It is argued that creativity is, in large part, a decision. In the article, Encouraging students to decide for creativity, Robert J. Sternberg describes 12 ways in which teachers can encourage students to decide for creativity:
Redefining a problem means taking a problem and turning it on its head. Many times in life individuals have a problem and they just don't see how to solve it. They are stuck in a box. Redefining a problem essentially means extricating oneself from the box. This process is the synthetic part of creative thinking.
There are many ways teachers and parents can encourage children to define and redefine problems for themselves, rather than--as is so often the case--doing it for them. Teachers and parents can promote creative performance by encouraging their children to define and redefine their own problems and projects. Adults can encourage creative thinking by having children choose their own topics for papers or presentations, choose their own ways of solving problems, and sometimes have them choose again if they discover that their selection was a mistake. Teachers and parents should also allow their children to pick their own topics, subject to the adults' approval, on projects the children do. Approval ensures that the topic is relevant to the lesson leading to a successful project.
Everyone has assumptions. Often one does not know he or she has these assumptions because they are widely shared. Creative people question assumptions and eventually lead others to do the same. Questioning assumptions is part of the analytical thinking involved in creativity.
Teachers can be role models for questioning assumptions by showing students that what they assume they know, they really do not know. Of course, children shouldn't question every assumption. There are times to question and try to reshape the environment, and there are times to adapt to it. Some creative people question so many things so often that others stop taking them seriously. Everyone must learn which assumptions are worth questioning and which battles are worth fighting. Sometimes it's better for individuals to leave the inconsequential assumptions alone so that they have an audience when they find something worth the effort.
Teachers and parents can help children develop this talent by making questioning a part of the daily exchange. It is more important for students to learn what questions to ask and how to ask them than to learn the answers. Adults can help children evaluate their questions by discouraging the idea that the adults ask questions and children simply answer them. Adults need to avoid perpetuating the belief that their role is to teach children the facts and instead help children understand that what matters is the children's ability to use facts. This can help students learn how to formulate good questions and how to answer questions.
Everyone would like to assume that their wonderful, creative ideas will sell themselves. But as Galilee, Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, and millions of others have discovered, they do not. On the contrary, creative ideas are usually viewed with suspicion and distrust. Moreover, those who propose such ideas may be viewed with suspicion and distrust as well.
Because people are comfortable with the ways they already think, and because they probably have a vested interest in their existing way of thinking, it can be extremely difficult to dislodge them from their current way of thinking. Thus, students need to learn how to persuade other people of the value of their ideas. This selling is part of the practical aspect of creative thinking.
The environment for generating ideas can be constructively critical, but it must not be harshly or destructively critical. Students need to acknowledge that some ideas are better than others. Adults and children should collaborate to identify and encourage any creative aspects of ideas that are presented. When suggested ideas don't seem to have much value, teachers should not just criticize. Rather, they should suggest new approaches, preferably ones that incorporate at least some aspects of the previous ideas that seemed in themselves not to have much value. Students should be praised for generating ideas, regardless of whether some are silly or unrelated while being encouraged to identify and develop their best ideas into high-quality projects.
On the one hand, one cannot be creative without knowledge. Quite simply, one cannot go beyond the existing state of knowledge if one does not know what that state is. Many students have ideas that are creative with respect to themselves, but not with respect to the field because others have had the same ideas before. Those with a greater knowledge base can be creative in ways that those who are still learning about the basics of the field cannot be.
At the same time, those who have an expert level of knowledge can experience tunnel vision, narrow thinking, and entrenchment. Experts can become so stuck in a way of thinking that they become unable to extricate themselves from it. Students, as well as teachers, can become stuck on expert knowledge. Once children learn how to solve a certain kind of problem, for example, a certain kind of mathematical problem, they may over-apply the technique they have learned, applying it even to problems for which it is inappropriate. They seek to use what knowledge they have, appropriate or not. They are like the proverbial carpenter with a hammer looking for something-anything-to hammer.
Buying low and selling high means defying the crowd. And people who defy the crowd, people who think creatively, almost inevitably encounter resistance. The question is not whether one will encounter obstacles; that obstacles will be encountered is a fact. The question is whether the creative thinker has the fortitude to persevere.
