Generating "creativity" and provocations through visual arts education: a major goal of twenty-first century arts education

The workshop is designed to encourage pre-service teachers to find new ways of discovery through the visual arts by working with a newly developed Chinese Mo-ku-chi model (ink splash drawing with energy). This arts-based research inquiry explores "creativity" to foster critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Kao, 2010) particularly in the aesthetic, expressive and emotive domains. It’s a practical-oriented intercultural (Australian-Chinese) workshop employing a discovery learning approach where participants have the opportunities to use a "spirit of play" to engage their imagination and to delight in the unknown in a non-traditional environment. The results of using this Arts-based learning approach have been very positive in generating collaborative and individual "creativity." The findings reveal five levels of "creativity" can be developed through visualisation, meaning-making, and practical experiential knowledge of the artistic creative experience yet it’s potential is often ignored in pre-service teacher education.