CREATIVITY

We live in a time where things are constantly changing and evolving. The old, established rules used by past generations to educate and secure success are not suitable for the next generation who will thrive in such an innovative time. Unfortunately, traditional education gives little room for students to develop their creativity and outside-of-the-box thinking beyond predetermined, standardized boundaries. The next generation needs to be prepared to tackle not only the known, but also the unknown problems our world will face. Therefore, we must be forward thinking about how we train and inspire our upcoming generation.

                                                              Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Educational forums in the Western world have with increasing concern over the last decade or so debated the issue of creativity in the classroom: its philosophical assumptions, definitional discrepancies, challenges for curriculum and pedagogy, socio -cultural relevance and economic benefits.

                             Classrooms in India are posed with challenges of rigid curriculum demands, lack of resources, large class sizes and very often low motivation levels among teachers. Add to that poor teacher training facilities. Given the constraints, the pursuit of encouraging creativity education in the Indian schooling system seems like a tall order. Education systems in India is described as a “monolithic system” where education is governed entirely by a rigid examination system, there is no grasp of the developmental needs of the learners, cognizance of their socio-economic and cultural context. The education in India is portrayed as comprising of dull routines, unmotivated teachers, bored students and rote systems of learning. The ideology, the curricular and pedagogic adaptations, and the structural and environmental factors explore the scope of creativity education in the country.

 Buying Low and Selling High

The investment theory of creativity (Sternberg and Lubart 1995) asserts that creative thinkers are like good investors: They buy low and sell high. Whereas investors do so in the world of finance, creative people do so in the world of ideas. Creative people generate ideas that are like undervalued stocks (stocks with a low price-to-earnings ratio), and both are generally rejected by the public. When creative ideas are proposed, they are often viewed as bizarre, useless, and even foolish, and are summarily rejected, and the person proposing them regarded with suspicion and perhaps even disdain and derision.

Creative ideas are both novel and valuable. Why, then, are they rejected? Because the creative innovator stands up to vested interests and defies the crowd and its interests. The crowd does not maliciously or wilfully reject creative notions; rather it does not realize, and often does not want to realize, that the proposed idea represents a valid and superior way of thinking. The crowd generally perceives opposition to the status quo as annoying, offensive, and reason enough to ignore innovative ideas.

                  Creative work requires applying and balancing three abilities that can all be developed .They are

• Synthetic ability is what we typically think of as creativity. It is the ability to generate novel and interesting ideas. Often the person we call creative is a particularly good synthetic thinker who makes connections between things that other people don't recognize spontaneously.
• Analytic ability is typically considered to be critical thinking ability. A person with this skill analyzes and evaluates ideas. Everyone, even the most creative person you know, has better and worse ideas. Without well-developed analytic ability, the creative thinker is as likely to pursue bad ideas as to pursue good ones. The creative individual uses analytic ability to work out the implications of a creative idea and to test it.
• Practical ability is the ability to translate theory into practice and abstract ideas into practical accomplishments. An implication of the investment theory of creativity is that good ideas do not sell themselves. The creative person uses practical ability to convince other people that an idea is worthy. For example, every organization has a set of ideas that dictate how things, or at least some things, should be done. To propose a new procedure you must sell it by convincing others that it is better than the old one. Practical ability is also used to recognize ideas that have a potential audience.

 WAYS TO DEVELOP CREATIVITY IN STUDENTS

                                                                                           Tips for Teaching

Ø  Allowing Time for Creative Thinking
Ø  Instructing and Assessing Creativity
Ø  Rewarding Creative Ideas and Product
Avoid Roadblocks
Ø  Encouraging Sensible Risks
Ø  Tolerating Ambiguity
Ø  Allowing Mistakes
Ø  Identifying and Surmounting Obstacles
Use Role models
Ø  Using Profiles of Creative People
Ø  Encouraging Creative Collaboration
Ø  Imagining Other Viewpoints
Add Complex Techniques
Ø  Teaching Self-Responsibility
Ø  Promoting Self-Regulation
Ø  Delaying Gratification
Basic Techniques
Ø  Questioning Assumptions
Ø  Defining and Redefining Problems
Ø  Encouraging Idea Generation
Explore the Environment
Ø  Recognizing Environmental Fit
Ø  Finding Excitement
Ø  Seeking Stimulating Environments
Ø  Playing to Strengths

        Cross-Fertilizing Ideas

Stimulate creativity by helping students to think across subjects and disciplines. The traditional school environment often has separate classrooms and classmates for different subjects and seems to influence students into thinking that learning occurs in discrete boxes—the math box, the social studies box, and the science box. But creative ideas and insights often result from integrating material across subject areas, not from memorizing and reciting material.

Teaching students to cross-fertilize draws on their skills, interests, and abilities, regardless of the subject. For example, if your students are having trouble understanding math, you might ask them to draft test questions related to their special interests—ask the baseball fan to devise geometry problems based on the game. The context may spur creative ideas because the student finds the topic (baseball) enjoyable and it may counteract some of the anxiety caused by geometry. Cross-fertilization motivates students who aren't interested in subjects taught in the abstract.

                                                                                         As parents, educators, and creativity researchers, we are encouraged by the increased attention being paid to creativity and the recognition that it has a role to play in schools and classrooms. It's essential, however, that education leaders develop a thorough understanding of creativity and that they take the time and care necessary to ensure that the benefits of creativity are realized in schools and classrooms

 

                

Reference

How to Develop Student Creativity

Robert J. Sternberg and Wendy M. William