Root-Bernstein, M: Inventing Imaginary Worlds

Michele Root-Bernstein is an historian, a haiku poet, an independent scholar in creativity studies affiliated with Michigan State University and a teaching artist associated with the John F. Kennedy Center. Co-author of the book, Sparks of Genius, The Thirteen Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People, she researches, lectures, workshops, writes and blogs on the practices and processes of creative imagination in all walks of life.

How can parents, educators, business leaders and policy makers nurture creativity, prepare for inventiveness and stimulate innovation? One compelling answer, this book argues, lies in fostering the invention of imaginary worlds, a.k.a. worldplay. First emerging in middle childhood, this complex form of make-believe draws lifelong energy from the fruitful combustions of play, imagination and creativity. Inventing imaginary worlds develops the skills society needs for inventing the future.

List of FiguresIntroductionThe Story of WorldplayAcknowledgmentsPart One: Discovering Worldplay Where It GrowsChapter 1:Hidden Worlds of Play: A Journey Through the Land of KarChapter 2:Searching for Paracosms: How One Man Found the Imaginary Worlds of ChildhoodChapter 3:Memory Counts: MacArthur Fellows and College Students Recall Childhood PlayPart Two: Exploring the Gardens of Make-BelieveChapter 4:Pretense and Place: The Poetics of Play in Middle ChildhoodChapter 5:Imaginary Countries and Gifted Play: First Investigations of 'Creative IQ'Chapter 6:A Learning Laboratory in Creative Practice: Plumbing the Plausible ImaginationPart Three: Grafting Worldplay to Adult WorkChapter 7:The Maturation of Creative Imagination: Robert Louis Stevenson as MentorChapter 8:Worldplay at Work: MacArthur Fellows Straddle a Creative DivideChapter 9:The Worldplay Avocation-Vocation: Case Studies in Creative PolymathyPart 4: Sowing the Seeds of WorldplayChapter 10:Imaginary World Invention Goes to School: An Argument for Playful LearningChapter 11:Worldplay the Computer Way: Children and Youth Reveal Their Lived ExperienceChapter 12:The Creative Capital of Make-Believe: How to Support Children Playing at Their BestConclusion.Wither the Worldplay Impulse?Appendix. A Childhood Worldplay ListEndnotesBibliography