A guidebook for a teacher training program: Fostering students' creativity by using xiang thinking as an approach.

摘要

This dissertation recognizes the problematic situation lying at the center of Chinese education today, which is characterized as the failure of Chinese students to develop creativity. Throughout this dissertation, I aim to draw the awareness of Chinese educational practitioners, policy makers, and far beyond to the Chinese indigenous xiang thinking and how they could fundamentally alter the ways in which we think about our current educational system in the midst of seeking educational reform in China. I am dedicated to promoting xiang thinking, a thinking process which is based on the verbal meanings of xiang to observe, take, and set forth xiang as an approach to improve Chinese students' creativity and ability to innovate in the midst of knowing and learning (Han & Whitson, 2010). In essence, this dissertation serves as a handbook for those teachers who want to foster Chinese students' creativity.;I assert that teachers are able to raise the creativity level and imagination of Chinese students by having them go through a series of teaching exercises informed by xiang thinking that I will create in the guidebook for Chinese teachers. The hypothetical teachings scenarios are provided in this dissertation in order to convincingly illuminate the potency and coherence of xiang thinking as a way to enhance Chinese students' creativity. Xiang thinking will also be better understood and clarified by the teaching exercises, which in a sense are the operational definition of xiang thinking. Through the practices of xiang thinking, I argue that xiang thinking may serve as an outcome rather than a harbinger of success in the development of students' creativity. Therefore, it is hoped that Chinese students will have their creativity enhanced through a series of xiang thinking-driven practices.