Creativity in the Schools

Team: Brad Hokanson, Todd Hunter [Anoka High School]

Program: DHA/GARP with College in the Schools

Can creativity be developed in high schools through College in the Schools, engaging students and advancing the outreach of the University?

Creativity is an inherent trait in humans, but measured creativity peaks in fourth grade. It is an essential skill often ignored in traditional education. Through “concurrent enrollment”, a university credit course designed to develop learner creativity was offered to high school students. They were compared to students from the parallel university course using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and scored comparably if not higher in most metrics. This provides a model for outreach, research and engagement. 

Creative Problem Solving has been taught as a regular course at the University for over 20 years. Located in the College of Design, it has the singular goal of developing creativity in learners. The creativity course was taught for the first time at a high school in fall semester 2021. A section of the course was presented by Todd Hunter, an instructor based at Anoka high school and who is the director of the maker space; he worked with Brad Hokanson in applying the current CDES course. The high school course and its concurrent offering in the university were compared using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

The course will be offered in at least four high schools for the 2023-2024 school year.