Teaching for effective learning - creativity

What we know

Creativity can mean different things to different people. For some it means being imaginative or inventive, taking risks or challenging convention. For others it is about original thinking or producing something that nobody has come up with before. Some believe that the term creativity only applies to those who possess artistic talents. Being innovative involves implementing these creative ideas. Creativity and innovation can be regarded as subsets of imagination.

Creativity is, in fact, possible in any activity that engages our intelligence because intelligence itself is essentially creative. Creative processes are rooted in the imagination and our lives are shaped by the ideas we use to give them meaning. We all have creative capacities but in many instances we don’t know what they are or how to draw upon them.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the promotion of creativity within schools. This is based on a growing recognition that creativity improves the self-esteem, motivation and achievement of learners. Pupils who are encouraged to think creatively become:

• more interested in discovering things for themselves
• more open to new ideas and challenges
• more able to solve problems
• more able to work well with others
• have greater ownership over their learning
• more effective learners.

Young people who have the opportunity to develop their creative skills will be better prepared for life after school. The world is changing rapidly and it is almost certain that most people will have to adapt to several careers in the course of a lifetime. Most employers want to recruit people who see connections, have bright ideas, are innovative, communicate and work well with others and are able to solve problems. Confident, creative individuals will always be in demand.

Professor Howard Gardner in his latest book, Five Minds for the Future, suggests that The Creative Mind is one of the five minds, which we will have to cultivate so we can survive as a species, and we can have a world in which we can live.

Schools must, therefore, provide learning experiences which enable young people to develop creativity, innovation and enterprise – essential skills that will equip them for their future lives as workers and citizens. Nor is creativity limited only to the expressive arts - it can be applied to every subject or course within the curriculum.

Creativity might best be described as the process of seeing new possibilities. This, however, is not a strictly logical process since it draws from many different aspects of our knowledge, personality, emotions and intuitive powers.

It is often held that there are two main modes to creative thinking. The first is generative thinking - imagining and creating ideas that will provide the framework and motivation for carrying out tasks. The second relates to making judgements and evaluating ideas in order to attribute purpose, value and practical outcomes.

This view has its roots in the belief that the opposing hemispheres of the brain confer altogether different attributes when it comes to creative thinking. Neurological research suggests that the right side of the brain is visual and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details. The other hemisphere - the left brain - is verbal and processes information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole.

The right side of the brain is often associated with characteristics such as intuition, imagination, emotions, feelings and artistic creativity. The left side is more usually associated with planning and organisation, logic, analytical thinking and deduction. The right side of the brain is sometimes referred to as the ‘artist’, whereas the left side is regarded as the ‘judge’.

This has led to a belief that ‘right-brained’ people are typically those who revel in the fact that learning is chaotic. They thrive on uncertainty and ambiguity. They are capable of being spontaneous and thinking outside the box. ‘Right-brained’ people are also believed to be emotional thinkers who are empathetic rather than logical. These include the people who we conventionally think of as being creative, such as artists, musicians, inventors and entrepreneurs.

‘Left-brained’ people, on the other hand, are considered to be analytical thinkers who are strong at planning and organisation. They tend to be evaluative, logical and judgemental, often practical, and with a need to follow rules, to understand everything and have right answers. They find it hard to tolerate uncertainty or ambiguity. This group might typically include scientists, bankers, lawyers and mathematicians.

It is now recognised, however, that left and right brain theory is not so simple when it comes to creativity. Firstly, each one of us is a unique mixture of the kind of characteristics described above. Secondly, even those who are very inventive, enterprising or creative and thrive on spontaneity and uncertainty, also need to seek order and be analytical if they are to be successful.

It is now believed that the most powerful creative thinking occurs when left and right hemispheres of the brain combine to apply both generative and evaluative processes.

Implications for learning

It is often argued that the pressure on teachers to cover significant amounts of curriculum content in order to prepare pupils for national examinations inhibits the establishment of teaching and learning methodologies which foster creativity.  Where the effectiveness of schools is measured in academic attainment, it is perhaps not surprising that some teachers and parents view the promotion of creativity and enterprise as added extras, or even distractions from the real business of schools – to prepare pupils for tests and examinations.

In recent years, however, there has been a growing understanding of creativity and how the development of creative thinking in young people can underpin effective learning and achievement.  Two of Scotland’s most important national strategies – A Curriculum for Excellence and Determined to Succeed  - address the need to reshape the curriculum at all stages in order to better enable Scotland’s young people to develop self-confidence, self-reliance and ambition, and to become successful learners.

