Why creativity is more than a nice-to-have for students and teachers
Written By Al Thomas
Blog | Creativity | Edtech | Educational Technology | Empowering | Strategy | Teaching
Creativity may be the most important skill to learn in school, but it’s often misunderstood—and underutilized. Creativity isn’t just about drawing or writing; it’s also about problem solving, critical thinking and innovation. Yet many students have never been taught how to be creative. Fortunately, there are many ways for teachers to incorporate creativity into their lessons.
We are all creative.
Creativity is a skill that can be learned, and it’s more important than ever to teach it in schools. In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded with information and new technologies. We are told to be creative if we want to succeed and stand out from the crowd; and yet, many people don’t know how.
In order for creativity to thrive in schools and beyond, we need teachers who are skilled at encouraging their students’ imaginations while also ensuring they develop their problem-solving skills through logical reasoning. This way they can become not only creative individuals but also productive citizens who use their knowledge of mathematics or science together with their imagination when solving real-world problems such as poverty or climate change.”
By teaching children to be creative, we are not only helping them develop important skills for the future but also ensuring that they are able to use their imaginations and critical thinking to solve problems.
We need to create a culture of creativity, where children are encouraged and supported to develop their imaginations and ideas. In order for this to happen, we need to give teachers the tools they need to encourage their students’ creativity in the classroom.
Creativity is not just a nice-to-have.
To anyone who thinks that creativity is a nice-to-have, I will ask you this: What happened to the man who invented the first mass-produced airplane? Or what about all of those people who came up with new ways to make computers more efficient? Those people are some of history’s most creative thinkers and they changed our world.
Creativity is not just a nice-to-have; it’s an essential skill for success in any field.
Creativity is a skill that can be developed, nurtured and grown —and teachers are the perfect people to teach it! Creativity is like any other skill: if you use it, it will get better; if you don’t use it, it will fade away.
How do I teach creativity?
How do you teach creativity? Let’s start by looking at what your students already know about the subject. Are they aware of how their brain works and how it can be used to solve problems? Do they understand that everyone is creative in some way, even if they don’t think so? How do you feel about being creative yourself? These are just a few of the questions that should be answered before teaching creativity in the classroom.
What’s great about being creative is that there are no hard-and-fast rules to follow when it comes to solving problems or coming up with ideas. This makes it an ideal topic for both students who enjoy structure but also those who thrive on risk-taking and spontaneity. We’ve all seen examples of this in our own lives: someone comes up with a brilliant solution after trying something completely different than what was expected (eureka!).
After establishing a framework for understanding how our brains work and why we find ourselves stuck sometimes, one thing remains: how do I make myself more creative? It’s simple—you need practice! Just like learning any skill or habit takes time, developing your creativity takes deliberate effort as well!
You can easily boost creativity by making some small changes in your classroom.
- You can easily boost creativity by making some small changes in your classroom. If you want to help your students be more creative, here’s what you can do:
- Encourage them to play with ideas and try out different possibilities. When they’re thinking creatively, they need to allow all kinds of ideas into their minds without judging them as being stupid or silly. So when a student comes up with an idea, encourage him/her not just to say what he/she thinks but also why he/she thinks it works — how does this connect with previous ideas? How does this fit with other things we know about the world? What evidence do we have that suggests this might be true?
- Encourage frequent brainstorming sessions so students will get used to holding multiple perspectives at once during creative thinking exercises like those described above (and below).
When students are brainstorming, encourage them to say everything that comes to mind about a topic. Try not to interrupt or put down any idea no matter how silly it may seem at first glance. When you’re done with this part of the exercise, ask students what kinds of things they notice about their ideas (e.g., “What patterns do we see in these ideas?”).
Once students have generated a good number of ideas, ask them to write down the ones that seem most important and explain why they think this is so. Next, have students take turns sharing their ideas with others in their group and asking them questions about each idea (e.g., “What evidence do we have that this might work?”).
Once students have a chance to share their ideas with each other, ask them to combine some of the ideas into new ones that might work even better. After this part of the exercise is done, ask students what kinds of things they notice about their new ideas (e.g., “What patterns do we see in these ideas?”).
Feedback is an essential part of creativity.
Feedback is an essential part of creativity. Without feedback, students are unable to learn from their mistakes and improve their work. Feedback helps them to understand what went wrong, why it went wrong and how they can improve next time.
Feedback should be given as soon as possible after the work is completed so that the student can learn from their mistakes quickly and easily. The best way to give feedback is by using a two-way conversation where both parties talk about what they think of each other’s work. This will help students learn from others’ mistakes so they don’t make them again themselves in future projects or assignments.
Don’t undervalue student creativity.
It’s easy to take student creativity for granted, but it shouldn’t be. You might assume that your students aren’t creative or that they don’t need creativity skills in their lives. These assumptions are wrong! Creativity is an essential skill in this day and age, not just for artists and designers but also for people working in fields like science, business and technology.
The truth is that the world needs more creative thinkers who can solve problems on their own or collaborate with others in order to come up with solutions that haven’t been thought of before.
Conclusion
For many students, creativity can be a difficult concept to grasp. There are many different ways students can learn about creativity and how it can help them in their lives. Teachers should encourage students to be creative by encouraging them to think outside the box and use their imagination when solving problems. Students will also need guidance from teachers on how to use their creativity effectively in school work, such as writing essays or solving math problems. By teaching students how to be creative at an early age, we can ensure that they are prepared for any situation where there will be no clear-cut answers or solutions available.
One More Thing:
Don’t miss out on resources and content designed to help you and your students build creative muscles. Sign up for the Educopilot Newsletter by clicking here.
Interested in learning more?
Four Warm-Ups To Get Students Thinking Creatively
The benefits of using creative warm-ups in your classroom are numerous. Creative warm-ups can encourage open-mindedness, nurture creative behavior,...
0 Comments