Mrs Amal Kasmani
Mrs. Amal Kasmani has worked as an educational counselor and special educator for children in the Middle East and is actively involved in research on child psychology, particularly neurodiversity. After spending over two decades in Oman and the UAE, she recently moved to New Zealand and started a community initiative called Little Lives With Amal, which has quickly grown to over 6,000 followers worldwide. Through this initiative, she shares parenting and teaching strategies and provides free resources for children. Her focus includes phonics, literacy, numeracy, creative thinking skills, childhood trauma, behavior patterns in children, and overall well-being, while also encouraging inner child work for adults. Currently, she is researching cross-cultural differences in parenting styles between Omani and Māori communities. Amal holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Heriot-Watt University, serves as a research assistant on a neurodiversity project at Arden University, is a certified mental health first aider, and has completed training hours for RBT (Registered Behavior Technician). She is a member of the Australia and New Zealand Mental Health Association (NZMAH). In her spare time, she regularly volunteers with the New Zealand Cancer Society.
Restoring creative thinking in children: Practical, evidence-based methods to build competency of today’s most in-demand - but depleting - life skill.
The focus of this workshop is on restoring and fostering creative thinking in children—a crucial skill for navigating today’s rapidly changing world, yet one that is increasingly at risk of depletion (Cignetti & Rabella, 2023). Children are naturally inclined toward creative and free thinking from a very young age, often termed “out-of-the-box” thinking. However, research suggests that this ability diminishes over time due to limited opportunities for open-ended exploration within structured school settings and especially the pervasive influence of technology and social media today (Trevallion & Cusanelli, 2021; Niloy et. al., 2023). The Reboot Foundation’s study (2020) highlights that merely 20% of parents regularly encourage their children to express alternative perspectives, and only a third discuss open-ended issues lacking definitive answers, which are vital for nurturing critical and creative thinking. In today’s digital era, where information is readily accessible, children must be equipped with the skills to analyze and interpret content rather than rely on rote knowledge, which is no longer a marker of competence. Employers have reported that despite years of formal education and the recent changes in teaching, 75% of graduates lack critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, skills they identify as fundamental (Bellaera et. al., 2021).
In this workshop, I aim to address this gap by examining the psychological basis of creative thinking, the clues in our children's behavior towards creativity, the incorporation of this skill within school curricula and the changes that have been made in the teaching methods over the past few years to incorporate this skill. I will offer practical, evidence-based activities that encourage young learners to engage in creative and free thought, some of which will be demonstrated with delegates present. Additionally, I will provide access to free resources to support these activities during this session. My main objective is to foster creativity from the earliest stages of development. Creative thinking can not or need not be taught, but it is with consistent exposure to opportunities that force this innate skill to be activated.
References:
Bellaera, L., Weinstein, Y., Dhaliwal, N., & Moukarzel, R. (2021). Critical thinking in practice: The priorities and practices of instructors teaching in higher education. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 41, 100856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100856
Cignetti, M. and M. Fuster Rabella (2023), “How are education systems integrating creative thinking in schools?”, PISA in Focus, No. 122, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/f01158fb-en.
Niloy, A. C., Akter, S., Sultana, N., Sultana, J., & Rahman, S. I. U. (2024). Is Chatgpt a menace for creative writing ability? An experiment. Journal of computer assisted learning, 40(2), 919-930.
Reboot Foundation. (2020). The state of critical thinking in 2020: Reboot Foundation | Promoting and developing critical thinking tools and resources. https://reboot-foundation.org/the-state-of-critical-thinking-2020/
Trevallion, D., & Nischang, L. C. (2021). The creativity revolution and 21st century learning. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 15(8), 1-25.