what is creative thinking in education

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Tips for Guiding Students to Think Creatively

These simple creativity challenges can encourage students to have the mindset of an artist, a designer, and a change-maker.

We’re living in an era when the thinking process is becoming increasingly more important in a student’s learning journey: the ability to be reflective, adaptable, flexible, and nimble during times of constant change.

While an answer, statistic, or other random “product” can be found by simply asking the ever-growing breadth of artificial intelligence options, the process of creative and critical thinking cannot.

How might we shift toward a culture of thinking that’s process oriented in our learning spaces? What types of thinking would be most beneficial during a constant state of flux? Here are three ways of thinking that can help prepare students for career, life, and, most important, humanity. 

Thinking like an artist

In a world that’s moving at breakneck speed, thinking like an artist is about slowing down to uncover the nuance, complexity, and emotion of the world around us. Thinking like an artist is about developing the skills for meaningful expression. Adapted from the Columbus Museum of Art’s Making Creativity Visible project, this process focuses on the dispositions inherent in thinking like an artist.

Artists are playful and imaginative, and they experiment with ideas. They generate original ideas and approach the world with an insatiable curiosity. They’re comfortable with ambiguity and persist through failure. They value questioning, collaboration, and reflection. They communicate ideas and celebrate the beauty of thinking in unique and whimsical ways. What if you asked students to think like an artist in your learning space? What would that look, sound, and feel like?

Imagine if you asked students to find an object in the room and to write a series of questions they would like to ask the object. Then have them pick a question and answer it from the object’s perspective. Ask the students to use some simple materials like tape, paper, and scissors to make something connected to the answer they came up with.

This is a quick creativity challenge that can help create the conditions for students to think more like an artist in your space. If we want students to slow down and be more playful with their thinking, we must give them opportunities to exercise these dispositions. 

Thinking like a designer

We currently have a surplus of problems facing our world. Our students see, hear, and/or feel the problems that surround us every day. Imagine if we asked our students to think like a designer in our learning spaces. What if we facilitated learning experiences as an opportunity to identify and solve problems?

Designers find inspiration in the people, questions, and problems of their community. They use this inspiration to generate human-centered ideas. Designers prototype and implement a variety of possible solutions. They reflect and iterate on these solutions until they find one that has a lasting and meaningful impact on those most closely connected to the problem. Inspired from the work of IDEO , a design firm in Palo Alto, California, thinking like a designer can help students see how learning can be a more collective act, as opposed to the more individualistic one common throughout schools today.

How might you create space in your classroom to empower students to think more like a designer? Imagine if you had the students at the beginning of the year write down one worry they had about the upcoming year on a sticky note. Next they each found a partner and shared their worry. You gave them the time to conduct an empathy interview to get a better understanding of the worry. Then, with simple materials like tape, paper, string, scissors, and markers, you tasked them with designing an artifact that would help relieve some of the stress of their classmate’s worry. After students completed their artifact, they took turns sharing the artifact, its meaning, and how it addressed the worry of a classmate.

The purpose of this creativity challenge is to recognize the power in thinking like a designer —finding inspiration in those around us and gathering ideas from deep, meaningful conversation and creating solutions that matter to others.  

Thinking like a change agent

One element we need more of in our schools is meaning. Students know that much of what they’re learning is isolated and devoid of meaning. They know that the majority of what they’re learning is to satisfy state measured assessments. What if we asked students to think more like an agent of change in our learning spaces? What might that look, sound, and feel like?

Pulling from the work of the Columbus Museum of Art and Project Zero’s Cultivating Creative and Civic Capacities project, I and my colleagues have identified some essential dispositions of thinking like a change agent. Change agents must be able to imagine a more beautiful, just, and sustainable world for everyone. They must be able to slow down to investigate the complexity of taking action. They must be able to harness the power of influence to inspire change. Lastly, they must be able to explore the tensions between the individual and the collective society we all live in.

How might you create the conditions in your learning space for students to think like a change agent ? Imagine if you took your students on a noticing stroll around the campus or community. What if you asked them to identify meaningful issues, problems, or questions that they observed along the way, and to investigate some of these noticings to dig deeper into the interconnected nature of the causes and impact and where there might be opportunities for transformation?

Students could then take time to imagine new possibilities. How might your students design possibilities that influence others to take action and enable student experiences to be more beautiful, just, and sustainable?

The purpose of this creativity challenge is to help provide a process for students to find meaning by thinking like a change agent. What if we moved from maintaining the status quo to challenging it?

Creative Learning in Education

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• First Online: 25 June 2021

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• Ronald A. Beghetto 3  

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Creative learning in schools represents a specific form of learning that involves creative expression in the context of academic learning. Opportunities for students to engage in creative learning can range from smaller scale curricular experiences that benefit their own and others’ learning to larger scale initiatives that can make positive and lasting contributions to the learning and lives of people in and beyond the walls of classrooms and schools. In this way, efforts aimed at supporting creative learning represent an important form of positive education. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce and discuss the co-constitutive factors involved in creative learning. The chapter opens by clarifying the nature of creative learning and then discusses interrelated roles played by students, teachers, academic subject matter, uncertainty, and context in creative learning. The chapter closes by outlining future directions for research on creative learning and positive education.

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Creative Ecologies and Education Futures

Teaching Creatively and Teaching for Creativity

Supporting creative teaching and learning in the classroom: myths, models, and measures.

Although schools and classrooms have sometimes been characterized as contexts that suppress or even kill student creativity (Robinson, 2006 ), educational settings hold much promise for supporting students’ creative learning. Prior research has, for instance, indicated that there is on an average positive relationship ( r  = .22) between measures of creativity and academic achievement (Gajda, Karwowski, & Beghetto, 2016 ). This association tends to grow when measures are more fine-tuned to assess creativity and academic learning in specific subject areas (Karwowski et al., 2020 ). These findings suggest that under the right conditions, creativity and learning can be complementary.

Indeed, creativity researchers have long asserted that creativity and learning are tightly coupled phenomena (Guilford, 1950 , 1967 ; Sawyer, 2012 ). Moreover, recent theoretical and empirical work has helped to clarify the construct and process of creative learning (Beghetto, 2020 ; Beghetto & Schuh, 2020 ; Gajda, Beghetto, & Karwowski, 2017 ). Creative learning in schools represents a specific form of learning that involves creative expression in the context of academic learning. More specifically, creative learning involves a “combination of intrapsychological and interpsychological processes that result in new and personally meaningful understandings for oneself and others” (Beghetto, p. 9).

Within the context of schools and classrooms, the process of creative learning can range from smaller scale contributions to one’s own and others’ learning (e.g., a student sharing a unique way of thinking about a math problem) to larger scale and lasting contributions that benefit the learning and lives of people in and beyond the walls of the classroom (e.g., a group of students develop and implement a creative solution for addressing social isolation in the lunchroom). In this way, efforts aimed at supporting creative learning represents a generative form of positive education because it serves as a vehicle for students to contribute to their own and others learning, life, and wellbeing (White & Kern, 2018 ). The question then is not whether creative learning can occur in schools, but rather what are the key factors that seem to support creative learning in schools and classrooms? The purpose of this chapter is to address this question.

What’s Creative About Creative Learning?

Prior to exploring how creative learning can be supported in schools and classrooms, it is important to first address the question of what is creative about creative learning? Creative learning pertains to the development of new and meaningful contributions to one’s own and others’ learning and lives. This conception of creative learning adheres to standard definitions of creativity (Plucker, Beghetto, & Dow, 2004 ; Runco & Jaeger, 2012 ), which includes two basic criteria: it must be original (new, different, or unique) as defined within a particular context or situation, and it must be useful (meaningful, effectively meets task constraints, or adequately solves the problem at hand). In this way, creativity represents a form of constrained originality. This is particularly good news for educators, as supporting creative learning is not about removing all constraints, but rather it is about supporting students in coming up with new and different ways of meeting academic criteria and learning goals (Beghetto, 2019a , 2019b ).

For example, consider a student taking a biology exam. One question on the exam asks students to draw a plant cell and label its most important parts. If the student responds by drawing a picture of a flower behind the bars of a jail cell and labels the iron bars, lack of windows, and incarcerated plant, Footnote 1 then it could be said that the student has offered an original or even humorous response, but not a creative one. In order for a response to be considered creative, it needs to be both original and meaningfully meet the task constraints. If the goal was to provide a funny response to the prompt, then perhaps it could be considered a creative response. But in this case, the task requires students to meet the task constraints by providing a scientifically accurate depiction of a plant cell. Learning tasks such as this offer little room for creative expression, because the goal is often to determine whether students can accurately reproduce what has been taught.

Conversely, consider a biology teacher who invites students to identify their own scientific question or problem, which is unique and interesting to them. The teacher then asks them to design an inquiry-based project aimed at addressing the question or problem. Next, the teacher invites students to share their questions and project designs with each other. Although some of the questions students identify may have existing answers in the scientific literature, this type of task provides the openings necessary for creative learning to occur in the classroom. This is because students have an opportunity to identify their own questions to address, develop their own understanding of new and different ways of addressing those questions, and share and receive feedback on their unique ideas and insights. Providing students with semi-structured learning experiences that requires them to meet learning goals in new and different ways helps to ensure that students are developing personally and academically meaningful understandings and also provides them with an opportunity to potentially contribute to the understanding of their peers and teachers (see Ball, 1993 ; Beghetto, 2018b ; Gajda et al., 2017 ; Niu & Zhou, 2017 for additional examples).

Creative learning can also extend beyond the walls of the classroom. When students have the opportunity and support to identify their own problems to solve and their own ways of solving them, they can make positive and lasting contributions in their schools, communities, and beyond. Legacy projects represent an example of such efforts. Legacy projects refer to creative learning endeavours that provide students with opportunities to engage with uncetainty and attempt to develop sustainable solutions to complex and ill-defined problems (Beghetto, 2017c , 2018b ). Such projects involve a blend between learning and creative expression with the aim of making a creative contribution. A group of fourth graders who learned about an endangered freshwater shrimp and then worked to restore the habitat by launching a project that spanned across multiple years and multiple networks of teachers, students, and external partners is an example of a legacy project (see Stone & Barlow, 2010 ).

