.
• Creativity scores increased with intelligence scores until 1990.
After 1990, creativity scores have consistently gone down. – Kyung
Hee Kim, College of William and Mary.
Source: Bronson and Merryman,
“The Creativity Crisis.” Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/
creativity-crisis-74665

12. From the Industrial Age to the Information Age
to the Innovation Age – Where we are today
MYTHBUSTING for students
Myth #4: Creativity can’t be controlled.
It’s “magical, mysterious, mystical.”
Myth #1: Creativity erupts spontaneously
Myth #2: Creativity is easy, quick, and error-free
Myth #3: Creativity is a solitary effort

13. From the Industrial Age to the Information Age
to the Innovation Age – Where we are today
MYTHBUSTING for students
Myth #4: Creativity can’t be controlled.
It’s “magical, mysterious, mystical.”
Myth #1: Creativity erupts spontaneously
Myth #2: Creativity is easy, quick, and error-free
Myth #3: Creativity is a solitary effort

14. From the Industrial Age to the Information Age
to the Innovation Age – Where we are today
MYTHBUSTING for students
Reality:
Creativity, or Innovation, can be managed
using tools and processes.
Myth #1: Creativity erupts spontaneously
Myth #2: Creativity is easy, quick, and error-free
Myth #3: Creativity is a solitary effort

15. Clarifying Terminology
Critical
Thinking
Reasoning
Evaluating
Problem
Solving
Decision
Making
Analyzing Creative
Thinking
Evolution
Synthesis
RevolutionReapplication
Changing
Direction
Left-brained Right-brained
http://www.liaconferences.com/w
p-
content/uploads/2011/12/Converg
ent_and_Divergent_Thinking-
Sonny-S.pdf

16. Clarifying Terminology
Convergent
Thinking
Reasoning
Evaluating
Problem
Solving
Decision
Making
Analyzing Divergent
Thinking
Evolution
Synthesis
RevolutionReapplication
Changing
Direction
Left-brained Right-brainedWhole-brained
Critical
Thinking
Creative
Thinking

17. Convergent & Divergent Thinking
Solution
Convergent Thinking
FACT
FACTFACT
FACT Stimulus
Divergent Thinking
IDEA
IDEAIDEA
IDEA
Whole-brained
http://www.liaconferences.com/w
p-
content/uploads/2011/12/Converg
ent_and_Divergent_Thinking-
Sonny-S.pdf

18. No Excuses!

19. Convergent + Divergent = Journalism
Solution
Convergent Thinking
FACT
FACTFACT
FACT Stimulus
Divergent Thinking
IDEA
IDEAIDEA
IDEA
Alternating between divergent
and convergent thinking,
students arrive at original
and useful ideas = Creativity http://www.liaconferences.com/w
p-
content/uploads/2011/12/Converg
ent_and_Divergent_Thinking-
Sonny-S.pdf



20. Integration builds student success
“A recent study (Dekker, Lee, Howard-Jones, & Jolles,
2012) found that 91% of teachers surveyed
in the UK believed the left brain/right brain theory.
However, the left brain/right brain theory is
incorrect and considered a myth (Alferink &
Farmer-Dougan, 2010; Dekker, Lee, Howard-Jones,
& Jolles, 2012; Gazzaniga, 1985, 2002;
Lilienfeld et al., 2010; Lindell & Kidd, 2011;
Willingham, 2010), as one hemisphere is not
exclusively associated with specific tasks –
for example, creativity is not limited to the right
hemisphere of the brain (Dietrich & Kanso, 2010).
Unfortunately, the left brain/right brain theory
is commonly believed in education, but given the
evidence, it should not be used and considered invalid.”
Indiana Wesleyan University: Center for
Learning and Innovation.
http://www.indwes.edu/cli/research/meta-analysis-summary---left-brain-vs-right-
brain/

21. Three Training Processes
• Creative Problem Solving Process
– The Center for Creative Learning
– Creativelearning.com
• Design Thinking
– Notosh: Learning, Digital, Design Thinking
– Notosh.com
• DeGraff’s 5 Levels of Creativity
– JEFF: The Dean of Innovation
– Jeffdegraff.com [go to the blog page]

22. Preparation
• Research
• Curiosity
• Focusing
the problem
Incubation
• Let ideas stew
• 90% of good
work is good
thinking
Insight
• The “Aha!”
moment
• Inspiration
occurs
Evaluation
• Judging quality
• Deciding
whether to
continue
Elaboration
• Translating
thoughts into
actions or
product
#1 Creative Problem Solving Process
• Creativitytoday.net
• Creativelearning.com
• Creativeproblemsolving.com
• Mindwerx.com

23. Pre-
para-
tion
Incuba
-tion
In-
sight
Evalua
-tion
•
Elabor-
ation
Preparation
• Curiosity
• Research
• Focusing
the problem
http://www.slideshare.net/ra
monvullings/27-creativity-
innovation-tools-final

24. Pre-
para-
tion
Incuba
-tion
In-
sight
Evalua
-tion
•
Elabor-
ation
Preparation
• Curiosity
• Research
• Focusing
the problem
Journalistsresource.org
Procon.org
Factcheck.org

25. #2 – Design Thinking Process
• 2005 – Stanford University introduces Design Thinking
in its engineering school, called the D-School.
• The Process
visual.ly/w
hat-design-
thinking

26. Useful Design Thinking tools for the journalist
—from notosh.com

28. To access these pdfs
Notosh.com
The Lab
Design Tools: Tools to make
Thinking Visible
From a recent NoTosh Facebook post: When we're applying design thinking in a classroom, it's
more than simply saying that we're in a part of the process: "I'm doing my immersion"; "my
kids are ideating". Frankly, going through the design cycle does not design thinking make.
It's about the mindset that people are putting themselves in, the skillset and toolset
they already have and new skills and tools that can be taught afresh.

