Explaining Creativity

R. Keith Sawyer is the Morgan Distinguished Professor in Educational Innovations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Sawyer has published 18 books including the two previous editions of Explaining Creativity. He has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters. His research has explored several topics: group creativity in jazz, theater, and organizations; social emergence; the science of how people learn; and teaching in professional schools of art and design. Danah Henriksen is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Innovation at Arizona State University. As an educational psychologist who has studied creativity for over ten years, she is interested in many aspects of creativity in education, including topics like creative teaching, transdisciplinary thinking skills, design thinking in education, and technology and creativity. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, practitioner articles, and book chapters, and she has servedas a creativity leader for EDUsummIT-a UNESCO-based global consortium of leaders in policy, practice, and research on educational technology.

• Part 1. Conceptions1. Introduction2. Conceptions of Creativity Part 2: Individualist Approaches3. Defining Creativity Through Assessment4. The Creative Personality5. The Creative Process, Part 16. The Creative Process, Part 27. The Creative Process, Part 38. Biology and Creativity9. Creative Self Beliefs10. Creativity and Well-being Part 3: Sociocultural Approaches11. The Sociology of Creativity12. Group Creativity13. Organizational Creativity14. Culture and Creativity15. Creativity and Technology Part 4: Creativity in the Domains16. Visual Arts17. Writing18. Music19. Theater20. Science21. Conclusion: The Future of Creativity AppendicesThe Domain of Creativity ResearchAppendix A: Third Edition Literature Review MethodologyAppendix B: A Timeline of Creativity ResearchAppendix C: Creativity Research OverviewsAppendix D: Journal Special IssuesAppendix E: Journals that Publish Creativity ResearchAppendix F: Influential Books in Creativity ResearchThe Field of Creativity ResearchAppendix G: Colleges and Universities with a Degree or Certificate in CreativityAppendix H: Influential Creativity Researchers, 1800-1990ReferencesIndex

The writing is scholarly but blessedly clear. Each chapter ends with a set of provocative thought experiments that can be enlightening to tackle, whether for a solo reader or in a classroom setting.