As these examples illustrate, supporting creative learning is not simply about encouraging original student expression, but rather involves providing openings for students to meet academic learning constraints in new and different ways, which can benefit their own, their peers’, and even their teachers’ learning. Creative learning can also extend beyond the classroom and enable students to make a lasting and positive contribution to schools, communities, and beyond. In this way, the process of creative learning includes both intra-psychological (individual) and inter-psychological (social) aspects (Beghetto, 2016).

At the individual level, creative learning occurs when students encounter and engage with novel learning stimuli (e.g., a new concept, a new skill, a new idea, an ill-defined problem) and attempt to make sense of it in light of their own prior understanding (Beghetto & Schuh, 2020 ). Creative learning at the individual level involves a creative combinatorial process (Rothenberg, 2015 ), whereby new and personally meaningful understanding results from blending what is previously known with newly encountered learning stimuli. Creativity researchers have described this form of creativity as personal (Runco, 1996), subjective (Stein, 1953 ), or mini - c creativity Footnote 2 (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007 ). This view of knowledge development also aligns with how some constructivist and cognitive learning theorists have conceptualized the process of learning (e.g., Alexander, Schallert, & Reynolds, 2009 ; Piaget, 1973 ; Schuh, 2017 ; Von Glasersfeld, 2013 ).

If students are able to develop a new and personally meaningful understanding, then it can be said that they have engaged in creative learning at the individual level. Of course, not all encounters with learning stimuli will result in creative learning. If learning stimuli are too discrepant or difficult, then students likely will not be able to make sense of the stimuli. Also, if students are able to accurately reproduce concepts or solve challenging tasks or problems using memorized algorithms (Beghetto & Plucker, 2006 ) without developing personally meaningful understanding of those concepts or algorithms, then they can be said to have successfully memorized concepts and techniques, but not to have engaged in creative learning. Similarly, if a student has already developed an understanding of some concept or idea and encounters it again, then they will be reinforcing their understanding, rather than developing a new or understanding (Von Glasersfeld, 2013 ). Consequently, in order for creative learning to occur at the individual level, students need to encounter optimally novel learning experiences and stimuli, such that they can make sense of those stimuli in light of their own prior learning trajectories (Beghetto & Schuh, in press; Schuh, 2017 ).

Creative learning can also extend beyond individual knowledge development. At the inter-psychological (or social) level, students have an opportunity to share and refine their conceptions with teachers and peers, making a creative contribution to the learning and lives of others (Beghetto, 2016). For instance, as apparent in the legacy projects, it is possible for students to make creative contributions beyond the walls of the classroom, which occasionally can be recognized by experts as a significant contribution. Student inventors, authors, content creators, and members of community-based problem solving teams are further examples of the inter-psychological level of creative contribution.

In sum, creative learning is a form of creative expression, which is constrained by an academic focus. It is also a special case of academic learning, because it focuses on going beyond reproductive and reinforcement learning and includes the key creative characteristics (Beghetto, 2020 ; Rothenberg, 2015 ; Sawyer, 2012 ) of being both combinatorial (combining existing knowledge with new learning stimuli) and emergent (contributing new and sometimes surprising ideas, insights, perspectives, and understandings to oneself and others).

Locating Creative Learning in Schools and Classrooms

Having now explored the question of what makes creative learning creative, we can now turn our attention to locating the factors and conditions that can help support creative learning in schools and classrooms. As illustrated in Fig.  19.1 , there are at least four interrelated components posited as being necessary for creative learning to occur in schools, classrooms, and beyond: students, teachers, academic subject matter, and uncertainty. Creative learning in schools and classrooms occurs at the intersection of these four factors. Further, the classroom, school, and broader sociocultural contexts play an important role in determining whether and how creative learning will be supported and expressed. Each of these factors will be discussed in the sections that follow.

Factors involved in creative learning in schools, classrooms, and beyond

The Role of Students in Creative Learning

Students, of course, play a central role in creative learning. At the individual level, students’ idiosyncratic learning histories will influence the kinds of creative insights, ideas, and interpretations they have when engaging with new learning stimuli (Beghetto & Schuh, 2020 ; Schuh, 2017 ). Although a case can be made that subjective and personally meaningful creative insights and experiences are sufficient ends in themselves (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2007 ; Runco, 1996 ; Stein, 1953 ), creative learning tends to be situated in well-developed subject areas. Moreover, the goals of most formal educational activities, such as those that occur in schools and classrooms, include making sure that students have developed an accurate or at least a compatible understanding of existing concepts, ideas, and skills (Von Glasersfeld, 2003). Consequently, creative learning in schools—even at the individual level—involves providing students with opportunities to test out and receive feedback on their personal understandings and insights to ensure that what they have learned fits within the broader academic subject area. When this occurs, creative learning at the individual level represents a blend of idiosyncratic and generally agreed upon academic knowledge.

Notably, the idiosyncratic portion of this blend is not merely surplus ideas or insights, but rather has the potential to creatively contribute to the learning and understanding of others. Indeed, the full expression of creative learning extends beyond the individual and also has the opportunity to contribute to the learning and lives of others. At both the individual and social level of creative learning, students’ need to be willing to share, test, and receive feedback on their conceptions, otherwise the full expression of creative learning will be short-circuited. Thus, an important question, at the student level, is what factors might influence students’ willingness to share their ideas with others?

Creativity researchers have identified at least three interrelated student factors that seem to play a role in determining students’ willingness to share their conceptions with others: creative confidence, valuing creativity , and intellectual risk - taking. Creative confidence beliefs refer to a somewhat broad category of creative self-beliefs that pertain to one’s confidence in the ability to think and act creatively (Beghetto & Karwowski, 2017 ). Creative confidence beliefs can range from more situationally and domain-specific beliefs (e.g., I am confident I can creatively solve this particular problem in this particular situation) to more general and global confidence beliefs (e.g., I am confident in my creative ability). Much like other confidence beliefs (Bandura, 2012 ), creative confidence beliefs are likely influenced by a variety of personal (e.g., physiological state), social (e.g., who is present, whether people are being supportive), and situational (e.g., specific nature of the task, including constraints like time and materials) factors. Recent research has indicated that creative confidence beliefs mediate the link between creative potential and creative behaviour (Beghetto, Karwowski, Reiter-Palmon, 2020 ; Karwowski & Beghetto, 2019 ).

In the context of creative learning, this line of work suggests that students need to be confident in their own ideas prior to being willing to share those ideas with others and test out their mini-c ideas. However, valuing creativity and the willingness to take creative risks also appear to play key roles. Valuing creativity refers to whether students view creativity as an important part of their identity and whether they view creative thought and activity as worthwhile endeavours (Karwowski, Lebuda, & Beghetto, 2019 ). Research has indicated that valuing creativity moderates the mediational relationship between creative confidence and creative behaviour (Karwowski & Beghetto, 2019 ).

The same can be said for intellectual risk-taking, which refers to adaptive behaviours that puts a person at risk of making mistakes or failing (Beghetto, 2009 ). Findings from a recent study (Beghetto, Karwowski, Reiter-Palmon, 2020 ) indicate that intellectual risk-taking plays a moderating role between creative confidence and creative behaviour. In this way, even if a student has confidence in their ideas, unless they identify with and view such ideas as worthwhile and are willing to take the risks of sharing those ideas with others, then they are not likely to make a creative contribution to their own and others learning.

Finally, even if students have confidence, value creativity, and are willing to take creative risks, unless they have the opportunities and social supports to do so then they will not be able to realize their creative learning potential. As such, teachers, peers, and others in the social classroom, school, and broader environments are important for bringing such potential to fruition.

The Role of Teachers in Creative Learning

Teachers play a central role in designing and managing the kinds of learning experiences that determine whether creativity will be supported or suppressed in the classroom. Indeed, unless teachers believe that they can support student creativity, have some idea of how to do so, and are willing to try then it is unlikely that students will have systematic opportunities to engage in creative learning (Beghetto, 2017b ; Davies et al., 2013 ; Gralewski & Karawoski, 2018 ; Paek & Sumners, 2019 ). Each of these teacher roles will be discussed in turn.

First, teachers need to believe that they can support student creativity in their classroom. This has less to do with whether or not they value student creativity, as previous research indicates most generally do value creativity, and more about whether teachers have the autonomy, curricular time, and knowledge of how to support student creativity (Mullet, Willerson, Lamb, & Kettler, 2016 ). In many schools and classrooms, the primary aim of education is to support students’ academic learning. If teachers view creativity as being in competition or incompatible with that goal, then they will understandably feel that they should focus their curricular time on meeting academic learning goals, even if they otherwise value and would like to support students’ creative potential (Beghetto, 2013 ). Thus, an important first step in supporting the development of students’ creative potential is for teachers to recognize that supporting creative and academic learning can be compatible goals. When teachers recognize that they can simultaneously support creative and academic learning then they are in a better position to more productively plan for and respond to opportunities for students’ creative expression in their everyday lessons.

Equipped with this recognition, the next step in supporting student creativity is for teachers to develop the knowledge and skills necessary for infusing creativity into their curriculum (Renzulli, 2017 ) so that they can teach for creativity. Teaching for creativity in the K-12 classroom differs from other forms of creativity teaching (e.g., teaching about creativity, teaching with creativity) because it focuses on nurturing student creativity in the context of specific academic subject areas (Beghetto, 2017b ; Jeffrey & Craft, 2004 ). This form of creative teaching thereby requires that teachers have an understanding of pedagogical creativity enhancement knowledge (PCeK), which refers to knowing how to design creative learning experiences that support and cultivate students’ adapted creative attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, and actions in the planning and teaching of subject matter (Beghetto, 2017a ). Teaching for creativity thereby involves designing lessons that provide creative openings and expectations for students to creatively meet learning goals and academic learning criteria. As discussed, this includes requiring students to come up with their own problems to solve, their own ways of solving them, and their own way of demonstrating their understanding of key concepts and skills. Teaching for creativity also includes providing students with honest and supportive feedback to ensure that students are connecting their developing and unique understanding to existing conventions, norms, and ways of knowing in and across various academic domains.

