Humans seem to have a genius for conceiving new ideas and inventing new things. Throughout history, this creative spirit has resulted in solutions for a variety of human problems and expressions of a spectrum of human experiences. The collection of visual arts, music, literature, and other related types of human expression known as the humanities can be seen as a primary way by which we express our creativity.
 

But creativity can be either encouraged, resulting in cultural and technical progress, or discouraged, resulting in individual and cultural stagnation. As in other key eras in human history, it is essential in our own time that the creative human genius be nurtured so that the problems we are facing may be dealt with effectively and exciting new possibilities may be realized.

· •In Chapter 1 of the textbook, review the story of Sam on pp. 1–2. Once done, visit YouTube.com and view the following videos.

· Sir Ken Robinson—Defining Creativity. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. [Video file][4 min 42 sec] YouTube website. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtnRaa7AgLs

· Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. [Video file][20 min 03 sec] YouTube website. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Carefully analyze the main points of each video and write a 2-page essay on the importance of encouraging human creativity. Be sure to cover the following topics:

· The definition of creativity

· The conditions which foster creativity

· The conditions in current society which discourage creativity

· How circumstances can be changed to encourage creativity

· The different perspective on life which a creative broadening of the mind can produce

Be sure to include a convincing, inclusive conclusion at the end of your essay and a bibliography of at least two sources that you used to prepare your essay, one of which may be the class text. Do not use and cite Wikipedia as a source. Instead, visit the Excelsior College Library to learn about academic sources. The page on Evaluating Information Evaluating Information (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  includes helpful sections on “Print vs. Web Resources,” Evaluation Criteria,” Evaluation Scenarios,” and “Media Literacy.”

Write a 500-750 word essay. Follow APA style, using the Excelsior College Library resources on learning to use APA Style. Excelsior College Library resources on learning to use APA Style (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  Submit the essay to the assignment dropbox.

See the Course Calendar for the due date.

Compose your work in a .doc or .docx file type using a word processor (such as Microsoft Word, etc.) and save it frequently to your computer. For those assignments that are not written essays and require uploading images or PowerPoint slides, please follow uploading guidelines provided by your instructor.