5 A community of writers
5.1 Introduction
Creativity should not be considered a separate mental faculty but a characteristic of our way of thinking, knowing and making choices. Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled with a well-supported development of personal resources, including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the unknown. The most favourable situation for creativity seems to be interpersonal exchange, with negotiation conflicts and comparison of ideas and actions being the decisive elements.
(Loris Malaguzzi, 1990)
The focus of this third case study is a class of 15-year-old students in a Gloucestershire comprehensive school in the UK in the beginning stages of a two-year GCSE English course. Here, computer software is used to:
develop students' understanding of the subject;
encourage the creation of a new product;
enable that product to be publicly shared.