15. Assessing Creativity in College through Writing
Creativity and Writing Pedagogy - Linking Creative Writers, Researchers, and Teachers - Harriet Levin Millan
Robert J. Sternberg [+ ]
Oklahoma State University
Robert J. Sternberg is Provost, Senior Vice President, and Regents Professor of Psychology and Education at Oklahoma State University, as well as Honorary Professor at Heidelberg University in Germany. His Ph.D. is from Stanford University in psychology and he holds 12 honorary doctorates. He is a former President of the American Psychological Association and is President of the Federation of Associations of Brain and Behavioral Sciences.
Description
Assessment of students for college admissions and performance tends to emphasize memory and analytical skills – that is, one’s retrieval of acquired knowledge and one’s skill in analyzing that knowledge. But in everyday life, individuals need creative skills to generate new ideas, analytical skills to assess the value of those ideas, practical skills to implement the ideas and to persuade others of their value, and wisdom-based skills to ensure the ideas help achieve a common good. I discuss in this article a program for assessing the creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills that currently are neglected by many assessments, and provide data regarding the outcomes of the program.