Finally, teachers need to be willing to take the instructional risks necessary to establish and pursue openings in their planned lessons. This is often easier said than done. Indeed, even teachers who otherwise value creativity may worry that establishing openings in their curriculum that require them to pursue unexpected student ideas will result in the lesson drifting too far off-track and into curricular chaos (Kennedy, 2005 ). Indeed, prior research has demonstrated that it is sometimes difficult for teachers to make on-the-fly shifts in their lessons, even when the lesson is not going well (Clark & Yinger, 1977 ). One way that teachers can start opening up their curriculum is to do so in small ways, starting with the way they plan lessons. Lesson unplanning—the process of creating openings in the lesson by replacing predetermined features with to-be-determined aspects (Beghetto, 2017d )—is an example of a small-step approach. A math teacher who asks students to solve a problem in as many ways as they can represent a simple, yet potentially generative form of lesson unplanning. By starting small, teachers can gradually develop their confidence and willingness to establish openings for creative learning in their curriculum while still providing a supportive and structured learning environment. Such small, incremental steps can lead to larger transformations in practice (Amabile & Kramer, 2011 ) and reinforce teachers’ confidence in their ability to support creative learning in their classroom.

The Role of Academic Subject Matter in Creative Learning

Recall that creativity requires a blend of originality and meaningfully meeting criteria or task constraints. If students’ own unique perspectives and interpretations represent the originality component of creativity, then existing academic criteria and domains of knowledge represent the criteria and tasks constraints . Creativity always operates within constraints (Beghetto, 2019a ; Stokes, 2010 ). In the context of creative learning, those constraints typically represent academic learning goals and criteria. Given that most educators already know how to specify learning goals and criteria, they are already half-way to supporting creative learning. The other half requires considering how academic subject matter might be blended with activities that provide students with opportunities to meet those goals and criteria in their own unique and different ways. In most cases, academic learning activities can be thought of as having four components (Beghetto, 2018b ):

The what: What students do in the activity (e.g., the problem to solve, the issue to be addressed, the challenge to be resolved, or the task to be completed).

The how: How students complete the activity (e.g., the procedure used to solve a problem, the approach used to address an issue, the steps followed to resolve a challenge, or the process used to complete a task).

The criteria for success: The criteria used to determine whether students successfully completed the activity (e.g., the goals, guidelines, non-negotiables, or agreed-upon indicators of success).

The outcome: The outcome resulting from engagement with the activity (e.g., the solution to a problem, the products generated from completing a task, the result of resolving an issue or challenge, or any other demonstrated or experienced consequence of engaging in a learning activity).

Educators can use one or more of the above components (i.e., the what, how, criteria, and outcome) to design creative learning activities that blend academic subject matter with opportunities for creative expression. The degrees of freedom for doing so will vary based on the subject area, topics within subject areas, and teachers’ willingness to establish openings in their lessons.

In mathematics, for instance, there typically is one correct answer to solve a problem, whereas other subject areas, such as English Language Arts, offer much more flexibility in the kinds of “answers” or interpretations possible. Yet even with less flexibility in the kinds of originality that can be expressed in a particular subject area, there still remains a multitude of possibilities for creative expression in the kinds of tasks that teachers can offer students. As mentioned earlier, students in math can still demonstrate creative learning in the kinds of problems they design to solve, the various ways they solve them, and even how they demonstrate the outcomes and solutions to those problems.

Finally, teachers can use academic subject matter in at least two different ways to support opportunities for creative learning in their classroom (Beghetto Kaufman, & Baer, 2015 ). The first and most common way is to position subject matter learning as a means to its own end (e.g., we are learning about this technique so that you understand it ). Creativity learning can still operate in this formulation by providing students with opportunities to learn about a topic by meeting goals in unique and different ways, which are still in the service of ultimately understanding the academic subject area. However, the added value in doing so also allows opportunities for students to develop their creative confidence and competence in that particularly subject area.

The second less common, but arguably more powerful, way of positioning academic subject matter in creative learning is as a means to a creative end (e.g., we are learning about this technique so that you can use it to address the complex problem or challenge you and your team identified ). Students who, for instance, developed a project to creatively address the issue of contaminated drinking water in their community would need to learn about water contamination (e.g., how to test for it, how to eradicate contaminates) as part of the process of coming up with a creative solution. In this formulation, both academic subject matter and creative learning opportunities are in the service of attempting to make a creative contribution to the learning and lives of others (Beghetto, 2017c , 2018b ).

The Role of Uncertainty in Creative Learning

Without uncertainty, there is no creative learning. This is because uncertainty establishes the conditions necessary for new thought and action (Beghetto, 2019a ). If students (and teachers) already know what to do and how to do it, then they are rehearsing or reinforcing knowledge and skills. This assertion becomes clearer when we consider it in light of the structure of learning activities. Recall from the previous section, learning activities can be thought of as being comprised of four elements: the what, the how, the criteria for success, and the outcome.

Typically, teachers attempt to remove uncertainty from learning activities by predefining all four aspects of a learning activity. This is understandable as teachers may feel that introducing or allowing for uncertainty to be included in the activity may result curricular chaos, resulting in their own (and their students) frustration and confusion (Kennedy, 2015). Consequently, most teachers learn to plan (or select pre-planned) lessons that provide students with a predetermined problem or task to solve, which has a predetermined process or procedure for solving it, an already established criteria for determining successful performance, and a clearly defined outcome.

Although it is true that students can still learn and develop new and personally meaningful insights when they engage with highly planned lessons, such lessons are “over-planned” with respect to providing curricular space necessary for students to make creative contributions to peers and teachers. Indeed, successful performance on learning tasks in which all the elements are predetermined requires students to do what is expected and how it is expected (Beghetto, 2018a ). Conversely, the full expression of creative learning requires incorporating uncertainty in the form of to-be-determined elements in a lesson. As discussed, this involves providing structured opportunities for students (and teachers) to engage with uncertainty in an otherwise structured and supportive learning environment (Beghetto, 2019a ).

Indeed, teachers still have the professional responsibility to outline the criteria or non-negotiables, monitor student progress, and ensure that they are providing necessary and timely instructional supports. This can be accomplished by allowing students to determine how they meet those criteria. In this way, the role that uncertainty plays in creative learning can be thought of as ranging on a continuum from small openings allowing students to define some element of a learning activity (e.g., the how, what, outcomes) to larger openings where students have much more autonomy in defining elements and even the criteria for success, such as a legacy project whereby they try to make positive and lasting contributions to their schools, communities and beyond.

The Role of Context in Creative Learning

Finally, context also plays a crucial role when it comes to creative learning. Creative learning is always and already situated in sociocultural and historical contexts, which influence and are influenced by students’ unique conceptions of what they are learning and their willingness to share their conceptions with others. As illustrated in Fig. 19.1 , there are at least three permeable contextual settings in which creative learning occurs. The first is the classroom context. Although classrooms and the patterns of interaction that occur within them may appear to be somewhat stable environments, when it comes to supporting creative expression, they can be quite dynamic, variable, and thereby rather unpredictable within and across different settings (Beghetto, 2019b ; Doyle, 2006 ; Gajda et al., 2017 ; Jackson, 1990 ). Indeed, even in classrooms that are characterized as having features and patterns of interaction supportive of creative learning, such patterns may be difficult to sustain over time and even the moment-to-moment supports can be quite variable (Gajda et al., 2017 ).

It is therefore difficult to claim with any level of certainty that a given classroom is “supportive of creativity”; it really depends on what is going on in any given moment. A particular classroom may tend to be more or less supportive across time, however it is the sociodynamic and even material features of a classroom setting that play a key role in determining the kinds and frequency of creative learning openings offered to students (Beghetto, 2017a ).

The same can be said for the school context. The kinds of explicit and tacit supports for creative learning in schools likely play an important role in whether and how teachers and students feel supported in their creative expression (Amabile, 1996 ; Beghetto & Kaufman, 2014 ; Renzulli, 2017 ; Schacter, Thum, & Zifkin, 2006 ). Theoretically speaking, if teachers feel supported by their colleagues and administrators and are actively encouraged to take creative risks, then it seems likely that they would have the confidence and willingness to try. Indeed, this type of social support and modelling can have a cascading influence in and across classrooms and schools (Bandura, 1997 ). Although creativity researchers have theorized and explored the role of context on creative expression (Amabile, 1996 ; Beghetto & Kaufman, 2014 ), research specifically exploring the collective, cascading, and reciprocal effects of school and classroom contexts on creative learning is a promising and needed area of research.

In addition to classroom and school settings, sociocultural theorists in the field of creativity studies (Glăveanu et al., 2020 ) assert that the broader sociocultural influences are not static, unidirectional, or even separate from the people in those contexts, but rather dynamic and co-constitutive processes that influence and are influenced by people in those settings. Along these lines, the kinds of creative learning opportunities and experiences that teachers and students participate in can be thought of as simultaneously being shaped by and helping to shape their particular communities, cultural settings, and broader societies. Consequently, there are times and spaces where creative learning may be more or less valued and supported by the broader sociocultural context. Although some researchers have explored the role of broader societal contexts on creativity (Florida, 2019 ), additional work looking at the more dynamic and reciprocal relationship of creative learning in broader sociocultural and historical contexts is also needed.

Future Directions

Given the dynamic and multifaceted nature of creative learning, researchers interested in examining the various factors involved in creative learning likely would benefit from the development and use of analytic approaches and designs that go beyond single measures or static snapshots to include dynamic (Beghetto & Corazza, 2019 ) and multiple methods (Gajda et al., 2017 ). Such approaches can help researchers better understand the factors at play in supporting the emergence, expression, and sustainability of creative learning in and across various types of school and classroom experiences.

Another seemingly fruitful and important direction for future research on creative learning is to consider it in light of the broader context of positive education. Such efforts can complement existing efforts of researchers in positive education (Kern, Waters, Adler, & White, 2015 ), who have endeavoured to simultaneously examine multiple dimensions involved in the wellbeing of students. Indeed, as discussed, creative learning occurs at the nexus of multiple individual, social, and cultural factors and thereby requires the use of methods and approaches that can examine the interplay among these factors.

In addition, there are a variety of questions that can guide future research on creative learning, including:

How might efforts that focus on understanding and supporting creative learning fit within the broader aims of positive education? How might researchers and educators work together to support such efforts?

What are the most promising intersections among efforts aimed at promoting creative learning and student wellbeing? What are the key complementary areas of overlap and where might there be potential points of tension?