If it is true that traditional classroom work does not present enough challenge or stimulation to engage learners in creative thinking, the challenges for schools and teachers lie in the following questions.

• What are the features of creativity?
• How can teachers develop creativity in learners?
• What kind of learning environment promotes creativity?

What are the features of creativity?

In the creative classroom, pupils are curious. They ask 'Why?', 'How?' and 'What if?' questions. They challenge conventional thinking and don't always follow rules. Creative teaching encourages pupils to think laterally and make associations between things that are not usually connected. Pupils reinterpret and apply their learning in new contexts and communicate their ideas in novel or unexpected ways.

Pupils learning in a creative climate are also strong at imagining – they see things possibilities, problems and challenges. They are able to visualize alternatives and look at things from different points of view. They are able to play around with ideas and experiment with alternative approaches to solving problems. They respond intuitively and trust their intuition. 

How can teachers develop creativity in learners?

Real creativity comes from tuning into the learners and providing opportunities for them to use their creative strengths and abilities. The following approaches can help teachers to promote creativity in the classroom.

• Ensuring that planning incorporates a range of teaching and learning styles.
• Providing regular opportunities for hands-on experimentation, problem solving, discussion and collaborative work.
• Create opportunities where pupils are encouraged to actively do the work and question what is going on.
• Making use of creative thinking techniques such as Brainstorming, Thinking Hats and PMI.
• Sharing the learning intentions with pupils and providing them with opportunities for choosing how they are going to work.
• Encouraging pupils to improvise, experiment and think outside-the-box.
• Actively encouraging pupils to question, make connections, envisaging what might be possible and exploring ideas.
• Asking open-ended questions such as ‘What if…?’ and ‘How might you…?’
• Joining in with activities and modeling creative thinking and behaviour. 
• Encouraging pupils to develop criteria that they can use to judge their own work, in particular its originality and value.
• Facilitating open discussion of the problems pupils are facing and how they can solve them.
• Encouraging pupils to share ideas with others and to talk about their progress.
• Using failure or setbacks as opportunities to learn.
• Ensuring that assessment procedures reflect and reward creativity, enterprise and innovation.
• Making effective use of encouragement, praise and positive language.
• Create opportunities to learn through the imagined experience, giving them a safe context to explore ideas using drama techniques.

What kind of learning environment promotes creativity? 

To foster creative thinking it is important to relax the conscious mind and allow the subconscious to rise. The conscious mind might be thought of as only the tip of the iceberg, the unconscious mind is the submerged, sleeping giant. Schools have traditionally focused on educating the conscious mind and some writers, such as Guy Claxton, believe that it is possible to achieve more by thinking less.

When the conscious mind is given a chance to relax, people often feel fresher and more able to make new connections and think divergently. When there is harmony between the conscious and subconscious minds, some people are able to enter a state of 'flow' and this is when creative powers are at a peak. Howard Gardner regards the enrichment of the subconscious mind as key to being creative as it forms, largely by the age of 7, the capital of a human being’s creativity. Adults draw on this capital for the rest of their lives so in the creative classroom it is important to provide experiences which continue to add to this.

There are also important links between creativity and emotional intelligence. Strong emotions, such as anxiety and stress, can overwhelm our ability to think creatively and explore alternatives. Similarly, learners with low confidence and self esteem are not well placed to take risks and explore possibilities. Releasing our natural potential is closely linked to our emotions and how we feel about ourselves. Many people fail to develop their creative abilities as a result of false beliefs and limiting habits adopted during school years, and retained in adulthood.

Fostering a creative learning environment means helping young people to develop a ‘could-be’ attitude. This involves encouraging pupils to explore their imaginations, define their goals, have fun and play with ideas, practice not knowing, be curious and seeing the world with new eyes. All of these attitudes and skills can be taught.

Creative people also tend to be optimistic. They are able to envisage positive outcomes and they are able to focus on their strengths, rather than their weaknesses. Many schools are now implementing the ideas behind the work of Martin Seligman whose construct 'learned optimism' is aimed at helping young people to develop strategies for dealing with the negative thoughts or messages that limit their thinking and creativity. 

There can also be many dead ends in creative thinking and so the qualities of persistence, resilience, optimism and positive self-belief are important attributes to nurture in young people.