Creativity in life processes and living things

This chapter is set within the field of science education, specifically the development of teaching that could be defined as creative or supporting creativity in children.
Its theoretical perspective is informed by Dust (1999) whose notions of phases of creativity have parallels with the processes of science, and the concept of dialogic talk (Alexander 2004, Mortimer and Scott 2003). Its original contribution includes a case study from research into classroom interaction that considers how 'dialogic' interaction contributes to a creative classroom culture. The dialogue was analysed according to frameworks derived from literature on dialogic talk in science and discourse analysis (e.g. Edwards and Mercer 1987). The intended audience is teaching practitioners and the chapter uses the underlying theory and new research to generate and inform examples of creative teaching and learning, producing accessible recommendations for practice. The chapter was written at the invitation of the publisher.