Creativity and Innovation

One of the most difficult things to teach students is creativity, yet it is precisely from this skill domain, innovation, that all advances arise. I’m always amazed when I hear people say that they are not creative. You don’t hear folks admit how lazy they are. What’s more, it isn’t even true. In fact, we are all creative. We need to be to be considered human. Otherwise, our thoughts are limited to programmed scripts. We replicate. We get stuck in one way of seeing things and our role narrows. Strange that creativity has such a negative connotation for some while problem solving seems completely opposite. Really, they are just two ways of looking at the same thing. Creativity demands that we solve problems, but by looking at the limits of our imagination when it comes to solutions. Problem solving is just an algorithm without creativity. You don’t need to consider yourself an artist in order to reap the benefits of creative thinking. The only thing you need is to be brave enough to change. The following link will take you to a terrific site that may help you teach this skill area, even if you don’t consider yourself “creative.” One of the most important concepts to Einstein is Combinatory Play, or a method to associate dissimilar things, finding relationship between them, and productively moving forward.