Education Week – Sarah D. Sparks
“The National Science Foundation has given just under $1 million to the project as one of the agency’s first Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) grants. The ability to measure creativity and nurture it has proved both elusive and increasingly vital to educators and policymakers alike. Some education watchers consider testing to be anathema to creativity, while others argue encouraging students to be creative and innovative boosts their engagement and problem-solving skills, which in turn will improve their understanding of the material and test performance. “Most importantly, this project will clarify how the connectivity of individuals in a network acts to boost or suppress innovation,” the researchers say in their abstract of the project. “Recent studies suggest that the rate of innovation must increase exponentially to sustain a growing and urbanizing global society.””(more)