Curiosity and Creativity as Attributes of Information Literacy

Curious" and "creative" are terms that are often used by educators as adjectives when describing the characteristics of individual students. Unfortunately, they are often also used indiscriminately, with little attention to the importance these individual characteristics have in the overall context of teaching and learning. This article identifies the calls for incorporating creativity and curiosity into teaching and learning, provides definitions of the terms as well as how they fit within the context of work defining individuality and intellect, and argues that it is possible and necessary to incorporate curiosity and creativity into information literacy teaching and learning from a theoretical and practical perspective. Calls for Transforming the Curriculum There have been many calls for transforming the educational curriculum throughout the last decade. Some have defended a "back to basics" approach; others call for a complete revision of the curriculum. Often these reviews are predicated on the assumption that educational organizations, from K-12 to higher education, can effect change from a top-down approach by orchestrating structure in the classroom. But along with these advocations, some reports contend that learning is an individual experience fostered by a creative and questioning environment and that those involved in the teaching and the learning process need to acknowledge this premise. One report that stands out in this respect is the Boyer Commission Report. In its call for a new model of undergraduate education, the Boyer Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University emphasizes that students "should understand the unique quality of the institutions and the concomitant opportunities to enter a world of discovery in which they are active participants, not passive receivers." (1) What is interesting in the Boyer Commission's articulation of the need for an inquiry-based curriculum is that it defines the prevailing structure of higher education as lacking sufficient stimulus for discovery--discovery being a process predicated on the individual's creativity and curiosity. The Boyer Commission is not alone in its call for educational reform through discovery-based learning. Kay points out in "Let's Stop Teaching and Let Our Children Learn" that curiosity and creativity along with other attributes are suppressed by teaching through the use of a process of "telling and testing." He encourages fostering an environment of demonstrations, guidance, and encouragement in which an individual will extract what he or she feels is needed at any given time. (2) The enabling factors for the will to extract are creativity and curiosity. If Boyer and Kay are right, and the school systems and by inference educators are removing creativity and curiosity from the classroom inadvertently through current teaching methods, what changes can be made pragmatically to put them back? Defining Curiosity and Creativity Perhaps the first step in solving the problem of putting curiosity and creativity back into educational content and pedagogy is achieving a better understanding of what they are. According to Evans and Harrar, curious people have five attributes. They: * nudge conversation with new ideas, * take pleasure in learning about other people and show it, * focus on the person they are with, * use jokes and humor to liven things up, and * accentuate the positive about what they like about their conversational partner or the conversation itself. (3) As modeling cues for librarians in their interaction with information seekers, Evans and Harrar offer some good advice: we can expect curiosity if we are able to practice it. Perry also offers some assistance in defining curiosity by describing what kills it: fear of risk or novelty emanating from personal factors such as violence or family distress so that the student is unwilling to explore new things; disapproval; and the absence of a caring and invested teacher interested in encouraging exploration. …