Creativity, Talent and Excellence, 2013

This volume reflects the multiplicity of perspectives in the theory and practice of creativity, while it is broadly accepted that the dynamism of humanity?s responses to our evolving scientific, social and environmental needs depends on our creativity. It examines the central issues that animate the themes of creativity, talent development and excellence in schools and in the workplace, as well as analysing their related socio-cultural activities and processes. Forged in the workshops of a number of conferences and symposia, this collection represents in itself a creative partnership between European and Asian academics. Thus it includes contributions from various cultural and organizational settings, as well as chapters that enhance our conceptual models of creativity in both learning and teaching.

The contributing authors recognize that exploring the nature of creativity necessitates a new paradigm in research and praxis in which integration, collaboration, and the synthesis of knowledge and expertise are key factors. Their chapters detail the results of studies relating to to creativity, talent, school excellence, team and goal setting, innovation and organizational excellence, resilience, self-regulation, and personal epistemology. Clearly defined sections take on discrete aspects of the topic that include a vital assessment of the challenges that lie ahead in fostering the creativity, talent and excellence of the young and in doing so, allowing them to play a positive and innovative role in a variety of social contexts. 

Foreword
Beth Hennessey 

Foreword
Jiannong Shi

Introduction: Reflections on Creativity, Talent, and Excellence
Ai-Girl Tan 

Part I: Conceptions of Creativity and Cultivating Creativity
Chapter 1 Learning as a Creative Process
Heidrun Stoeger 

Chapter 2 The Three Main Creative Operations: Widening, Connecting, Reversing
Alessandro Antonietti and Barbara Colombo

Chapter 3 Psychology of Cultivating Creativity in Teaching and Learning
Ai-Girl Tan

Chapter 4 Creativity and Problem-based Learning: A Neglected Relation
Heinz Neber and Birgit J. Neuhaus 

Part II: Studies on Creativity and Cultivating Creativity
Chapter 5 The What and the How of Creativity: An Exploratory Study
Paola Pizzingrilli and Stefania Molteni 

Chapter 6 Creativity and Early Talent Development in the Arts in Young and Schoolchildren
Anna N.N. Hui, Mavis W.J. He, and Elaine S.C. Liu-Au 

Chapter 7 Self-Regulated Learning and Creativity as Related to Age and Gender in the Transition from Elementary to Junior High School
Mayumi Oie, Yasuhiko Fujie, Yu Okugawa, Shinichiro Kakihana, Shoko Itaka, and Hisashi Uebuchi

Chapter 8 Creativity Self-efficacy and its Correlates
Ai-Girl Tan, Tianchang Li, and Heinz Neber 

Chapter 9 Personal Epistemology and Its Relationship with Creativity
Ji Zhou, Jiliang Shen, and Detlef Urhahne

Part III Conceptions and Studies on Creativity and Excellence in Organization
Chapter 10 Entrepreneurs’ Creativity and Innovation: A Key to Performance
Dominika Dej, Meir Shemla, and Jürgen Wegge 

Chapter 11 Creating an Innovative Team: The Promise of Team Diversity
Meir Shemla, Dominika Dej, and Jürgen Wegge

Chapter 12 When Group Goal Setting Fails: The Impact of Task Difficulty and Supervisor Fairness
Jürgen Wegge and S. Alexander Haslem

Part IV: Studies on Educational Excellence
Chapter 13 The Hector-Seminar: A New Enrichment Program for MINT/STEM-talents
Kurt A. Heller  

Chapter 14 Joint Function of Perceived Classroom Goal Orientations and Personal Achievement Goals on Student School Excellence
Yanhua Zhao and Rudolf Tippelt

Chapter 15 Effects of Video Source Presentation and Cue Retrieval on Analogical Problem Solving
Mong Song Goh, Ai-Girl Tan, and William Choy

Part V Challenges Ahead
Chapter 16 Perspectives on Gifted Education in the Third Millennium
Kurt A. Heller

Chapter 17 Transitional Gaps and Resilience in Japan
Makio Taira

Epilogue: Toward Integrative Understanding of Creativity, Talent, and Excellence
Ai-Girl Tan

Tan, Ai-Girl has been a faculty of the Nanyang Technological University Singapore from 1995. She was a graduate scholar of Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan (Iwatani Foundation) and Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany (German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD). In 2008, she was invited to assume a visiting professor position at the Department of Psychology, LMU sponsored by DAAD. In 2011, she spent one semester as a visiting professor at the Department of Asian Studies, Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan. Between 2006 to present, she delivered invited lectures and keynote addresses on creativity and talent at universities in Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Taiwan) and in Europe (Germany and Italy). She is a life member of the Educational Research Association (Singapore) and Autistic Association (Singapore), a full member of the Japan Creativity Society, American Educational Research Association, Association of Psychological Science, and an advisory panel of the Talent Development and Excellence, a journal of the International Research Association of the Talent Development and Excellence. She organized two creativity conferences in collaboration with a professor at LMU (September, 2008, sponsored by DAAD; June 2010, sponsored by University Funds), and chaired numerous international symposiums on creativity. Her research areas include creativity, multicultural education, well-being, excellence and talent. She has coached more than 30 Master and Ph.D. theses.

Presents fresh conceptual paradigms in our analysis of creativity, talent and excellence

Provides a forum for innovative cross-fertilization between mainstream psychology and these three key topics

Enhances current practice regarding creativity and excellence through comparative analysis of Asian and European approaches