

Fueling Creativity in Education
Dr. Matthew J. Worwood and Dr. Cyndi Burnett
The Fueling Creativity in Education podcast provides listeners with unique insights into the field of creativity research, including best practices for applying this knowledge to a traditional school environment. Thanks to deep dive interviews with renowned creativity scholars, respected practitioners, and passionate educators, every teacher and administrator will walk away with new strategies that inspire and support student and teacher creativity in and out of the classroom.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 6, 2022 • 29min
An Industry Perspective of Creativity with Albert Schneider
The business world is paving the way for future creativity in education. Want to learn how? Tune in to this episode of Fueling Creativity in Education as Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Albert Schneider. Albert is the Managing Principal at Aschneider Consulting LLC. and has an extensive background working for IBM and in the education field.
Listen in to learn how Albert defines creativity from a corporate perspective and breaks down the specific skills that will be needed for creativity in the future. He shares his thoughts on how creativity and creative thinking can be taught and the important role of inclusivity and diversity of thought in facilitating creative environments. Albert also speaks on the value in collaborating disciplines (school subjects) as well as his perspective of the benefits of public/private partnerships, like IBM’s P-TECH internship program.
“What I look for is how do we bring more thinking, more different thinking, constructive thinking? And often, you get that from different perspectives.” – Albert Schneider
Albert’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
You need to be inclusive. Find a way to reach out to every single student.
Be positive from the perspective of encouragement. Not everything is right, but show them how they can do better.
Give students a framework and a space where they can fail. Most things are perfected only after multiple failures.
Recommended Resources:
Listen to the episode with Jonathan Plucker
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!
About Albert Schneider:
Albert Schneider is the managing Principal at Aschneider Consulting LLC. Primary areas of expertise include global I/T infrastructure management including cyber-security, business transformation enable-ment, and new ways of working. Other areas of interest are mentoring, volunteering, STREAM education, and just opened a restaurant www.charandlemon.com .
Mr. Schneider currently works for LHC Group, a leading homecare and hospice company, where he is a contractor, leading enterprise-wide projects.
Mr. Schneider joined IBM in 1979 as a computer operator and from 1982 to 1985 became a computer programmer in PL/1 (System 370) and RPG3 (System 38).
From 1986 to 1993, Mr. Schneider was in sales and marketing as a systems engineer, general client representative, and a marketing specialist.
From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Schneider was Program Director of worldwide I/T strategy.
From 1998 to 2000, Mr. Schneider was Program Director of Global Client Care.
In 2000, Mr. Schneider was executive assistant to IBM's CIO and VP, Business Transformation.
From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Schneider was the Director of Information Technology and Business Transformation Executive for IBM Research.
From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Schneider was Director, Service Delivery and Transformation Programs within Global Technology Services for IBM.

Aug 30, 2022 • 31min
Using Play and Imagination to Engage Active Citizenship with Zviko Kanyoka
What does a design thinking program for children look like? Let’s find out!
In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome Zviko Kanyoka, a Project Manager for placemaking programs at Play Africa. Zviko is currently preparing to scale Play Africa's Design Thinking with Children programs across Sub-Saharan Africa, empowering children with creative skills by encouraging active citizenship within their communities.
Listen in to learn how Zviko’s background in architecture inspires her curriculum design and her work with children in the classroom. She sheds light on how children can actively participate in designing their learning environment along with the opportunity educators have to create workshops for learning creative skills, communication skills, spatial awareness and connectivity, problem-solving, and much more!
Zviko talks about methods of teaching kids about climate change and environmental conservation, the most important part of engaging children in your community, and the importance of having the freedom to play as a child, especially within African communities.
“To value play is to value our imagination, to value our creativity, and continually entertaining the idea that we always have an option to create new models of being.” – Zviko Kanyoka
Plus, you’ll learn how Play Africa’s Design Thinking with Children program is making a direct impact on their communities and her strategy for scaling and expanding the program.
“We’re centering children’s varied experiences, feelings, and needs and we’re helping learn how to identify social challenges and creative problem solve through ideating, prototyping, and testing possible solutions for safer and more playful communities.” – Zviko Kanyoka
Zviko’s Design Thinking with Children Workshop Framework:
Transfer your workshop from the school to a communal workspace in your community, like a library. Familiarize your students to the environment and have them think of ways they would transform the space.
Get your students to ideate, draw, and visualize ideas for transformation they want to see in those spaces.
Encourage them to gather materials, then have a session for prototyping their transformations.
Recommended Resources:
Listen to the episode with Tamara Doleman
Listen to the episode with Dr. Vlad Glaveanu
Play Africa Toolkit
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!
About Zviko Kanyoka:
Zviko Kanyoka is a Project Manager for placemaking programmes at Play Africa with a background in architecture. Her work is driven by her passion for supporting children’s creative expression and right to the city through participatory development. She's currently preparing to scale Play Africa's Design Thinking with Children programme across Sub-Saharan Africa, empowering children with creative skills through encouraging their active citizenship within their communities.
Follow Zviko on Instagram

