Creative thinking in the classroom

Creative thinking in the classroom

         Creativity is a quality that many employers look for these days in their employees, yet it sometimes runs contrary to formal education, which often depends on measurable, pre- determined standards. Like many other life competencies, creative thinking is not easy to assess, evaluate or plan into the curriculum. This is because it often depends on individual, open-ended responses. It is for this reason that it should be embraced and practised more in the classroom in a different, less rigorously-assessed and more holistic way.

         At the heart of creative thinking lies the notion of novelty and flexibility. However, in addition to this, it is crucial that learners reflect on the utility of their new ideas and consider how to use them to solve problems, make decisions or achieve an objective. When learners are allowed to express themselves creatively, their motivation can increase as well as their curiosity. Asking for a creative response can also improve learners’ self-esteem and self- awareness – giving them the confidence to reflect, question and make new associations without feeling anxious or fearing the judgement of their peers. There are many ways we might embed creative thinking within our teaching, and the following sections illustrate how this can be done at different stages of learning.

Suggestions for classroom practice

         The ideas presented here are intended as a general indication of the types of activity that might develop this competency in the classroom, and are not a definitive list.

         It is possible to foster creative thinking in the classroom through the use of different types of tasks. By simply tweaking a familiar task – for example, adding a game-like element (e.g. a time or word limit) – teachers are able to introduce an element of spontaneity and unpredictability in class. This can also be done to achieved by offering learners more choice, by prompting them to use their imagination, to interact more with their peers or simply to ‘think outside the box’ and encourage original ideas. Overall, whatever the age, the following methods for fostering a creative environment in the class are worth considering:

•        Celebrating originality – giving praise to them demonstrating creativity and reward out-of-the- box thinking.

•        Asking learners questions and encouraging them to ask questions too. By using questions as a vehicle to dive deeper into your learners’ thoughts and ideas, you are promoting creative thinking and encouraging learners to consider different perspectives.

•        Allowing learners to be playful in their creative thinking – no answers are wrong answers; they should celebrate diversity and even absurdity.

•        Ensuring learners feel that the classroom is a safe space in which to engage in creative thinking.

Primaries

         At this level, getting learners to engage in a fantasy or a mystery element is easier than with older learners because younger learners are often less inhibited and their attitude more playful. They are innately creative, and from the very early years, they use imagination in

a wide variety of contexts – particularly during play activities. At this age, it is less about teaching creative thinking skills, and more about fostering and developing skills that are already inherent.

Creating poems and stories

         Working with a variety of texts, such as poems and stories, can be an effective way to get learners creating new content from their own ideas or other resources. For example, in this task called ‘I am…’ (from Goldstein’s 2008 publication ‘Working with images’ – see further reading page at the end of this booklet) learners:

•        read and identify the object described by deciphering a text and then;

•        produce a similar text by personalising an object, allowing them to conjure up new and unexpected images from the object’s material, size, shape, location, etc. without giving the game away too early.

For example, learners read the following text and guess the object. They then create their own ‘I am….’ verse using the text as a model.

I’m sometimes made of plastic. I’m usually round.

I have many different shapes. But I’m often quite small.

I have numbers. I often sit next to the bed.

You usually use me during the week. You need me but you don’t like me.

(Answer: alarm clock)

         This task allows learners the opportunity to ‘think outside the box’ and show originality. It also requires them to consider others’ perspectives as their classmates will try to guess their object, and so the clues in their poem need to be at the appropriate level of challenge. Even the process of guessing the object involves some creative thinking and problem solving – teachers can get learners to work together on this part to negotiate and agree on possible answers. To add a game-like element, the teams who work out the answers the quickest could be awarded a prize, or classmates could vote on the best ‘I am’ verse.

This task can also develop divergent thinking, imagination, cognitive flexibility, and tolerance or enjoyment of ambiguity or unpredictability. These skills are necessary

to participate in creative activities and are central to this key competency, as established in the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework.

Secondary students

         Learners at this age can be more reserved when it comes to creative tasks – they may feel anxious or embarrassed to share their own thoughts and ideas with others. It is therefore important for teachers to create a safe, judgement-free environment in which learners feel comfortable and free to think and act creatively. Much of this will be done through effective feedback and praise of original and creative thought.

