Principles for integrative learning of creative subjects

How to learn and develop creative subjects efficiently while maintaining good teamwork and motivation?

Learning

The prerequisite for learning are mutual relations and a supportive environment. Pay attention to relations and emotions around you!
You learn when you focus – ignore disturbing thoughts, matters and smart devices. Directing attention might not be easy, but everyone can learn how to draw their attention better step by step. Focus on one thing only and do not rush. For concentration, basic needs need to be met: make sure you are not hungry and tired and that you feel comfortable.
Working memory that takes part in learning only refers to the short-term storage of information.
Working memory is the most important part of your creativity – the more knowledge you are able to activate at once the more new links you will find. As the working memory has limited capacity, it is necessary that you have lots of information in your long-term memory as well.
Therefore, previous knowledge is essential for creativity.
The information is stored effectively in long-term memory only if it relates to previous knowledge. Thus, when learning new things, it is very important to think about learning in many contexts and to discuss it! Learning when one speaks and others listen will not lead to long-term knowledge and skills. By discussing and expanding the subject, by specifying and generalising prior knowledge is activated, since that is how you transfer it out from long-term memory to working memory and create new connections.
Target learning. People who set purposes and move towards them, establish more and sense more welfare.
Thinking of learning helps to learn. Tell yourself what you do when learning and why. You may reflect on learning to yourself, with a partner or in a group.
Noticing and analysing mistakes is the foundation of learning, thus mistakes are extremely useful. Efficient learning almost always feels demanding and complicated, but is exciting and fun at the same time.
Practical experience is important when studying creative subjects. Be consistent – everyone has a different starting position and a different speed of progress. The more experience you gain in the creative process, the more skilled you become. Skills are fixed by conscious practising. It is important to think of what, how and why you are doing.
Learn from your classmates and with them! By acting together you learn how to understand each other's creativity and how to value the specialty of an individuality. Be aware of your strengths. Focus on strengths, not on weaknesses and defaults. A person who is aware of their strengths, dares to set higher goals and move towards them. Empower other group members – show and tell them what they are good at. In doing so you support the creativity of the group as a whole. Any missing competence is learnable.

Creativity

Try to notice and be aware of moments when you discover something new and exciting for you or doing something in a new or special way. It helps you learn!
Notice, be aware and enjoy the state of creative flow, while you are focused, time flies and creative work prospers. Have fun!
Dare to make mistakes! Notice and use mistakes for generating something new or finding unexpected solutions that help you further. Making mistakes, uncertainty and doubts are inherent in a creative process. To overcome them, work actively and persistently.
For creativity to appear, both creating links in working memory as well as knowledge and experience in the long-term memory are relevant. For being creative, it is useful to know and experience a lot.
Solve tasks of creative thinking and problem-solving. Study different stages of a creative process. Understanding them may help realise and enhance one's creative process.
Fantasise and use your imagination.
Discover different solutions and possibilities. Before you decide, think of alternatives.
Avoid barriers to creativity: competition, comparing, perfection, thinking of reward.
If you see your ideas and solutions are at a dead-end, stop what you are doing and for a while do something else. Come back rested and notice the change.

Motivation

To stay motivated, you more or less all the time need to feel these three emotions (also called basic psychological needs):
1) What I learn is valuable and necessary to me and I can make choices based on my own interests (autonomy);
2) I can handle everything and I know what I am expected of and how to get there (competency);
3) People around me care about me and we get on well together (relatedness).
When these three needs are supported, a self-meaningful and self-directed interest and the will to act (autonomous motivation) are likely to arise. Try to discover your personal interest or need, focus and comprehend learning. It is natural that not everything you have to study seems necessary or interesting at the beginning – a discussion with the teacher and co-students will convince you. It is common that trying out new things is intimidating. The purpose of learning is not making everything perfect but developing step by step and finding out something that is exciting and new. Negative feelings are normal to learning!
To increase the feeling of relatedness, take an interest in co-students and support them, co-operate, bring out your own interest and point of view. Help your companions feel important and pay attention if anyone is falling behind or losing interest. Try to indicate them being important to the group.
To increase the feeling of autonomy ask the teacher why we do something, or even better, try to target learning for yourself. It is not always easy. Maybe it somehow contributes to moving towards one of your dreams? Think through your expectations, interests and point of view by other activities offered. Speak about them. Think of where you want to develop. Be aware of your responsibility by learning, justify the solutions and formulate your thoughts. You can always decide on your attitude to a learning situation – choose to see learning opportunities, not success or failures.

Cooperation

Learn to cooperate! Teachers and students working together are more happy, more trusting towards themselves and others, more willing to explore and take risks.
Both group work and collective creation are based on recognising and implementing the roles of one's own and of others. Take different roles in a working process. By changing roles with your co-students you learn to understand each other faster – of what to expect from each other as well as how to make work more efficient and share responsibilities.
Creative process means self-expression and communication. Emphasise the recipient of your creation – viewers, listeners, beholders. Try looking at your creation through the eyes of the target group. Think of those who else in addition to your target group relate to your creation.

Integration

Establish links – within the subject, with other fields, with your experience and interests.
Creative subjects have a lot in common, yet every subject has its own basic elements. They have common elements such as conception or idea; narrative or story, composition or structure and rhythm of the work. Use and integrate them in your creative work.
Consider multiple tools for expressing your idea: sounds, movement, colours, shapes, light etc.
Integrate different forms of art like dance, music or film to create new combinations such as dance film, music video, performance art, video art, multimedia etc. When integrating, value the strength and originality of each creative subject.