Main description:

Inspired by Howard Gruber's Evolving Systems Approach, these studies explore creativity in several domains. The idea that the creative person embodies a system of loosely coupled sub-systems - knowledge, purpose, and affect that work together, is viewed here in different chapters that explore this concept. These include autobiographies of incarcerated youth, curricula for moral and civic responsibility, changing attitudes of readers to text (romance novels), as well as case studies of highly creative individuals, such as George Bernard Shaw. Gruber's approach provides concepts as well as methodological tools which the authors apply to diverse creative processes.

This book is a valuable resource for undergraduate as well as graduate level students interested in creativity, development, and education. In addition to the intrinsic interest of each chapter, the guiding theme of the book is the underlying theory of creativity, Gruber's Evolving Systems Approach, and illustrates the unusual breadth and flexibility of that theory.

Contents:

1. Rooted in the Absence of Place: the Odyssey of Loren Eiseley; David Lavery 2. Irony and Conflict: Lessons from George Bernard Shaw's Wartime Journey;
Michael Hanchett Hanson 3. Social Values and the Romance Novel: Journeys of the Reader;
Sara N. Davis 4. The Role of Social Comparison in the Artistic Development of Vincent van Gogh;
Richard Brower 5. The Evolving Systems Approach and Narrative Therapy for Incarcerated Male Youth;
Laura Tahir 6. Understanding Extraordinary Moral Behavior in Children and Adolescents;
Susan Rostan 7. Critical Exploration in the Classroom: Its Past and Present;
Yeh Hsueh 8. Moral Responsibility and Citizenship Education;
Helen Haste