Aug 23, 2022 • 35min
My Favorite Failure with Dr. Ron Beghetto and Laura McBain
In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood welcome back Dr. Ron Beghetto along with Laura McBain, Co-Director of the K12 Lab at the Stanford d.school. Ron and Laura recently came out with a new book, “My Favorite Failure: How Setbacks Can Lead to Learning and Growth”. As a human-centered designer, Laura’s work focuses on understanding the ecosystem of education and finding meaningful opportunities for disruptive design and innovative educational experiences.
Listen in to learn about Ron and Laura’s personal favorite failures, the relationship between expectations and failure, how to start the school year off with sharing favorite failures, and the valuable difference between mistakes and failures. The duo also shares their best tips and advice for new teachers as well as how to get students to push through feelings of failure so that they can learn and grow from it.
Questions Answered:
Why is it important to acknowledge and talk about emotions in school?
Are we more willing to take risks when we don’t know the potential consequences?
Are we more likely to experience failure when we do not know anything about the environment?
What types of failure are the most impactful for students? (ie. F letter grades, public failure)
…and more!
Laura’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Start talking about failure more.
Make sure the work you’re designing for young people are worth the failure. How do you design real life examples where students are taking on work of consequence?
Provide multiple opportunities for students to reflect on failure daily and/or throughout the lesson.
Ron’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Stay away from empty slogans that minimize emotions. Find ways to acknowledge and validate the emotional pain and difficulty one experiences when they’re failing and talk about what to do next.
Encourage and take beautiful risks yourself. Invite kids to give you feedback on your failures.
Recommended Resources:
Listen to S1 Episode 6 with Ron Beghetto
Listen to S2 Episode 7 with Ron Beghetto
My Favorite Failure by Ron Beghetto and Laura McBain
Weaving Creativity into Every Strand of Your Curriculum by Cyndi Burnett
Bruce Tuckman’s Group Dynamics
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!
About Laura McBain:
Laura is the K12 Lab Director of Community and Implementation at the Stanford d.school. In this role, she leads the K12 Lab network and aims to use design thinking to transform education and the world. As a human-centered designer, her work focuses on understanding the ecosystem of education and finding meaningful opportunities for disruptive design. She is an advocate for equity and social justice work and is leading experiments to ensure more students have access to an innovative educational experience that will help them thrive in a changing world. Formerly Laura was the Director of External Relations at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. As the Director of External Relations, Laura traveled the globe designing and leading professional development focused on the implementation of progressive education, school transformation, deeper learning and equity initiatives. She has served as a principal of two HTH sites and has taught middle and high school classes in public charter and comprehensive schools. Laura was the architect of the Deeper Learning Conference, a 1200 person, adult learning experience aimed at activating and galvanizing educators for large-scale change.
Connect with Laura on LinkedIn
Follow Laura on Twitter
About Dr. Ron Beghetto:
Dr. Ronald A. Beghetto, PhD is an internationally recognized expert on creative thought and action in educational settings. He holds the Pinnacle West Presidential Chair and serves as a Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.
Dr. Beghetto is the Editor for the Journal of Creative Behavior, Editor for Review of Research in Education, Series Editor for Creative Theory and Action in Education (Springer Books), and has served as a creativity advisor for LEGO Foundation and the Cartoon Network.
Visit Ron’s website
Buy his books

