Description: This handbook focuses on the development and nurturance of creativity across the lifespan, from early childhood to adolescence, adulthood, and later life. It answers the question: how can we help individuals turn their creative potential into achievement? Each chapter examines various contexts in which creativity exists, including school, workplace, community spaces, and family life. It covers various modalities for fostering creativity such as play, storytelling, explicit training procedures, shifting of attitudes about creative capacity, and many others. The authors review research findings across disciplines, encompassing the work of psychologists, educators, neuroscientists, and creators themselves, to describe the best practices for fostering creativity at each stage of development.
Brief description: Sandra W. Russ is Distinguished University Professor at Case Western Reserve University, USA, where she researches how pretend play is involved in creativity and child development. She has developed a measure of pretend play (The Affect in Play Scale) and play intervention protocols.
Review Quotes: 'The perspectives on creative development are diverse and comprehensive, providing insights into how creativity can change throughout one's life. I found important implications for both my personal and professional lives in every single chapter. This handbook will be the seminal work on creative development for years to come.' Jonathan Plucker, Julian C. Stanley Professor of Talent Development, Johns Hopkins University, USA