Ai-Girl Tan – författare

Education, East and West, is today mostly Western in orientation. Asian perspectives remain relatively unrepresented in curricula, pedagogy and administrative structures. This volume has brought together authors researching in Asia who redress this imbalance and describe what the West can learn from the East. Topics covered include conceptions of and approaches to effective learning and teaching, self-regulated learning, perceived causes of success and failure, valuing of education, peer influences and classroom behavior, creativity, teacher commitment, class size, motivation, future goals, and other influences on effective learning. Shared insights from the research and theorizing presented should provide a fascinating perspectives for educators and administrators charged with providing cutting-edge, research-based educational best practices in diverse cultural and social environments internationally.

This book creates a platform for music educators to share their experience and expertise in creative music teaching and learning with the international community. It presents research studies and practices that are original and representative of music education in the Japanese, Asian and international communities. It also collects substantial literature on music education research in Japan and other Asian societies, enabling English-speaking readers to access excellent research and practical experiences in non-English societies.

This volume presents a collection of writings on the relations among creativity, culture and development. The editors invited “like-minded” researchers of creativity from around the world to share their respective notions of creativity. Given that human creativity is a potential that can and should be nurtured in the course of lifespan development and across all cultural backgrounds, the volume emphasizes the importance of promoting creativity in all cultures and through societal-educational opportunities, and offers a venue for the authors to make conceptual, empirical and practical inquiries into the relations among creativity, development and culture. The authors represent a varied “mix” of contemporary and emerging creativity researchers who use different methodologies to investigate the importance of culture in creativity development and the reciprocal role of developing creativity and cultural enrichment. The volume represents an attempt on the part of the editors and the authors to broaden our current understanding of creativity in the contexts of human and cultural development, and in so doing to enhance our understanding of creativity, culture and development in the contexts of flourishing human and societal activities. As the first volume in a book series on “Creativity in the Twenty-First Century”, the book invites readers and researchers to engage in future interdisciplinary and intercultural discourses and dialogues on the importance of creativity for human and cultural development.

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.