Aug 16, 2022 • 19min
THROW BACK: Infusing Creativity in Classroom with Dr. Susan Keller-Mathers
How do you find joy in your classroom and infuse creativity into your students’ curriculum? In this throwback episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood revisit their discussion with Dr. Susan Keller-Mathers, an Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Imagination at SUNY Buffalo State.
Susan teaches graduate courses in creativity, chairs the curriculum committee, and serves on leadership teams of various departments across campus dedicated to infusing creative learning into their teaching and learning practices. Her focus is educating the next generation of creativity experts who will utilize their degree in creativity in diverse professional and personal arenas.
“Good teaching is creative teaching.” - Susan Keller-Mathers
Tune in to learn how to infuse creativity into your curriculum and how to find joy every single day you walk into your classroom!
You’ll gain insight into the importance of the practitioner-scholar model, the difference between teaching creativity and creative teaching, and the best practices for nurturing long-term professional learning in teachers. Susan also gives great advice for teachers who are overwhelmed or challenged with constraints in the classroom.
“You have to be an advocate for creativity outside of your classroom to do it in your classroom. You can close your door and you can do what you want to do, which is what a lot of teachers want to do, but you must also be that teacher leader who helps others understand the value of it. Then, it becomes more embedded in the educational environment because you can’t do it in isolation.” - Dr. Susan Keller-Mathers
Susan’s Tips for Teachers:
Your attitude and energy make a difference in the classroom.
Remember why you’re an educator and come in refreshed and ready to engage with your students.
Always think about how you can meet the needs of your students and bring out their creative thinking.
About Susan Keller-Mathers:
Susan Keller-Mathers is an Associate Professor at the Center for Applied Imagination at SUNY Buffalo State. Susan holds a BS in Elementary Education, an MS in Creativity, and an Ed.D in Curriculum and Instruction. She teaches graduate courses in creativity, chairs the curriculum committee and serves on leadership teams of various departments across campus dedicated to infusing creative learning into their teaching and learning practices.
Susan’s focus is educating the next generation of creativity experts who will utilize their degree in creativity in diverse professional and personal arenas. For nearly three decades she has continued the development of the Torrance Incubation Model (TIM) to infuse creativity into lesson, unit, course and training frameworks, develop creative learning and creative problem-solving initiatives in educational and business institutions and travel the globe teaching creativity to international educators on five continents.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Follow Cyndi and Matt on Linkedin.
You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

Aug 9, 2022 • 20min
THROW BACK to the Thinking School with Dr. Kulvarn Atwal
How do you facilitate teacher-led change in the classroom? In this throwback episode Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood revisit their interview with Dr. Kulvarn Atwal, an executive headteacher of two large primary schools in East London and author of The Thinking School.
Listen in to hear Dr. Atwal share his thoughts on educational leadership and how to facilitate teacher-led change in the classroom. He sheds light on the importance of trial and error in school systems, how school leaders can support the creativity of teachers, and ways administrators can spark curiosity and professional development in tenured teachers.
Dr. Atwal also gives advice for teachers who crave professional development but don’t have opportunities to foster it. Then, he talks a bit about his next book for empowering teachers, The Thinking Teacher.
“The greatest single factor that impacts upon the quality of children’s learning in school, students’ learning, is quite straightforward. It’s the quality of teaching.” - Dr. Kulvarn Atwal
Dr. Atwal’s Tips for School Administrators:
Give teachers more opportunities to collaborate with other teachers and engage in dialogue without having to report back or hit a target.
Create culture in which you actively inquire or ask about what your teachers are good at and what they’d like to improve in. This works well if you lead by example.
Express your school’s values, mission, and goals. Don’t deviate from those.
About Dr. Kulvarn Atwal:
Dr. Kulvarn Atwal was born and educated in East London and has been headteacher for nine years of the school he attended as a child. in 2018/19 he was Executive Head Teacher of two primary schools; both of which were graded Outstanding in all areas by Ofsted. His doctoral thesis, completed in 2016, examined the factors that influence teacher learning in schools. He has recently published his first book, ‘The Thinking School – Developing a Dynamic Learning Community’.
Follow Dr. Atwal on Twitter
Resources Mentioned:
Learn more about Highlands Primary School
Buy The Thinking School by Dr. Kulvan Atwal
Read Dr. Atwal's Blog Posts here:
The Need for Creative Thinking in Our Schools
Cultivating An Environment for Creativity in Schools
If You Want Creative Thinkers, Focus on Emotional Literacy
Five Strategies for Building a Thinking School
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