How might researchers across different research traditions in positive education and creativity studies collaborate to develop and explore broader models of wellbeing? What are the best methodological approaches for testing and refining these models? How might such work promote student and teacher wellbeing in and beyond the classroom?

Creative learning represents a potentially important aspect of positive education that can benefit from and contribute to existing research in the field. One way to help realize this potential is for researchers and educators representing a wide array of traditions to work together in an effort to develop an applied understanding of the role creative learning plays in contributing to learn and lives of students in and beyond schools and classrooms.

Creative learning represents a generative and positive educational experience, which not only contributes to the knowledge development of individual students but can also result in creative social contributions to students’ peers, teachers, and beyond. Creative learning thereby represents an important form of positive education that compliments related efforts aimed at building on the strengths that already and always inhere in the interaction among students, teachers, and educational environments. Creative learning also represents an expansion of prototypical learning efforts because it not only focuses on academic learning but also uses it as a vehicle for creative expression and the potential creative contribution to the learning and lives of others. In conclusion, creative learning offers researchers in the fields of creativity studies and positive education an important and complimentary line of inquiry.

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Beghetto, R.A. (2021). Creative Learning in Education. In: Kern, M.L., Wehmeyer, M.L. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64537-3_19

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What creativity really is - and why schools need it

Associate Professor of Psychology and Creative Studies, University of British Columbia

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Although educators claim to value creativity , they don’t always prioritize it.

Teachers often have biases against creative students , fearing that creativity in the classroom will be disruptive. They devalue creative personality attributes such as risk taking, impulsivity and independence. They inhibit creativity by focusing on the reproduction of knowledge and obedience in class.

Why the disconnect between educators’ official stance toward creativity, and what actually happens in school?

How can teachers nurture creativity in the classroom in an era of rapid technological change, when human innovation is needed more than ever and children are more distracted and hyper-stimulated ?

These are some of the questions we ask in my research lab at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. We study the creative process , as well as how ideas evolve over time and across societies. I’ve written almost 200 scholarly papers and book chapters on creativity, and lectured on it worldwide. My research involves both computational models and studies with human participants. I also write fiction, compose music for the piano and do freestyle dance.

What is creativity?

Although creativity is often defined in terms of new and useful products, I believe it makes more sense to define it in terms of processes. Specifically, creativity involves cognitive processes that transform one’s understanding of, or relationship to, the world.

There may be adaptive value to the seemingly mixed messages that teachers send about creativity. Creativity is the novelty-generating component of cultural evolution. As in any kind of evolutionary process, novelty must be balanced by preservation.

In biological evolution, the novelty-generating components are genetic mutation and recombination, and the novelty-preserving components include the survival and reproduction of “fit” individuals. In cultural evolution , the novelty-generating component is creativity, and the novelty-preserving components include imitation and other forms of social learning.

It isn’t actually necessary for everyone to be creative for the benefits of creativity to be felt by all. We can reap the rewards of the creative person’s ideas by copying them, buying from them or simply admiring them. Few of us can build a computer or write a symphony, but they are ours to use and enjoy nevertheless.

Inventor or imitator?

There are also drawbacks to creativity . Sure, creative people solve problems, crack jokes, invent stuff; they make the world pretty and interesting and fun. But generating creative ideas is time-consuming. A creative solution to one problem often generates other problems, or has unexpected negative side effects.

Creativity is correlated with rule bending, law breaking, social unrest, aggression, group conflict and dishonesty. Creative people often direct their nurturing energy towards ideas rather than relationships, and may be viewed as aloof, arrogant, competitive, hostile, independent or unfriendly.

Also, if I’m wrapped up in my own creative reverie, I may fail to notice that someone else has already solved the problem I’m working on. In an agent-based computational model of cultural evolution , in which artificial neural network-based agents invent and imitate ideas, the society’s ideas evolve most quickly when there is a good mix of creative “inventors” and conforming “imitators.” Too many creative agents and the collective suffers. They are like holes in the fabric of society, fixated on their own (potentially inferior) ideas, rather than propagating proven effective ideas.

Of course, a computational model of this sort is highly artificial. The results of such simulations must be taken with a grain of salt. However, they suggest an adaptive value to the mixed signals teachers send about creativity. A society thrives when some individuals create and others preserve their best ideas.

This also makes sense given how creative people encode and process information. Creative people tend to encode episodes of experience in much more detail than is actually needed. This has drawbacks: Each episode takes up more memory space and has a richer network of associations. Some of these associations will be spurious. On the bright side, some may lead to new ideas that are useful or aesthetically pleasing.

So, there’s a trade-off to peppering the world with creative minds. They may fail to see the forest for the trees but they may produce the next Mona Lisa.

Innovation might keep us afloat

So will society naturally self-organize into creators and conformers? Should we avoid trying to enhance creativity in the classroom?

The answer is: No! The pace of cultural change is accelerating more quickly than ever before. In some biological systems, when the environment is changing quickly, the mutation rate goes up. Similarly, in times of change we need to bump up creativity levels — to generate the innovative ideas that will keep us afloat.

This is particularly important now. In our high-stimulation environment, children spend so much time processing new stimuli that there is less time to “go deep” with the stimuli they’ve already encountered. There is less time for thinking about ideas and situations from different perspectives, such that their ideas become more interconnected and their mental models of understanding become more integrated.

This “going deep” process has been modeled computationally using a program called Deep Dream , a variation on the machine learning technique “Deep Learning” and used to generate images such as the ones in the figure below.

The images show how an input is subjected to different kinds of processing at different levels, in the same way that our minds gain a deeper understanding of something by looking at it from different perspectives. It is this kind of deep processing and the resulting integrated webs of understanding that make the crucial connections that lead to important advances and innovations.

Cultivating creativity in the classroom

So the obvious next question is: How can creativity be cultivated in the classroom? It turns out there are lots of ways ! Here are three key ways in which teachers can begin:

Focus less on the reproduction of information and more on critical thinking and problem solving .

Curate activities that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, such as by painting murals that depict biological food chains, or acting out plays about historical events, or writing poems about the cosmos. After all, the world doesn’t come carved up into different subject areas. Our culture tells us these disciplinary boundaries are real and our thinking becomes trapped in them.

Pose questions and challenges, and follow up with opportunities for solitude and reflection. This provides time and space to foster the forging of new connections that is so vital to creativity.

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Creativity is one of the most critical skills for the future. Without creativity, there would be no innovation. However, there is mixed evidence on how to develop it and whether it is transferable. OECD has done research with schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial resources to develop creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education. At Nesta, we’d like to see the UK do more to engage with this community of innovative practice, and test the most promising solutions developed in other contexts.

An OECD event 24-25 September , where Nesta Chief Executive Geoff Mulgan was invited to speak, helped to share emerging answers to the question “How can creative thinking across all disciplines including the arts, sciences and humanities be supported by the current education system?”. There were lots of examples on how to foster and assess creativity and critical thinking. The upcoming Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021 will have a creativity assessment.

Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at OECD said, “Memorisation is less useful as problems become more difficult.” In the data that he showed, in many countries, there seems to be a significant gap between what teachers report to be desirable pedagogies and what actually happens in classrooms. What was surprising was that UK has highest level of prevalence of memorisation in classrooms.

“The dilemma for educators is that routine academic knowledge (the skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test) are exactly the skills that are also easiest to digitise" Andreas Schleicher

“The dilemma for educators is that routine academic knowledge (the skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test) are exactly the skills that are also easiest to digitise, automate and outsource. However, educational success is no longer about reproducing content knowledge, but about extrapolating from what we know and applying that knowledge creatively in novel situations, and about thinking across the boundaries of subject-matter disciplines.”

Creativity is not solely related to arts and culture. There is also the development of cross-disciplinary creative thinking skills (e.g. coming up with original & creative ideas in science). There is evidence that these skills give us an edge in a world driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies. We know that creative thinking is not sufficiently supported within the current curriculum in England. Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England spoke about the upcoming Durham Commision report. He mentioned the Manifesto for a Creative Britain created by young people back in 2008 but not a single recommendation has been implemented by the government.

Much of the development in this space is being driven on the international stage and by countries like the US and Australia. Promisingly, the Welsh government has included a focus on ‘creativity and innovation’ within its new curriculum. We would like to see similar changes in England.

How Nesta is moving the agenda forward

At Nesta, part of our work in Education is based on the belief that young people need a broader education so that everyone thrives in a fast changing world.

More recently we have been asking ourselves - what will be the long-term impact of the decline of arts in schools? Are creative careers and pursuits increasingly elitist? How will AI challenge our preconceptions around human creativity? How do we turn the tide and bridge the growing ‘creativity divide’?

Nesta’s research shows that creativity will become even more important to the growth of jobs between now and 2030. Based on analysis of 35 million job adverts, research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre found that creative industries don’t have a monopoly on creativity.

We must use and apply this labour market research to education. What transferable skills are employers looking for and what are the most effective ways of giving young people the creative skills needed to thrive now and in the future .

We will be developing new partnerships and programmes to support this work. To date, we have researched and supported wider skills linked to creativity, including collaborative problem solving , social and emotional skills.

We are bringing business and education together to create new opportunities for learners. We are supporting innovative approaches to providing multidisciplinary, real-world learning and collaborative problem solving opportunities to young people. Some examples of work that we are doing include:

• Maths Mission - working with Tata on the Cracking the Code challenge, where we have made links between problem-solving, maths and creativity. Secondary school students work in teams to design a maths game and present their idea combining maths, creativity and communication skills.
• Longitude Explorer Prize - working on building AI skills, entrepreneurial and innovation skills in 11-16 year olds by getting them to solve problems they care about. This is in partnership with businesses and government to build future talent pipeline.
• Future Ready Fund - supporting ten high-potential approaches to developing social and emotional skills in young people. We contributed to the manifesto on social and emotional skills and the setup of Karanga , a global alliance for social emotional learning and life skills.

With the Durham Commission launching their long-awaited report next month, we believe there is an opportunity to build a revitalised coalition and consensus on the importance of creativity - and move from talk to action. We will be developing new partnerships and programmes supporting high-potential approaches, building on our expertise in both the creative economy and education.

