[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n 2010, California State University, Northridge came out with a web page displaying their Psychology students’ definitions of creativity. The entries date all the way back to fall of 1997 and continue until the spring of 2010. Most of the definitions are just a simple sentence and some are only three or four words. All of them are intelligent and although there are about 100 entries, each of them somehow manages to say a different thing. One of the students, Brenda Mezquita, writes, “Creativity is thinking outside of society’s norm. It is being able to express oneself in different varieties of arts- painting, poetry, sculpture, style, fashion, etc.” Another student, Martina Berry, defines creativity as “engaging in activity that is not learned from a book.” Others, like Nicole Concialdi’s, express that creativity “is without boundaries” and Victoria Reuveni claims, “Creativity is linked to passion. If you are passionate about something, you may be more able to think “out of the box” about it.”  The harsh reality of this assignment is that your school has been trained to do the exact opposite of what these noteworthy definitions say about the importance of creativity.

In fact, an article entitled “Assembly-line schools from a bygone era” published by the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette recalls, “The traditional high school structure emerged as a parallel to the factory model that saw a division of labor, mechanical routines, and large-scale production as the most efficient way to make things.”  That sounds vaguely familiar to me. [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]There needs to be a change in the way school systems approach creativity. And it needs to happen fast.[/perfectpullquote]

The previously mentioned Pittsburgh-Post Gazette article also made me think about how prevalent the lack of creativity issue really is: “Consider the origins of seven classes a day, 45 minutes each, in rooms filled with students sitting in orderly rows writing down notes and completing repetitive exercises in preparation for multiple-choice exams.” That’s pretty deep.

In some cases, we could honestly learn more and have more freedom just by going outside than by going to school.

The Roots of the Issue:

Image via Pixabay by TeroVesalainen

Think about your school. What do you usually do as daily assignments in your classes? Perhaps all you do in class is listen to your teacher lecture and then look in your textbook (or for the PDF online) for the answers to a worksheet. Sadly, that is the reality in most classrooms across America. This is due to a set of rules called Common Core. According to the Common Core website, Common Core is defined as “a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy.” The idea of these standards is what gets in the way of teachers thinking outside the box. Teachers are forced to make a syllabus that outlines all of the criteria covered and that frustrates their students. Aric Mitchell writes in an article entitled  “9 Frustrating Things About High School (According to Students)” on the 4Tests website: “So much emphasis is placed on […] “meeting the benchmark” (by politicians) that the most powerful tool for learning -the sheer love of it- is discouraged.”

Image via Pixabay by PublicDomainPictures

Especially in math and science classrooms, homework and the daily agenda is always in one format. And the schools try to cover this up by giving out Chromebooks but that only works to a certain extent.

The Chromebooks don’t ignore the fact that our model of teaching and learning is not significant anymore.

Sir Ken Robinson mentions in his TED talk, “Do schools kill creativity?”, “Nobody has a clue […] what the world will look like in five years’ time. And yet we’re meant to be educating them for it.”

TED Talk Usage Policy

Creativity is important

Creativity has great health benefits. Especially for younger children. According to an article entitled “The Benefits of Movement in Schools” by Nina Fiore, “Researchers at Columbia University show that embodied cognition makes abstract concepts more tangible.” Everything that a child learns they pick up on. It is best to start introducing skills that express creativity early on so they will understand the importance of it later in life. Creativity also allows students to be adaptable which will help prepare them for when it’s time to head out to college.

In his aforementioned and world-renowned TED talk, Ken Robinson claims, “Creativity is now as important as literacy. We should treat it with the same status.”  [perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Creativity is now as important as literacy. We should treat it with the same status.”[/perfectpullquote]

Integrating creativity into classrooms also allows for good leadership abilities and it will help students prepare for future job criteria. There is also a chance of seeing improved test scores if teachers encourage creativity in the classroom. Rod Pitcher writes in his article “The Importance of Creative and Stimulating Classroom Environment” on Education HQ Australia: “If the students are taught in a stimulating, creative classroom environment they will respond positively and learn because they are interested and awake.”

Creativity not only has benefits for the students. New approaches to the way education is viewed create new relationships that are vital for children as they grow up and become individuals.

There needs to be a change in the way school systems approach creativity. And it needs to happen fast.

Some ideas to get your creative juices flowing

While I could sit here and rant all day about how creativity is important and that we need to get it integrated into our school systems, sometimes it is hard to start.

“Creativity Requires a Culture That Respects Effort and Failure” by Patrick Maggitti, an article on Business Insider, introduces a new thought process to the table, the “20 percent” rule. It was originally designed for the workplace as major companies such as Google, 3M, and DuPont have taken this new approach. Maggitti describes that companies “expect their workers to spend as much as 20% of their time thinking creatively about new business opportunities.” Providing the opportunity to explore this idea (or at least parts of it) could really be beneficial to students thinking seriously about their futures.

A super simple solution that helps students engage with one another so that there is extra creativity (because creativity plus creativity equals more creativity), is to group students together with circular tables in the classroom rather than desks. Not only does this encourage conversation, but it encourages students to actually take responsibility for their own opinions because there is more conversation present versus lecture-based learning.

Image via Pixabay by schoithramani

Another way to address the issue is through technology. While sometimes technology can be our best friend and sometimes we hate it, it is something that is at our disposal quite a bit. Richard Byrne has a website, Free Technology for Teachers, exploring the different things that are out there that are great resources for teachers to restyle their teaching for no cost at all. One of the resources he touches on is Google Drawings. He claims, “Google Drawings allows you to collaboratively create drawings from scratch and or alter images that you upload to Drawings.” This could allow students a new way of taking notes, teachers a new way to format assignments, and encourages the virtue of cooperation.

The most important aspect to be remembered when integrating creativity into the classroom is imagination. It is so crucial for children to be able to think outside the box to come up with solutions because that is what prepares them for the future. Afterall, Albert Einstein did say, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Keeping creativity in classrooms is so important for providing a basis for the future of our youth and for our country as a whole.

Featured Image via Pixabay by Wokandapix