Using images to develop creativity through imagination

         One way to foster an imaginative response in teenage learners is through the use of images. While the young learners task (see previous page) focused on visualising/personifying images (‘imaging’), in this task learners look at an image as the launch pad for a creative piece of story-telling.

Traditionally, when confronted by an image, learners are asked to merely describe what they can see. However, there are other options which allow for more creativity on the part of the learner. For example, in an activity called ‘Who am I?’, learners create a role for a person in an image, describing their character’s feelings, and then guess the role created by others. To help learners frame and structure their story, questions can be presented as such:

Choose a person in the artwork and think about them for a few minutes:

a)      What’s my name? Where am I? (I am in…)

b)      What is happening?/What has just happened to me? (I am/I have…)

c)       What am I feeling now? (I’m feeling…)

d)      What will happen next? (They will…)

e)       What do I regret or what am I looking forward to? ( I regret…)

f)       What do I wish most in the world? (If only…)

It is worth noting here the use of hypothesis in the final questions of the task, which should allow learners to make the sufficient imaginative leap to place themselves in the shoes of the person in the painting and imagine how they would think.

         Using Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks as an example painting (the image can be found here: www.edwardhopper.net/nighthawks.jsp), the following is an example answer from a secondary-school student – this could be presented to learners as a model, depending on the level and age of the learners:

(A) I am at 24-hour café in a big  city. I am waiting for something important to happen. I feel tense and nervous. (B) I am worried that they look for us, that they will hurt us. (C) We’re in trouble. (E) We should never do what we did, we shouldn’t took (sic) the money but we needed it. (D) Now they’re looking for us and I think they’ll catch us. (F) I wish the waiter will stop working, making that noise. Oh no!… It’s so late, I can’t keep my eyes awake. I wish I was somewhere else…

As a follow-up, learners could discuss the reasons for their answers to the questions in order to understand how they each interpreted the images in the painting differently, and discover different possibilities for divergent thinking. This can also help to boost self-esteem and confidence through praising each other’s originality.

These tasks provide learners with different options and choices (flexibility), they require the learners to provide details (elaboration) and come up with ideas that do not occur to most (originality) or provide unusual angles (novelty). This is achieved within the framework of creating a story.

Adults

         Learners at this age may be more sceptical of creative thinking tasks, as they may feel they are a distraction from the more “serious” work (for example, preparing for an exam). It is therefore important for teachers to communicate effectively the benefits of creative thinking, as well as the objectives of specific creative tasks for developing their skills. Emphasis should be placed on the idea that by working together, to share creative ideas and thoughts, learners will be able to learn from one another and create better relationships.

Creating safe speaking environments

         As an example, development of creative thinking can be undertaken in group speaking tasks in which learners collaborate. Indeed, creative thinking tasks work best in safe speaking environments in which classmates respect and value each other’s contribution, and do not fear being judged. For example, one such group speaking task could be the following:

Think of a gift for a person visiting your country. The gift should:

a)      communicate something about or be typical in some way of your culture;

b)      be easy to transport back home;

c)       cost under 50 EUR;

d)      be original, different or funny in some way.

         It is worth noting here that the four constraints or conditions imposed by the task are in fact what makes this appropriate for creative thinking. Without these conditions, the learners would have too much freedom and it would be harder for them to provide the imaginative response that is demanded of them. In order for learners to succeed in a task like this, they need to gather information, select and rank ideas and then reach a final decision to present to the class as a whole. Unlike the previous activities, this task has a real-life outcome – learners might have experience of making similar decisions about gifts outside class. This makes the task more motivating to learners as they can see the real relevance and applicability to their own everyday context.

         As an extension to the activity, groups could be invited to add a ‘what if’ scenario. After one group has presented their ideas to another group, the other group then suggests a possible issue with the gift, e.g. “But what if the person visiting your country isn’t allowed to transport [x] on the plane?” This can lead to further creative thinking through the need to problem solve and consider alternative scenarios.

         In this task, learners collaborate to solve a particular real-world problem and make decisions to achieve a specific goal or challenge. The challenge is provided by the constraints imposed by the task itself. The task is immersive and engages learners’ personal identities.