Despite recognition of the importance of these skills, funding, policy and provision in the UK has not yet caught up. We are commissioning new research on social and emotional skills to develop an understanding of ‘what works’ in building these skills, and we're exploring new approaches to bridge the gap between labour market demand and supply of skills . We are also funding low-cost, high-quality interventions which will support provision in schools.

We invite you to help us build the evidence for what works in developing creative skills that improve life outcomes, and campaign for reimagining education. Please get in touch at [email protected]

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7 Methods to Develop Creative Thinking Skills for Students

Aida Elbanna Teaching Strategies Comments Off on 7 Methods to Develop Creative Thinking Skills for Students 16,854 Views

Creative thinking skills for students are what every teacher knows to be crucial in the learning process. Giving students the chance and space to think creatively will definitely be fruitful in the long run.

Creative-based activities, games, and questions are endless.  Consider trying to implement any of these exercises at least once a week for your class, and you’ll notice a huge improvement in engagement as well as creativity. 

What Is Creative Thinking in Education?

According to Kampylis and Berki (2014) , 

“Creative thinking is defined as the thinking that enables students to apply their imagination to generating ideas, questions and hypotheses, experimenting with alternatives and to evaluating their own and their peers’ ideas, final products and processes.”

Importance of Creative Thinking for Students

Developing creative thinking in learners has long been considered an essential aspect of education and brain development. Harold Bloom (1956), the American Literary critic and educator, devised his Bloom’s Taxonomy which categorises learning into 6 categories—the final stage is to “create.” 

Bloom asserts that creation is an indispensable part of learning in which students are allowed to produce their own unique work, investigate solutions to problems, design a product, or develop a theory. 

Therefore, it can be said that creative thinking for students forms the culmination of students’ knowledge and education. 

The Importance of Bloom’s Taxonomy : The Teacher’s Guide to an Exceptional Classroom

In an article entitled “Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in Problem-based Learning Environments,” Bengi Birgili asserts that critical thinking skills entail analysing sources for credibility, making connections and drawing conclusions. 

He talks about how critical thinking involves several processes and cognitive actions. 

He believes that people, or rather students, who practice critical thinking on a regular basis can never behave without thinking, can think independently and can identify problems in detail.

Here are some of Birgili’s characteristics that go into the process of critical thinking: 

• Being analytical 
• Thinking without prejudice
• Paying attention to details
• Being open to changes

As Edward de Bono , author of Six Thinking Hats puts it:

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”

Creative Thinking Examples for Students

Below are some methods, exercises and activities that teachers and schools can make use of for developing students’ creative thinking skills in the classroom or even beyond the school. 

a) Creative Thinking Games For Students

Dictionary story.

This exercise can be quite beneficial for teachers who like to pique students’ interest in vocabulary and enrich their skills. So get yourself a dictionary, cit pick a random word, and try to make up a brief story using the word you chose, the word above it, and the word below it. 

This exercise will reveal your students’ potential to find connections between words and mix ideas that might not relate to each other at first glance.

Ultimately, your students would have crafted a narrative out of simple means. This can form the basis of your fiction writing lessons and help your students when they are stuck for ideas. 

Six-word story 

When teachers are at a loss for creative thinking exercises for students, they like to resort to the old-fashioned technique called “six-word story.” It basically tests the students’ ability to be creative using only six words to form a story. 

According to Doug Weller , three elements make up a good six-word story: it makes sense to the reader, it takes him/her on a journey, and it leaves the reader with emotion. A perfect example of this would be Hemingway’s famous “For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.”

Make sure to give this exercise to your students next lesson and watch their creative minds bloom!

Avoid the letter ‘e’

Henri Matisse, the French Visual Artist, says “Don’t wait for inspiration. It comes while working.”  Recent research has debunked the myth that creativity is inherent or genetic. On the contrary, scientists now believe that creativity is a skill that is acquired through regular practice and exercise.

An entertaining way to develop your students’ creative thinking skills is to play the game “avoid the letter e.” You can organize the class into pairs and allow them to have a conversation without using the letter ‘e’.

This will train their minds to be resourceful when it comes to language usage. 

b) Creative Thinking Activities For Students

Take a look at some of these creative thinking activities for students to use online or in the actual classroom.

-Look Away from What You Are Creating  

Working on drawing what you actually see rather than what you imagine you see is the aim of the exercise.

So basically you get a pencil and a piece of paper and allow yourself 5 minutes. But do not look at the page while drawing. Instead, turn around and look at your hand while drawing, not the paper itself.

The goal is to draw the details of your hand and not your entire hand. Also, avoid picking up your pencil during this activity. 

-Concentrate on Quantity

A piece of paper with 30 empty circles, a pencil, and three minutes are provided to each participant. The challenge is to complete as many circles as you can; quantity, not quality, is the goal.

Perhaps each of your circles is a different take on a theme, or maybe they’re all emojis. Your sole objective is to complete as many as you could.

After the exercise, discuss and consider any commonalities you found, and promote teamwork. In this game, if you aim for quantity, you don’t have time to second-guess your plan because you can always alter it afterwards.

The creative process thrives at this point.

-Use a writing prompt

The writing topic is introduced and narrowed down via a writing prompt. Writing prompts are intended to spark students’ interest in a subject and inspire them to write critically and creatively about it.

An effective writing prompt should clearly define the writing task in addition to introducing and limiting the writing topic.

Take a look at these prompts:  

• What’s something you’ve always regretted saying?
• What’s something you never told your parents?
• If you could only keep one memory from your life, what would it be?
• Write about your spiritual life.
• Describe a “first.”

Modern Methods Of Teaching That Make An Awesome Classroom

c) Creative Thinking Questions For Students

If you’d like to get your students to think and engage at the beginning of the academic year, asking creative thinking questions is a great way to get to know new students and create a bond with the rest of the class as well. 

Here are 15 creative thinking questions to give you some inspiration. You’ll find questions that suit elementary up to high schoolers!

Perhaps you can assign these to groups, pairs or even individual students to make the activity richer.

• What is the machine that you can invent to make people’s life easier? Draw or describe it.
• Can you make a list of 10 rhyming words? Let’s use these words to write a poem.
• What if you have been elected to start your own country? Discuss what would be different about it.
• How would the world as we know it to be different if there were no electricity? List ten different ways.
• What adjectives would you use to explain a flower to someone who has never seen or heard of one before?
• Can you write a narrative about the zoo without using the names of any animals?
• What if tomorrow is “Backwards Day,” what would change in the world around us? How can people live like that? 
• What are five ways life would be different if we did not need to sleep? How would you use this extra time?
• If you could make one expensive thing for free forever, what thing would you choose? Why did you choose this in particular?
• If parents were required to take a test before they can have children, can you think of ten questions that would be on the test?
• Think of a way where you can make $100 by next week.
• Do you really need teachers at school or can you just learn from the Internet?
• If you went back in time and changed one thing, what would it be and why? How would the world be different then? 
• Name 10 different things you can do with a cup.
• If you were invisible for one day, what would you do? Where would you go?

After all, as Albert Einstein once famously said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” As a teacher, if you remind yourself every day that you are a big part of shaping their minds, you’ll never run out of ideas to encourage creative thinking skills for students.

About Aida Elbanna

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What Is Creative Thinking And Why It Is Important

When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When creativity blossoms, thinking emanates. When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit. When knowledge…

When learning is purposeful, creativity blossoms. When creativity blossoms, thinking emanates. When thinking emanates, knowledge is fully lit. When knowledge is lit, economy flourishes.  – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

How often do you take time out from your day-to-day pressures and tedious meetings to glance out of the window and dream? How often do you deviate from the mundane routine and let your imagination run wild?

Unless you break free from ‘short-term’ and ‘shortcut,’ your thinking will not deepen. Unless you set your mind free to dream and ideate, your creativity will not blossom.

So to start with, take time out to understand what is creative thinking and why is it important.

What is creative thinking?

Creativity is the ability to generate a thought or an idea that is completely new, appealing, and useful. Creative thinking is a skill that enables you to come up with original and unconventional ideas.

Creative thinking expresses itself in a multitude of ways. A graphic artist creates a brilliant logo. A lawyer discovers an out-of-the-box strategy to defend her client. A photographer captures an extraordinary frame when out in the field. A product designer solves a problem with his innovative product.

Who says creative thinking is limited only to the artists, painters, designers, or writers? Creative skills give an edge to all professionals. It drives innovation and progress in almost every field. The eureka moment of cracking an idea can be experienced by anyone and everyone.

It is clear that exceptionally creative people are found in STEM fields—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—as well. Designing an app, assembling a robot, creating an Artificial Intelligence application, and developing an online social network requires high levels of creative thinking.

Types of Creative Thinking

The celebrated author and psychologist Edward de Bono has said that creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way. What are these different ways? Let’s go a little deeper.

Divergent Thinking:  Exploring multiple perspectives with flexibility, fluency, and originality to find a solution for a problem.

Lateral Thinking: Exploring new ideas, thinking outside the box, avoiding clichés

Aesthetic Thinking: Visual or spatial thinking with the use of structure, colors, composition to achieve aesthetic beauty

Systems Thinking: Identifying an interrelation between things and viewing them from a 360-degree perspective

Inspirational Thinking: Lightbulb moments inspired by great personalities or insightful thoughts

Abstract Thinking: Thinking in terms of objects, principles and experiences that may not be physically or materially present

Design Thinking: Applying strategy, problem-solving and decision-making to the process of design

Once you know what is creative thinking, you can stay a step ahead by applying that knowledge to the way you carry out your communications. Research indicates that the companies that believe in fostering creative thinking outperform their competitors in every functional area.

Creativity is one of the most in-demand skills in the world. Have you seen those superhero movies with great VFX technology? The visuals are spectacular. The technology is state-of-the-art. But without a powerful creative concept and storyboard, the entire movie can be a flop show. That’s where creative thinking plays a role.

A person who knows the importance of creative thinking is open-minded in approach. Their assumptions are unbiased, they possess the problem-solving ability, and are impactful verbal and written communicators.  They are able to analyze a brief and distill it to its essence.

Harappa Education’s   Unleashing Creativity course explains how to cultivate a creative mindset. It acquaints you with creative approaches to problem-solving. Through the course, you will also learn how to exercise your creativity in groups.

The importance of creative thinking

It is indispensable.

