CREATIVITYTONY COLOMAFACULTY MEMBER, PAREF NORTHFIELD SCHOOL FOR BOYS

What is creativity?

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

Retrieved June 13, 2016 from https://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/creativity/define.htm

~ From Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken

What is creativity?

- Reid and Petocz, 2004

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PROBLEM SOLVING

PERFORMANCE

COMPOSITION

INNOVATION

Common Charactersitcs

• Creative persons are relatively uninterested in small details or facts for their own sake; that they are more concerned with meaning and implications.

• Creative people have considerable cognitive flexibility, communicate easily, are intellectually curious, and tend to let their impulses flow freely (MacKinnon, 2005, p. 308-309).

Traits associated with creativity..

- Reid and Petocz, 2004

DIVERGENT THINKING

INTROVERSIONSELF-ESTEEM

TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITYRISKS TAKERS

BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY

EMOTIONAL VARIABILITYABILITY TO ABSORB IMAGERY

TENDENCY TO NEUROSIS AND PSYCHOSIS

Kinds of Creativity

• Technical Creativity– People create new theories, technologies, or

ideas.– Deals with some problem of the environment

and results in novel solutions but exhibits little of the inventor's personality.

Retrieved June 10 2016 from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_00.htm

• Artistic Creativity– Which is more born of skill, technique

and self-expression.– Reflects the creator's inner needs,

perceptions and motivations

• Hybrid Creativity- Exhibits both a novel problem solution and the personality of the creator

Retrieved June 10 2016 from http://www.uncw.edu/cte/et/articles/vol7_1/gomez.pdf

Technical Creativity

Artistic Creativity

Escher

ARCIMBOLDO

The Creative Frame of Mind

Often the only difference between creative and uncreative people is self-perception. Creative people see themselves as creative and givethemselves the freedom to create. Uncreative people do not think about creativity and do not give themselves the opportunity to create anything new.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_00.htm

Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

The Creative Frame of Mind

• Being creative may just be a matter of setting aside the time needed to take a step back and allow yourself to ask yourself if there is a better way of doing something. Edward de Bono calls this a 'Creative Pause'. He suggests that this should be a short break of maybe only 30 seconds, but that this should be a habitual part of thinking. This needs self-discipline, as it is easy to forget.

• Another important attitude-shift is to view problems as opportunities for improvement. While this is something of a cliché, it is true. Whenever you solve a problem, you have a better product or service to offer afterwards.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_00.htm

Factors that affect creativity

1. WAYS OF THINKING

a) convergent thinking, emphasizes reproduction of existing data and adaptation of old responses to new situations in a more or less logical manner

(b) divergent thinking, characterized by flexibility and originality in the production of new ideas

Factors that affect creativity

2. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

“…One which involves absorbed listening, fighting off criticism and ridicule, stirring the unresponsive and deepening the superficial; one which requires that each honest effort to learn be met with enough reward to insure continued effort: the focus is on the potential rather than norms" (Torrance,2005, p. 312)

Factors that affect creativity

3. ACCESS TO MANIPULATIVE TOOLS FOR THE TEST OF IDEAS (COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY)

Using multimedia in the classroom increases creativity, innovation, problem-solving and improves communication between people (Hollenbeck & Hollenbeck, 2006, p. 1).

Multimedia software appeals to all senses and stimulates high interest, appealing to students and teachers (Marsh II, 2002, p. 6).

4. REFLECTIVE THINKING AND EVALUATION OF THOUGHTS

Strategies for enhancing creative-thinking skills

~ Make a start

~ Taking notes

~ Setting deadlines and quotas

~ Fixing a time and place

~ Establishing a class environment that accepts andreinforces new ideas.

~ Place students in situations where they are forced to seek out the information for themselves (Lancaster, 2000, p. 8)

~ Self-direction