Aug 3, 2022 • 8min
CREATIVITY TIP: Shifting Perspectives
In this short Creativity Tip episode, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood offer advice on how to highlight the importance of perspective shifting when engaging students creatively in the classroom. Matthew shares an exercise he experienced during his graduate program that helped him realize the challenge of assuming the perspective of others. Cyndi introduces how stories can offer different perspectives, such as the perspective of an individual perceived by others as the villain of the story.
Interested in more tips to help bring creativity into the classroom? Check out Cyndi's Books, Weaving Creativity into Every Strand of Your Curriculum, and 20 Lessons to Weave Creativity into Your Classroom.
Episodes related to Shifting Perspectives:
Listen to the episode with Monica Kang
Listen to the episode with Genein Letford
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

Jul 31, 2022 • 8min
CREATIVITY TIP: Teaching Failure
In this short Creativity Tip episode, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood offer advice on how to address incidents of failure in a classroom environment. Matthew shares his take on the Marshmallow challenge and how he uses this activity to normalize failure in a learning environment. Cyndi introduces an activity on how to reflect on and monitor incidents of failure during the learning process.
Interested in more tips to help bring creativity into the classroom? Check out Cyndi's Books, Weaving Creativity into Every Strand of Your Curriculum, and 20 Lessons to Weave Creativity into Your Classroom.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
You can also find The Fueling Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

Jul 19, 2022 • 21min
Bridging the Gap: Video and Creative Potential
In this debrief episode, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood reflect on the first five episodes of Season 4. Cyndi revisits creative potential and the value of integrating student interests into the learning experience. At the same time, Matthew discusses expression preferences and the ability to know when to use and not use computer algorithms to support the creative process. Cyndi and Matthew also take time to reflect on the different ways they've both used video to engage their children in creative production.
If you haven't listened to all five episodes of Season 4 (+ the BONUS episode), check out the links below to go back and listen, so you don't miss out on any golden nuggets of wisdom! Then, share your favorite episode with a colleague, parent, friend, or anyone else who could benefit from the show's information.
Matt's Insights
Expression preferences: We all like to express our creativity through different outlets. How many opportunities do you give your students to do that?
The "future creative" is someone who knows when to use the algorithm and when to turn it off.
Each of us has a unique creative potential. How can you find that in your students and help them act on it? (hint: Personal Interest Projects!)
Cynthia's Insights
There are significant benefits to using digital innovation, like YouTube videos, to demonstrate problem-solving and creativity skills.
Creative potential: Look for things that differentiate your students and find ways to showcase and/or nurture that creative potential.
Give your students resources and tools that encourage exploration and development of their personal interests, like Personal Interest Projects.
Go back and listen to Season 4:
Listen to S4 Episode 1 with Mark Runco
Listen to S4 Episode 2 with Frances Valintine
Listen to S4 Episode 3 with Carrington Faulk
Listen to S4 Episode 4 with Dr. Elizabeth Radday
Listen to S4 Episode 5 with Dr. Joseph Renzulli
Listen to the S4 BONUS Episode: Parenting for Creativity
Watch different video examples on the DadsforCreativity YouTube channel and review some easy video projects quickly enacted at home.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!