The world has taken a technological leap. Today, robots click photographs. Yet, some photographs stand out because they reflect the mind and intent of a talented professional.

Jobs in many industries have been replaced by automation. Still, creative thinkers are in high demand because originality is irreplaceable. Creative thinking is indispensable.

It gives you freedom

You must have noticed how a child’s imagination soars boundlessly. Children are naturally creative thinkers because they haven’t been bound by the ways of the world just yet.  Creative thinking thrives when individuals and groups are free of artificially-imposed constraints.

Set your mind free to explore other perspectives, ‘the other side’. Then, deploy your ideas into your endeavors and see the difference. You must have heard how famous filmmakers and music directors go to hill stations or remote places to brainstorm, write and compose. To get work done, many writers prefer the quiet of country-side living to the clutter of cities.

It improves the problem-solving process

Sunil was his boss’s favorite assistant because he was an efficient problem-solver. With his creative thinking skills, he always found a solution to any unforeseen problem.

The importance of creative thinking in problem-solving is crucial. It enables you to face a challenge and think about it from all angles.

It adds to leadership qualities

Throughout history, inspiring leaders from various walks of life have been included in creative thinker examples. They achieve the highest level of excellence on the back of extraordinary ideas that have the potential to change the course of history, art, or a nation.

Take, for instance, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Mahatma Gandhi, JRD Tata, Swami Vivekanand, Satyajit Ray. These creative minds have left indelible imprints in their chosen area of work.

It boosts productivity

Steve Jobs is considered one of the striking creative thinker examples. The Apple co-founder had a vision that transformed people’s lives with several mini-revolutions: beginning with the personal computer and then going on to the iPod and, later, the iPhone.

Steven Spielberg’s work heralded a new era in filmmaking. Albert Einstein pushed the boundaries of accepted thinking with his own ideas.  ‘Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere,’ he said.

A workplace that encourages creativity is a productive workplace. Encouraging creativity leads to more innovative ideas, less fear of failure, and greater emotional investment.

It makes people happier

Giving people a free hand to apply their creative thinking makes them happy. It gives them a sense of being unshackled from barriers.  Such liberation yields more constructive results in the workplace. You must have noticed that you work better in a place where you are appreciated and valued.

Filmmaker Walt Disney chased his dream to make people happy through entertainment.  He came up with a word that typifies his vision: Imagineering, that is imagination plus engineering. For Disney, it was fun to attempt the impossible. Yet another one of the fascinating creative thinker examples!

It leads to personal growth

Those who have bigger dreams and long-term goals should never underestimate the importance of creative thinking. It pushes you out of your comfort zone and transports you into a creative zone.

The more you create, the more you grow in terms of mindset as well as skill sets. Also, when you commit time to pursue your passions, the quality of your life goes up.

All creative thinker examples prove that such ability empowers and elevates your career graph. In the process, you obtain valuable insights about yourself.

You discover your habits, dreams, desires, and impulses. You learn to value yourself and express it in your creative output.

For it to be a high-reward endeavor, build your creative skills systematically. It’s true that some people are born with inherent creative strengths. But it’s also true that creativity can be sown and nurtured with strategy and practice.

How to enhance your creative thinking?

Pay attention to your strengths and try to incorporate more of them in your life

Tap into your inner child and explore the qualities of freshness, purity of thought and spontaneity of expression

Do not restrict yourself to a habitual pattern. Think differently. Take a different route to communicate your thoughts. Never go by stereotypes

Enjoy yourself in natural settings and set your imagination free to explore and experiment

Be curious and inquisitive about your surroundings

Don’t hesitate to take risks to further your abilities

Get rid of the negative attitudes that are blocking your creativity

Indulge in brainstorming to inspire new ideas

Accept that a problem can have multiple solutions and explore every possibility

Harappa’s Unleashing Creativity course equips you with the Design Thinking framework that encourages thinking about the end-user while developing products and services.

Through the course, you will also gain the confidence to find solutions, drive innovation, and use an iterative approach to generate, test and refine new ideas.

Yes, the creative woods are lovely, dark, and deep. So get ready for a long and wonderful journey of many, many miles!

Explore our Harappa Diaries section to know more about topics related to the Think habit such as  What is Critical Thinking ,  Design Thinking  &  What is an Argument .

Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers.

We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too.

Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective

Want to get in touch? Contact our London head office or media team here

Our team is growing all the time, so we’re always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing.

Home > Books > Teacher Education - New Perspectives

Development of Creative Thinking Skills in the Teaching-Learning Process

Submitted: 08 October 2020 Reviewed: 19 April 2021 Published: 12 May 2021

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.97780

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Creativity is one of the most appreciated learning skills current the XXI century. The development of creativity has been considered essential in order to achieve an effective and a high-level learning. As different approaches to its study, creativity has been defined as a result, as a process, as a construct derived from the influence of the context and of the experience and as a personality feature of human nature. The aim of this contribution is to explain the study of creativity from the mentioned approaches to achieve a comprehension of such construct. In addition, the focus has been centred on highlight the development of creativity from an educational approach, starting from the description, implication of the use and application of creative strategies in the teaching and learning processes. Finally, a brief description is made of the most important or relevant strategies found in the literature, with emphasis on the incorporation of these strategies in the problem-solving process.

• divergent thinking
• thinking skills
• teaching-learning process
• creative strategies

Author Information

Natalia larraz-rábanos *.

• Education Faculty, Zaragoza University, Zaragoza, Spain

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

Creativity is one of the most appreciated learning skills current the XXI century [ 1 ]. Creativity is conceived as a higher-order thinking skill based on complex and postformal thought concerned with the creation of new and valuable ideas [ 2 , 3 ]. Higher-order thinking skills are those involved in proficient and strategic thought, and these skills comprise critical, creative and metacognitive thinking, also known as deep learning [ 4 ]. In addition, the development of creativity is today considered essential in order to achieve an effective and a high-level learning.

Despite the observed need for the development of creativity in the curriculum, there is a general tendency to reproduce teaching and learning models and a constraint on teacher’s search for procedures to teach creativity, which involves little creativity development in students, with a predominance of reproductive learning [ 5 ].

Creativity is inherent in human development and his personality. It begins to be developed from the first years of school and continues into higher education and increases through the number of experiences that the individual has, and to the extent that the activity of teachers could promote it [ 5 , 6 ].

Therefore, creativity has been an essential competence for the curriculum design and development. In order to answer this deal, the concept and the psychological construct of creativity has been defined and later, its psychological process involved has been treated to implement teaching and learning strategies oriented to such ends.

2. Concept and relevant aspects of the construct of creativity

There is a consensus among scholars that creativity is not just another skill, but rather a complex process of human subjectivity that is based on a set of psychological resources that are specifically configured and regulate human behavior [ 7 ]. Contemporary researchers have expanded the concept of creativity by recognizing that creative action is a dynamic and inconclusive process and is even co-constitute with the broader social context [ 8 ].

Considering the different approaches to their study assumed by Rodhes [ 9 ], creativity has been defined as a result, as a process, as a construct derived from the influence of the context and as a personality feature of human nature.

There is not a consensus about the definition of creativity, but it has been generally accepted as the ability to do creative products. A creative product is defined as something new, original and appropriate or valued in a particular context [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].

Most authors advocate understanding creativity not only from the results or the products generated, but also from the process from which it is reached. In this sense, Gardner's definition can be assumed for this purpose. For Gardner, a creative person is a person who solves problems regularly, develops new products and defines issues in a field that initially is novel but ultimately becomes accepted in a particular cultural context [ 12 ]. This definition includes the four approaches to the study of creativity: personality (creative person), the process (problem solving), the context (cultural context) and finally, the product (new products).

3. Approaches to the study of creativity

3.1 creativity as a product.

Regarding the definition of creativity as a result of human activity, many authors consider creativity as the ability to do creative products, hence a creative person is one that produces creative products regularly.

A creative product is defined as something new, original and appropriate or valued in a particular context [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These characteristics have also been summarized in two fundamental aspects of creative products, which are novelty and quality, which also must involve originality and adequacy respectively [ 14 ].

What is something new?

Is something different to the previously existing things. There is nothing totally new because something new comes from something that previously exists. Therefore, novelty will depend on the frame of reference to which it is compared. For this reason, there are degrees of novelty. It has been considered these two types of creativity besides that [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]:

P-Creativity: is new with respect to oneself (personal creativity). It is also called Little- c creativity.

H-Creativity: is new with respect to History (social creativity). It is also called Big- C creativity

Mini-c: individual/personal and everyday creativity is used to define a type of creativity involved in performances, actions or new events of daily life with personal meaning [ 19 ]. This type of category also refers to a mental or emotional internal state of creativity [ 20 ] and helps to differentiate the subjective to the objective creativity and the Mini-c from the Little-c. Hence, it is also used to distinguish between subjective and objective forms of personal creativity.

Little-c: individual creativity that is grown as a hobby. It is associated with the innovative contributions clearly useful but not exceptional.

Pro-C: not eminent social creativity is given in a creative profession. This kind of creativity comes from people who are creative at their work and helps to distinguish between the area of the Big-C creativity and the area of the Little-c creativity, or between the social and personal creativity.

Big-C: eminent creativity or exceptional creativity. Is used to indicate a type of eminent and exceptional creativity that stands out in a field or domain of knowledge and is socially recognized.

Grades of creativity.

This model proposes that a person could be gradually creative, in a personal level (Little –c and Mini-c) fostering creativity in everyday life. Thus, increase the possibilities to be creative on a social level (Pro-C and Big-C) to become exceptionally creative.

What is something original?

Originality implies that a product is different from other, highly unusual or statistically rare. Furthermore, for most authors, a product may be original to varying degrees (personal, social and universal).

What is appropriate or valued in a particular context?

The suitability of a product means that it is valued and/or appropriate in a particular context. To this end, a proper creative product must meet certain criteria or quality standards, providing true value or usefulness to society, culture or context in which it occurs.

As it was indicated in this section, a creative product can be creative to varying degrees (personal-social) and must meet certain levels of innovation and quality. Creative thinking skills development implies that novelty has to involve a certain level of originality, and quality must involve a certain level of adequacy in a particular social context [ 14 ].

