However, (now as a grown up…sort of…) I do find the whole performance side fascinating, listening to a magician’s narrative and watching their hands. My mum was really wary of magic shows after that, probably because it might’ve meant more sleepless nights for her! I think it goes way back to my childhood, having been spooked by a magic trick I’d seen on television and then not being able to sleep. I’m going to be a little controversial here (especially as one of my close friends is a magician!) and say that I’m not a huge fan of magic. It’s almost being used as ‘who/what do you want to copy/be like?’ rather than ‘who/what is it that sparked your unique idea?’. On a side note, I’m finding the use of the word ‘inspiration’ quite odd these days. I don’t have any particular environment that helps my creativity…some of my best ideas have popped into my head whilst travelling on trains, usually when it’s too uncomfortable to sleep! And because I dabble in a variety of fields, I get inspired by all sorts. So if I had an idea, say for an educational activity/resource, I would try to think up as many ways as possible to make it different to what’s already out there. What inspires you to be creative? What environment aids your creativity?Ĭreativity, for me, is about ‘being a little different’. I do this a lot in my outreach workshops, trying to work out how to demonstrate something ‘awesome’…with all the testing phase driven by my curiosity. pondering something and wanting to test it out and learn more. Curiosity on the other hand feels like more of a process toward awe and wonder, i.e. It could be as ‘simple’ as watching a spider create its web, to the mind-blowing enormity of the universe and realising how piddly we human beings are. I think of wonder and awe as very similar…to be completely jaw-droppingly, eye-poppingly amazed and mesmerised by something. How would you personally define wonder, awe and curiosity? And how do they relate to each other? Makes you wonder about the modern processes in our world today that are similarly causing wildlife to become endangered…and much worse… The way in which the birds were caught was pretty nasty (particularly as the hunters didn’t always eat the bird afterwards if it died in the process), and so I felt a bit conflicted having seen the beautiful garments ‘in the flesh’ earlier but now knowing those poor birds don’t exist anymore. Obviously some bird, but maybe they were collected/found feathers?! Earlier this month, I watched a programme which mentioned the Kaua’i ‘O’o bird (now extinct), whose yellow leg feathers were plucked only for this purpose. But didn’t for a minute think about the source of all the feathers. I was in awe at how the colours, especially the bright yellow, hadn’t faded over the years. For example having attended an ASTC conference in Hawai’i a while ago, I’d seen a huge feathered cape, a kind of royal robe, in the local museum…with intricate designs made of teeny tiny feathers. It’s not always ‘happy amazement’ though. there’s a horse in Van Gogh’s Cafe Terrace At Night! Who knew?!). I find a lot of things pretty amazing, everything from nursery children screaming with delight when they see what happens to basil seeds dropped into water (I’m not going to tell you □ you have to go try it!) or listening to parents tell me everything their children learnt from one of my cartoon workshops they attended, to discovering a ‘new’ detail in a painting I’ve known for years (i.e. Twitter: something that has recently amazed you and how it made you feel. and a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship. She currently works with teachers, artists, pathologists, conservationists and preschoolers…but not at the same time (well, not always). Her MA research looking into how young people learn accurate science from the entertainment media, saw her take up an International Fellowship at the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. She has worked in science education at The Physiological Society, Nesta, Planet Science, Science in School, Ignite! and Queen Mary University of London. Trained as a neuroscientist, she now works in science communication and education.
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