How To Promote Creativity In Education With These 4 Strategies?

Creativity in education is more important than ever in the era of innovation.

In the San Lorenzo Unified School District, our 12-hour teacher technology academies focus on the 4 Cs: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. I ask teachers to introduce themselves by saying their name, site, grade and subject and the "C" that interests them most. Invariably, a good percentage chooses creativity.

Teaching creativity seems to present a catch-22. Teachers who have not seen themselves as the same creatives; on the other hand, highly creative teachers find it difficult to articulate how to develop their creativity, let alone present a strategy to transmit creativity to others.

Creativity is more than being artistic or expressive. Creativity is the ability to do new things or think of new ideas. It is not limited to the fine arts or the performing arts. It must be part of everything we strive to do, especially in the age of innovation. Creativity in education cannot be simply changing STEM to STEAM by adding an "A" for art. It must be a reason for collaboration, a seal of communication and a result of critical thinking.

It is necessary for school leaders to give them permission to innovate and improvise, which is risky in a school culture structured around high-level tests. Once this permission and support is granted, teachers can develop creative learning environments for their students. This includes both the physical environment and the teaching environment with the following characteristics:

• The students have some control over their learning.
• There is a balance between structure and freedom.
• the teachers are "playful"
• Time is used with flexibility
• Relations between teachers and students.
• The students work collaboratively and evaluate each other.

While each of these characteristics, by itself, can be a description of good teaching, it is their combination to create the environment to promote creativity.

Two examples that you discovered during my research can help illustrate this. A teacher who observes in Somerset surprised his class by organizing a series of activities on their tables while they were off to present the topic of "gases". These consist of a lit candle, a series of plastic cups containing different numbers of marbles and pairs of inflated and deflated balls.

The teacher did not give vocal instruction, but there were question cards with activities, for example:

Look at the candle while you are, what notes? Look how the marbles are arranged, shake them, what is happening? Squeeze the two rugby balls, what can you say?

Initially confused, the student groups soon interacted with the exhibitions and discussed their ideas. This unexpected beginning of the lesson, outside of the normal routine, together with an invitation to observe everyday phenomena in a different way, provided the "hook" necessary to attract children's enthusiasm in a new scientific topic.

By: Preeti Narula

Content: https://www.eschoolnews.com/2019/05/29/strategies-creativity-in-education/