Teachers can prepare students for these types of experiences by describing obstacles that they, their friends, and well-known figures in society have faced while trying to be creative; otherwise, children may think that they are the only ones confronted by obstacles. To help students deal with obstacles, teachers can remind them of the many creative people whose ideas were initially shunned and help them to develop an inner sense of awe of the creative act. Suggesting that children reduce their concern over what others think is also valuable.
When students attempt to surmount an obstacle, they should be praised for the effort, whether or not they were entirely successful. Teachers and parents alike can point out aspects of the children's attack that were successful and why, and suggest other ways to confront similar obstacles. Having the class brainstorm about ways to confront a given obstacle can get them thinking about the many strategies people can use to confront problems. Some obstacles are within oneself, such as performance anxiety. Other obstacles are external, such as others' bad opinions of one's actions. Whether internal or external, obstacles must be overcome.
Creative people take sensible risks and produce ideas that others ultimately admire and respect as trend-setting. In taking these risks, creative people sometimes make mistakes, fail, and fall flat on their faces.
Few students are willing to take risks in school, because they learn that taking risks can be costly. Perfect test scores and papers receive praise and open up future possibilities. Failure to attain a certain academic standard is perceived as deriving from a lack of ability and motivation and may lead to scorn and lessened opportunities. Teachers may inadvertently advocate students only learning to "play it safe" when they give assignments without choices and allow only particular answers to questions.
People often like things to be in black and white. People like to think that a country is good or bad (ally or enemy) or that a given idea in education works or does not work. The problem is that there are a lot of grays in creative work. Artists working on new paintings and writers working on new books often report feeling scattered and unsure in their thoughts. They often need to figure out whether they are even on the right track. Scientists often are not sure whether the theory they have developed is exactly correct. These creative thinkers need to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty until they get the idea just right.
A creative idea tends to come in bits and pieces and develops over time. However, the period in which the idea is developing tends to be uncomfortable. Without time or the ability to tolerate ambiguity, many may jump to a less than optimal solution. When a student has almost the right topic for a paper or almost the right science project, it's tempting for teachers to accept the near-miss. To help children become creative, teachers need to encourage them to accept and extend the period in which their ideas do not quite converge. Students need to be taught that uncertainty and discomfort are a part of living a creative life.
Many people often reach a point where they feel as if no one believes in them. The main limitation on what children can do is what they think they can do. All students have the capacity to be creators and to experience the joy associated with making something new, but first, they must be given a strong base for creativity.
Sometimes teachers and parents unintentionally limit what children can do by sending messages that express or imply limits on children's potential accomplishments. Instead, these adults need to help children believe in their own ability to be creative. If students are encouraged to succeed and to believe in their own ability to succeed, they very likely will find the success that otherwise would elude them.
Teachers must help students find what excites them to unleash their best creative performances. Teachers need to remember that this may not be what really excites them. People who truly excel creatively in a pursuit, whether vocational or avocational, almost always genuinely love what they do. Certainly, the most creative people are intrinsically motivated in their work. Less creative people often pick a career for the money or prestige and are bored with or loathe their career. Most often, these people do not do work that makes a difference in their field. Helping students find what they really love to do is often hard and frustrating work. Yet, sharing the frustration with them now is better than leaving them to face it alone later.
Part of being creative means being able to work on a project or task for a long time without immediate or interim rewards. Students must learn that rewards are not always immediate and that there are benefits to delaying gratification. The fact of the matter is that, in the short term, people are often ignored when they do creative work or even punished for doing it. Many people believe that they should reward children immediately for good performance and that children should expect rewards. This style of teaching and parenting emphasizes the here and now and often comes at the expense of what is best in the long term.
The people who make the most of their abilities are those who wait for a reward and recognize that few serious challenges can be met in a moment. Ninth-grade children may not see the benefits of hard work, but the advantages of a solid academic performance will be obvious when they apply to college. The short-term focus of most school assignments does little to teach children the value of delaying gratification. Projects are clearly superior in meeting this goal of delayed gratification. By working on a task for many weeks or months, children learn the value of making incremental efforts for long-term gains.
The most powerful way for teachers to develop creativity in children is to role model creativity. Children develop creativity not when they are told to, but when they are shown how. Teachers also can stimulate creativity by helping children to cross-fertilize in their thinking to think across subjects and disciplines. The traditional school environment often has separate classrooms and classmates for different subjects and seems to influence children into thinking that learning occurs in discrete boxes-the math box, the social studies box, and the science box. However, creative ideas and insights often result from integrating material across subject areas, not from memorizing and reciting material.