Jul 12, 2022 • 40min
How to Engage, Inspire, and Promote Creativity with Dr. Joseph Renzulli
How can we inspire and hold space for gifted and talented kids to express their creativity?
In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Dr. Joseph Renzulli, a world-renowned leader and pioneer in gifted education, creativity, and gifted teaching strategies. Joseph is here to share insights from his research along with why we should care about the spectrum of giftedness in our society.
Listen in to learn Joseph’s take on the relationship between giftedness and creativity, how to bring more creative giftedness into the classroom, and the greatest barriers to us increasing the number of people reaching their creative potential within their field. He also talks about the Renzulli Learning system, how it works, and how it’s benefitting thousands of educators across the world.
“Training teachers is the key to so much of this and, of course, there has to be some administrative support for it.” – Dr. Joseph Renzulli
Plus, Joseph breaks down his “Creative Idea Generator” method, how to apply “curriculum compacting” to accommodate gifted students, and how parents can facilitate creativity and learning outside of the classroom. Then, he highlights his biggest fear regarding the future of gifted education and where we need to focus our energy in the coming years.
Are you an educator who wants to learn and do more in the field of gifted education? Tune in to learn how to participate in the virtual Confratute learning experience held in July at the University of Connecticut!
Joseph’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Work with the school library to set up a section dedicated for “how-to” books.
Utilize basic ideas that are quick to read/learn about. Long lectures or videos are going to lead kids to lose interest.
Ask open-ended questions every single day.
Resources Mentioned:
Article: What Makes Giftedness?: Reexamining a Definition
Learn more about Renzulli Learning
Listen to the episode with Dr. Sally Reis
No Child Left Bored by Sally Reis
Register for Confratute at UConn!
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!
About Dr. Joseph Renzulli:
Dr. Joseph Renzulli is a leader and pioneer in gifted education and applying the pedagogy of gifted education teaching strategies to all students. The American Psychological Association named him among the 25 most influential psychologists in the world. Dr. Renzulli received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Award for Innovation in Education, considered by many to be “the Nobel” for educators, and was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented.
Joseph S. Renzulli is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Connecticut, where he also served as director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. His research has focused on the identification and development of creativity and giftedness in young people and on organizational models and curricular strategies for total school improvement. A focus of his work has been on applying the strategies of gifted education to the improvement of learning for all students. Dr. Renzulli currently leads the Renzulli Center for Creativity, Gifted Education, and Talent Development.
Follow Renzulli Learning on Instagram

Jul 5, 2022 • 33min
Personal Interest Projects with Elizabeth Radday
What is a Personal Interest Project (PIP) and how might it benefit students’ creativity?
In this episode of the Fueling Creativity in Education podcast, Dr. Cyndi Burnett and Dr. Matthew Worwood speak with Dr. Elizabeth Radday, an educator who’s been working in education for over 12 years. Currently working in Skills21 and School Services for EdAdvance, Elizabeth is passionate about student-driven personal projects, like Capstone, and loves to see what students can do when they are given the space to explore their interests. The Capstone curriculum and Personal Interest Project (PIP) curriculum she wrote are now being used by thousands of students in Connecticut each year.
Tune in to learn about this fascinating high school program that’s built on students identifying and furthering their creativity and interests while at school. Liz provides inspiring examples of Personal Interest Projects and describes how schools and educators can creatively implement them into students’ curriculums.
Plus, Liz breaks down the most successful format of PIPs and Capstones, what types of educators can best facilitate a Capstone course, her recommendations on rubrics, stimulating motivation in struggling students, and much more.
Liz’s Tips for Teachers and Parents:
Give kids voice and choice. They need to feel control over the process.
Find the time to work on Personal Interest Projects. Start small if you need to.
Do your own PIP or Capstone project alongside your students and share your experience (and mistakes) with them. Also, it’s important that you choose something unrelated to school.
Resources Mentioned:
Skills21 Personal Interest Projects
Skills21 Capstone
Portrait of a Graduate
Listen to the episode with Heather Lyon
Listen to the episode with Dr. Sally Reis
Listen to the episode with Jonathan Plucker
Listen to the episode with KC Lathrop
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
Eager to bring more creativity into your home or classroom?
Access various creativity resources and tools & listen to more episodes of The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast by visiting www.CreativityandEducation.com.
What to learn more about Design Thinking in Education?
Do you want to build a sustained culture of innovation and creativity at your school? Visit WorwoodClassroom.com to learn how Design Thinking can promote teacher creativity and support professional growth in the classroom.
Have a question? Email Dr. Burnett and Dr. Worwood at questions@fuelingcreativitypodcast.com!
You can also find The Fueling Creativity in Education Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, and PodBean! Make sure to rate, review, and share the podcast if you enjoy it!
About Elizabeth Radday:
Dr. Elizabeth Radday has been working in education for over twenty years. She first started teaching as a teenager doing arts and crafts at sleepaway camp. After college, she spent sixteen years in the middle and high school classrooms teaching STEM subjects and working with students with learning disabilities. She now works for EdAdvance in Connecticut for Skills21 and School Services. She is passionate about student driven personal projects like Capstone and loves to see what students can do when they are given the space to explore their interests. The Capstone curriculum and Personal Interest Project curriculum she wrote is now being used by thousands of students in Connecticut each year.
Connect with Elizabeth Radday on LinkedIn
Follow her on Instagram
Follow her on Twitter
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ecskills21
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ecskills21