3.2 Creativity as a process

Many authors have explained creativity as a process clearly differentiated from others cognitive process. Guilford [ 21 ] was one of the first authors to propose creative thinking as a cognitive process involved in the structure of intelligence. Today, his theoretical model remains a referent for explaining and predicting a person's creative potential and creative performance. His model of the Structure of Intellect (SOI) defined creativity as a result of a cognitive operation called divergent production, which is related to creative solutions of problems characterised by moving in many directions, in contrast to convergent thinking, characterised by moving in one direction to search for a correct answer (see Figure 2 ).

Guilford’s Model Structure of Intellect (SOI).

Fluency: the production of a large number of ideas. There are three types of fluency: (1) Ideational fluency: quantitative production of ideas in a given class, (2) Associational fluency: building relationships, (3) Fluency of expression: easy to build sentences.

Flexibility: the ability to produce changes in thinking- a change of some kind, of meaning,-a change of meaning, interpretation or use of something, a change in the way of understanding a task or strategy intended to do it, or a change in the direction of thought, which may involve a new interpretation of the problem.

Originality: the production of unusual and intelligent responses collected from premises distant or remote. In order to evaluate this component, the principle of statistical infrequency of an idea within the set of members of a given population has been proposed.

Elaboration: the ability to produce the highest number of steps or details to execute a plan. It is related to the ability to make implications when planning skills are being applied.

Other authors are relevant in addressing and highlighting creativity as a specific thinking process, such as Torrance, Maslow and De Bono, among others. Torrance [ 24 ] describes creativity as the hypothesis development and validation process. Defines creativity as sensitivity to problems, deficiencies and gaps in information, the absence of certain elements, etc., which leads to formulate conjectures and hypothesis about their solution, evaluate, test and modify these assumptions to communicate the findings. Maslow [ 25 ] distinguished between two types of creative thinking and describes two types of creativity, primary and secondary. The creative process is largely composed of the primary creativity, which is related to creative inspiration, and secondary creativity prepares and develops primary creativity and expresses the "finished product". Finally, De Bono [ 26 ] defined creativity as lateral thinking. Lateral thinking involves the generation of ideas, is not sequential, unpredictable and not limited by convention. Lateral thinking is the opposite of vertical thinking defined as sequential, linear, predictable and conventional. Both processes are necessary and complementary.

Hence, there are empirical evidences about two kinds of thinking, creative and critical thinking, that shows a cerebral correlate with both sides of our brain. It has been observed that both styles of thinking imply two different mental operations and processes such as: visual-verbal, parallel- vertical, unconscious-conscious, divergent-convergent, etc. Creativity is located in the right brain hemisphere and in the frontal lobe, as well as having a neurological basis of a stronger hemispheric connection, as a result of an optimal interaction between the two hemispheres. In addition, a high creative thinking ability consisting of frontal and parietal regions within default, salience, and executive brain system [ 27 , 28 ].

A constant throughout the history of creativity has been to recognise the creative process as the semblance of problem solving [ 29 ]. This will be discussed in the last section of this chapter.

3.3 Creativity as an attribute of personality

High intrinsic motivation to solve problems, rather intrinsic than extrinsic.

Security and confidence, not worry about the opinion others have of them.

Qualities for social success; they are balanced, spontaneous and confident in their social relations, while they are not particularly sociable temperament and cooperative.

Not deliberately conformist though. They are truly independent.

Prefer the aesthetic and theoretical values. They are searching for truth and beauty.

Preference for intuitive perception resulting from flexibility, spontaneity and openness of mind to experience.

Inclination towards the complex and asymmetrical.

Two thirds of the study participants were introverts but there is no evidence that introverts are more creative than extroverts.

According to mental health, creative individuals scored above average in the general population in certain psychological traits, but they had enough strength and mental control that allowed them to express themselves in a productive and in a creative way.

The flow of ideas and flexibility of thought.

Not conventional thinking. Thoughts and associated ideas in unusual ways and use of unconventional strategies to solve problems.

Independence and autonomy. High degree of autonomy, independence and confidence. They do not need to be seen or relied on.

Self-discipline, self-control and perseverance. They are responsible for their own actions and have a high degree of strength and persistence to successfully finish a started project.

High achievement motivation. They usually do not feel satisfied with their ideas or projects because they think they can improve them.

Tolerance for ambiguity. They are more capable than most people to carry out the work in the absence of specific requirements.

Preference for complex tasks and information.

Strong sense of humor.

A recent meta-study highlights these same personal characteristics, emphasising awareness, flexibility of thought, abundance of ideas and their ease and the originality of ideas as the fundamental pillars of creative personality and the core of the main studies analysed [ 34 ]. In addition, creative persons must also find four essential factors for creativity potential: affect, cognition, willingness and empathy [ 29 ].

3.4 The context in creativity

The importance of the cultural value or the context in creativity has been highlighted by different authors. The influence of the social environment for creativity development, is essential; this is what makes it possible to provide innovative solutions to the problems i.e., what surrounds the student and contributes to the development of his personality [ 5 ].

In this sense, Glăveanu [ 35 ] has presented an overview of how expanded conceptions of creativity including the context dimension can help move the field from a He paradigm (limited to a few select creators) to an I paradigm (focuses on individuals, but acknowledges that all people are capable of being creative) and toward a We paradigm (sociocultural an expansive focus). The We-paradigm starts from the idea that creativity takes place within, is constituted and influenced by the social context [ 8 ]. These more expansive views about creativity are illustrated in a recent publication of a group of active creativity scholars that outlines the key assumptions of a socio-cultural conception of creativity [ 36 ].

Csikszentmihalyi [ 17 ] defined creativity as any act, idea or product that changes an existing domain or a transformation of an existing domain into a new one, and argues that creativity is to bring something truly new that is valued enough to be added to the culture. Gardiner emphasises interdisciplinarity and collaboration for greater creativity and epistemic control of knowledge [ 37 ].

Domain-relevant skills. It depends on the cognitive, perceptual and motor innate skills and formal and informal education of the person in a particular domain. It includes the knowledge in a domain, the technical skills and the special skills in that domain.

Creativity-related processes. It depends on the experience in the generation of new ideas and personality. It includes the cognitive style, the use of heuristics to generate new ideas, and the style of work.

Intrinsic task motivation. It depends on the initial level of intrinsic motivation toward the task, on the presence or absence of social inhibitors and on the individual abilities to minimize cognitively external inhibitors. It includes attitudes toward the task and the perception of one's motivation to undertake it.

Componential Model of creativity of Amabile (1983).

A key issue in developing creativity context-related is motivation. To develop creativity, it should be a higher intrinsic motivation than an extrinsic one. Amabile [ 10 ] attaches great importance to the influence of social factors on creativity, so that intrinsic motivation, internal evaluation in accordance with technical criteria and the absence of external rewards are crucial factors for its development. Intrinsic motivation is particularly relevant in the early stages of the idea generation or in the early stages of creativity and extrinsic motivation is particularly relevant in the developmental phase of these initial ideas, when the product needs to be developed in detail. In turn, it has been shown that extrinsic motivation can encourage the creativity as long as it does not exceed the intrinsic motivation one, and both kinds of motivation should be combined in a synergistic, additive and complementary way. In other words, “extrinsic incentives and task motivation must combine in a synergistic, additive, or complementary fashion” (p. 352) [ 38 ].

According to investment theory [ 39 ] and creative self-efficacy [ 40 ], success expectations are on the basis of which students are inclined to engage in creative behavior. That is, as teachers we need to encourage positive expectations of the use of creativity, in which behavior is proven a more effective performance in a creative way compared to a non-creative.

4. Teaching methodology for creative thinking skills development

According to De la Torre [ 41 ], creative teaching is characterized by being active, motivating, dynamic and involving. For this author creative learning refers to knowledge built with the active involvement of the subject, from its planning to its internalisation, characterised by intrinsic motivation, being learner-centred, openness of the process and self-evaluation.

The development of creative thinking skills is essential for turning creative potential into creative performance. That is, if creative skills are deliberately, consciously and voluntarily fostered, each individual will be able to convert his or her creative potential into creative behavior [ 2 , 6 , 42 ].

In this respect, the development of creative skills must be personal and voluntary, but it must also be stimulated by the educational context. From a didactic point of view, creativity is a concept that should be addressed curricularly in the objectives, as formative content, as a strategy, in learning activities and in assessment. If not, it is reduced to a mere aspiration for a good social reception [ 43 ].

In general, it can be stated that the recommendations from research, derived from the implemented programmes and strategies for the development of creativity are based on applying divergent thinking processes (fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration, transformation, sensitivity and symbolic play) and convergent thinking processes (analysis, synthesis and evaluation of ideas) involved in the creation of products in the problem-solving process to achieve the optimal development of creativity [ 2 ]. An important finding of a meta-analysis was that more successful training programmes were more likely concerned with directed and structured exercises aiming at developing specific, task-relevant cognitive skills operating on available knowledge, involving idea production and cognitive training in problem solving strategies [ 6 , 42 ].

There is a considerable evidence revealing beneficial effects on different facets of creative potential. Studies on creativity in education field show an effective and real development of creativity if relevant efforts are made in this direction in all levels of education from pre-school to higher education [ 3 , 8 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. In addition, evidence has been found to suggest the importance of the role of the educator as a basis for the development of creativity and an opportunity to guide the child's early development of creativity [ 49 ]. A recent meta-study, highlights the importance and the need to explain and explore the teaching-learning processes involved in the development of creativity, identifying the techniques and procedures used [ 8 ].

Therefore, there is an insistence on the need to promote educational measures and processes that involve teachers in the development of their students' creative thinking, based on teaching methods that allow them to generate knowledge and respond to social, scientific and technological problems [ 50 , 51 ]. In this regard, a systematic review of 210 studies on education and educational policy suggests that teachers' skills, attitudes, willingness to act as role models, awareness of students' needs, flexible lesson structuring and certain types of classroom interaction are central to the teaching of creativity, and highlights the importance of educational culture in supporting creativity, where it is necessary to generate conceptions of creativity and for teachers to develop their own creativity, working constructively with a mentor, as well as the importance of action research and reflection on one's own educational praxis [ 52 ].

