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Highly Inventive Explorer of Creativity: An Interview with John Baer

Dr. John Baer is a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education at Rider University. He earned his BA from Yale University (double major, psychology and Japanese studies, magna cum laude) and his PhD in cognitive and developmental psychology from Rutgers University. Dr. Baer has published 10 books and scores of research articles and book chapters on creativity, cooperative learning, and other educational psychology topics. His research on the development of creativity and his teaching have both won national awards, including the American Psychological Association’s Berlyne Prize for research on the Psychology of Creativity and the Arts and the National Conference on College Teaching and Learning’s Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology. His books include Creativity and Divergent Thinking: A Task-Specific Approach; Creative Teachers, Creative Students; Creativity Across Domains: Faces of the Muse; Reason and Creativity in Development; and Are We Free? Psychology and Free Will. He currently serves on the editorial board of four educational and cognitive psychology journals. Dr. Baer has taught at all levels from elementary through graduate school; worked with gifted/talented programs for a large public-school system and a statewide summer program for creatively gifted students; served as a state director of the “Odyssey of the Mind” Creative Problem-Solving Competition; and served as a consultant to many groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, the National Education Association, and many local school systems in the area of promoting creative thinking and writing. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Educational Testing Service, the National Center for Educational Statistics, the Carnegie Foundation, and Rutgers and Rider Universities. Henshon: What led you to study creativity?