29. #3 Jeff DeGraff:
Mastering the Five Levels of Creativity
Jeffdegraff.com/blog
• Each described in separate blog entries:
Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
• Each characterized by type, with examples
of tools that trigger creative thought
Finding the Aha!

30. Type #1 – Mimetic Creativity
• To imitate or mimic. An often overlooked form
of creativity is simply taking an idea from one
area or discipline and applying it to another.
• Tools: Going on field trips, making new
friends, copying nature.
For improved customer service
Size, maneuverability
of hummingbird in
nature
DARPA’s “unseen”
drone camera or
carrier

31. #2 Bisociative Creativity
“How our conscious mind, when relaxed, can connect
rational with intuitive thoughts to
produce eureka moments. In the Zen tradition this act of
communion is called satori, meaning sudden
enlightenment…building on the 3F’s: Fluency, Flexibility,
Flow.”
• Tools to improve bisociative creativity
 Random Words
 SCAMPER
 6 Thinking Hats

32. #3 Analogical Creativity
• “We use analogies to transfer information that we
believe we understand in one domain, the source, to
help resolve a challenge in an unfamiliar area, the
target.”
• Involves use of similes, metaphors, analogies, and
archetypes
• Tools: Adaptive Reasoning, Imaginary Friends
Dyson changes vacuuming
with its idea of a “cyclone”
chamber.

33. #4 Narrative Creativity
• From ancient times, stories have had power to
persuade and to inform. The strength comes
from voice and from the way the story is told.
• Tools: Storyboarding, Morphologies, Scenario
making.
Creating characters and stories
What if…?

34. #5 Intuitive Creativity
• This is the most challenging form. “When we speak
of intuition, dreams or signs it suggests that we may
be receiving ideas as much as we are generating
them…We all have moments of insight that seem to
spring from someplace just beyond the limits of our
rational thinking. These can be deep wells of flowing
creativity or a bottomless abyss of superstition and
delusion.”
• Tools: Creative visualization, free writing, dream
interpretation.

35. Takeaways for the Journalist!
• Random sudden “Aha!” moments are rare and unique.
• Therefore, just as we teach critical thinking processes and tools,
we also need to teach creative thinking processes and tools.
• Resources for creative thinking are plentiful and growing, and
come from the professional and artistic professions our students
are preparing for.
• Consider using the terms convergent and divergent to promote
students’ whole brain development [avoiding the overused,
and frequently misunderstood, terms critical and creative].
• Pick the processes that best address your students’ needs. Add
divergent/convergent thinking tools that your students can
use immediately to charge their creativity.

36. To revisit this presentation:
“Does this kind of microdetail matter? I believe it does. There’s something about
knowing your subject and your setting inside and out – a confidence – that seeps
into every frame in your film. It’s a hidden engine, an unspoken contract with the
viewer that says: We are striving to tell you something impactful and true. When
attempting to make good on that promise, no detail is too small.”
– Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.
Big thoughts are fun to romanticize, but it's many small insights coming together
that bring big ideas into the world.”
– Scott Berkun, The Myths of Innovation
slideshare.net/tosheilajones/creativity-presentation-2014

37. References
Bronson, Po and Ashley Merriman. “The Creativity Crisis.” Newsweek. 7/10/2010. Web. http://www.newsweek.com/creativity-crisis-74665
Catmull, Ed. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. New York, Random House. 2014. Print.
Center for Learning and Innovation. ”Meta Analysis Summary: Left Brain vs. Right Brain.” Indian Wesleyan University. http://www.indwes.edu/cli/research/meta-
analysis-summary---left-brain-vs-right-brain/
“Convergent Thinking and Divergent Thinking and their Application in the Classroom.” 2011. Web. http://www.liaconferences.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/Convergent_and_Divergent_Thinking-Sonny-S.pdf
“Creative Tools.” n.d. Web. http://Creatingminds.org
DeGraff, Jeff. “Mastering the Five Levels of Creativity.” Parts 1-5. jeffdegraff.com/blog.
“Design Thinking: Tools to make thinking visible.” n.d. Web. Notosh.com/lab.
Fulton, Janet. “Is Print Journalism Creative?” University of Newcastle, Australia. http://ejournalist.com.au/v11n2/Fulton.pdf.
Lehrer, Jonah. Imagine: How Creativity Works. New York, Houghton-Mifflin. 2012. Print.
Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future. New York, Riverhead. 2006. Print.
Treffinger, Donald, Patricia Schoonover, and Edwin Selby. Educating for Creativity and Innovation. Waco, Texas, Prufrock Press. 2013. Print. And related website:
creativelearning.org.
Turak, August. “Can Creativity Be Taught?” Forbes 22/5/2011.Web. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/augustturak/2011/05/22/can-creativity-be-taught/>.
Vullings, Ramon and Mark Heleven. “27 Creativity and Innovative Techniques Explained.” April 12, 2013. Web. http://www.slideshare.net/ramonvullings/27-
creativity-innovation-tools-final.
Wagner, Tony. The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--and What We Can Do About It.
New York, Basic Books. 2008. Print.
“What does Creativity Mean to You, Your Boss, Your Clients? Creativity Land. 2010. Web. http://wwwcreativityland.ca/2010/what-does-creativity-mean-to-you-
your-boss-your-clients/.
“What is Design Thinking?” visual.ly/what-design-thinking
.