At this point, it is stressed the importance of applying the creative thinking process in problem solving, as it would be the ideal strategy in order to develop creativity, as creativity and problem-solving have many similarities [ 2 , 53 ]. Thus, is applying creative strategies in those processes that require a divergent, productive or idea-generating thinking style and analytical and evaluative strategies in those phases of the process that require a more conventional thinking or a convergent thinking style, aimed at finding a correct answer or its final elaboration.

In this section a distinction between the development of creative skills is made through overcoming the creative thinking barriers as a way to be aware of the internal and external conditioning factors of creativity, and how they are perceived in the educational context. Finally, the most relevant strategies for the development of creative skills are described in order to use them specifically in the educational context, with emphasis on problem solving.

4.1 Knowing and removing barriers to creative thinking

Perceptual blocks. Assume not to see the problem or not to see what is wrong, due to several limitations such as to isolate the problem, define the terms of the problem, use the senses to observe the problem, perceive remote relationships, investigate the obvious or distinguish between cause and effect.

Emotional blocks. Are those from the individual's own insecurities, such as the fear of being wrong or looking foolish, clinging to the first idea or solution that comes to mind, rigidity of thought, high motivation to succeed quickly, excessive desire of security, fear and distrust superiors, lack of energy to solve a problem, the experience and the lack of will to implement a new solution.

Cultural blocks. Are those that derive from what is taught and has learned to accept as good or bad, such as the desire to adapt to an accepted rule, the desire to be practical and economical, the tendency to adopt an attitude of all or nothing, having too many or little knowledge about something, being too competitive, having too much faith in statistics or logic, believe that fantasy is not worth it and believe that is not polite to be very curious or doubtful.

Lorna [ 56 ] describes creativity barriers as obstacles affecting the creative and innovative skills of individuals. She considers that knowledge, identification and awareness of the barriers to creative thinking, could prevent their emergence and allow for the creative potential of individuals. To this end, Lorna has created the Inventory of Barriers to Creative Thinking and Innovative Action .

These blocks and barriers have also been summarised in two types: internal and external barriers. Internal barriers have been related to the perceptual blocks and the emotional blocks and external ones have been related to the cultural blocks.

More recent literature provides various examples of how people can be effectively cognitively stimulated in the context of creativity enhancement, and significant performance gains psychometrically determined creativity were also seen as a result of continuous engagement in divergent thinking task [ 57 ].

4.2 Strategies to develop creative thinking skills in the classroom

From this approach, the optimal methodology for the development of creativity would be the development of students' strategic thinking through the teaching of different creative strategies in the classroom. Creative strategies are an adaptive procedure or set of procedures by which action is sequentially organized to achieve the desired purpose or goal [ 58 ]. These strategies are characterized by flexibility in planning, contextual adaptation, the creation of a relaxed and rewarding atmosphere, participatory and interactive roles among students and between students and teachers, productivity or personal achievements, high degree of satisfaction and awareness of self-learning [ 58 ]. These strategies seek, among other aspects, to develop capacities and skills of ideation, interaction, elaboration, communicative competence, argumentation to express and defend one's own points of view, collaborative work and role-playing. They are characterized by being strategies oriented towards the development of attitudes, values, emotional sensitivity and persistence in the task initiated [ 59 ].

Classic creative strategies to develop creative thinking skill began to apply in training courses from the industrial field started in 1930 and 1940. These strategies could help to unlock and stimulate the divergent thinking and facilitate the development of creativity. Nowadays these strategies are applied in the educational context in different divergent thinking tasks [ 57 ]. These creative strategies are involved in idea production which is particularly effective in improving creative-related skills [ 42 , 60 ].

Analogical: is based on the similarity or the likeness as a solution of the problem.

Antithetical: is based on solving the problem of the counter tide it had been done before.

Randomly: once discussed the problem with similar methods and opposite, there is an area of seemingly unrelated concepts to the problem and random estimates are used for their solution.

Brainstorming [ 55 ]. Its objective is to conduct a group or a project to get as many ideas, suggestions, valid alternatives and original ideas as possible. This strategy can be applied in a single phase, in which each participant prepares its own list of ideas and then be shared with other individuals, in a second phase of work in pairs and in a third phase of group work. Eventually it is needed to evaluate all the ideas and choose the best.

This strategy has four basic rules:

Critical judgment is excluded. Do not reject or censor any idea how absurd or strange it may seem.

The free imagination is welcomed.

The amount is demanded.

The combination and improvement of the proposed ideas is sought.

Attribute listing [ 62 ]. This strategy consists of moving the attributes of an object or situation to another object or situation. Its aim is to sensitise the student to grasp the characteristics of the objects and transforming them to generate significant wealth of new ones. This technique should be applied as follows:

Focusing on a target or topic of a potential job.

Display various attributes or characteristics of the target of topic (e.g., if it is an object: shape, color, size, etc.).

Select those attributes that best describe the object or subject.

Thinking about possible changes in each.

Modify the characteristics of an attribute without changing other attributes and see what happens.

Checklist [ 55 ]. This strategy is based on the formulation of questions, because the questions are one of the supports of creative attitudes. Prior knowledge of a problem predisposes to the development of questions, because knowing involves wanting to know more and this can lead to many discoveries. This strategy proposes a number of questions issued by the educator to encourage creative thinking; these are the follows:

Use the existing elements that have been already used for other purposes.

Adapt or copy other similar realities to improve what we have.

Modify; giving new forms, colors, aspects.

Increase, make larger, stronger, higher, that multiplies the effects or appears more often.

Reduce; make smaller, lighter, delete parts or complications, divide or ignore.

Replace; change something by other ingredients, materials, procedures, techniques, etc.

Change the order or sequence of its components.

Reverse the object; replace the positive with the negative, to start at the end, to reverse a situation, use of irony.

Combine the ideas to improve the object.

Synectics [ 63 ]. The word comes from Greek and means the union of different elements and seemingly irrelevant. Is applied in group problem solving to increase the possibilities of its resolution. To applied it, activities are proposed to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange through free associations, involving four forms of metaphorical analogy, which are as follow:

Personal analogy: imagine that you are the object or situation of the problem to identify its elements.

Direct analogy: look for some phenomenon or similar solution in other areas of knowledge or disciplines.

Symbolic analogy: interpersonal or object images are used to describe the problem. Poetical and metaphorical type of responses can be used.

Fantastic analogy: fantastic events, imaginary or irrational ideas can be used to challenge the established laws and to create another kind of reality.

Invention of products [ 64 ]. This strategy proposes the creation of inventions. The strategy to develop the invention comprises the following steps:

Analyse the design and the creation objectives.

Generate ideas. New ideas from different categories, original and infrequent ideas and detailed ideas are seeking.

Assess the ideas generated.

Designing something new or improve an existing design.

Storywritting [ 65 ]. This strategy encourage imagination by the development of stories and provides the description of different ways for it. Some of these ideas are: create stories from a word or from a randomly selected image, change the main character of a familiar story, transforming traditional stories introducing changes to its continuation or ending, imagine a fantastic character and create a story from this character (e.g., a man of glass; a man of iron), setting riddles and metaphors of their characteristics, using analogies, synectics, etc.

Method of the Six Thinking Hats [ 66 ]. This method tries to stimulate simultaneously six different ways of thinking related to the symbolic use of six different hats, including:

The white hat is neutral and objective. It relates to the facts, data and objectives.

The red hat suggests anger and emotions. It provides the emotional standpoint.

The black hat is somber and serious. Is cautious and careful, says the weaknesses and difficulties of the ideas.

The yellow hat is cheerful and positive. It includes optimistic hope and positive thinking.

The green hat symbolizes the abundant, fertile growth and new ideas.

The blue hat is cool, symbolizes the color of the sky that is above all. It relates to the control, organization of thought processes and the use of other hats. One could assume that this hat symbolises the use of metacognition.

Design Thinking. Design thinking offers teachers needed support and skills. Design is a process of “making” solutions, and a well-recognized by-product of creative confidence and self-efficacy. Design thinking is an iterative process that repeatedly reformulates a problem to find its core and then analyses possible solutions to find the most favourable, allowing for the formation of ‘creative bridges’ between problems and solutions [ 53 ]. Thus, both analytical thinking and divergent creative thinking are key to design processes, worked through five core design thinking skills: Empathising, Defining Problems, Ideating, Prototyping, and Testing [ 67 ].

Creative, metacognitive and critical thinking skills problem-solving model. Adapted from Allueva [ 68 ] is based on complex thinking and higher order thinking processes in problem solving [ 2 ]. See Figure 3 . This model stresses the importance of developing creative thinking skills in problem solving, applying creative strategies in those processes that require a divergent, productive or idea-generating style of thinking and a more analytical and evaluative strategies in those phases of the process that require a more conventional or convergent thinking, aimed at finding a suitable response or its final elaboration. Throughout all the process, metacognitive skills involved in problem-solving are proposed. In this sense, there is some recent research on the implication of metacognition for the development of creativity [ 37 , 69 ].

Creative, metacognitive and critical thinking skills problem-solving model.

Figure 3 shows how to apply the creative, metacognitive and critical thinking process in problem solving. First, the problem is presented and simultaneously, divergent production processes (in those tasks that require the generation of novel and valuable ideas) and convergent production processes are applied (in those tasks that require valid and reliable answers). During the task, metacognitive thinking processes (planning, regulating-controlling and checking the task). The three mentioned thinking skills are applied until a mental product of the problem is achieved.

At the beginning of the session: enquiry into prior knowledge: brainstorming, posing questions about subject content, knowledge activation questions, etc.;

During the session: stimulate the creative thinking, creative strategies are proposed: brainstorming, synectis, proposing examples and counterexamples, generating lists of attributes to certain questions, visualisation, make questions, etc.;

At the end of the session: relevance and educational implications in the classroom of the issues raised (creation of scenarios and narratives and search for solutions using divergent thinking skills in different cases).

Presentation of the activity through cooperative work in the classroom. Creative strategies are proposed to solve the different practical activities through the stimulation of divergent thinking and lateral thinking: "what if", creative narrative techniques, brainstorming, use of analogies, list of attributes, synectics, creative visualisation, among others. The explanation of each strategy will be done prior to the solution of the proposed activities;

Development and supervision of the creative performance for the practical activities proposed;

Shared discussion. Small group discussion and large group presentation of the proposals put forward, explaining the creative process carried out for their solution. To this end, the hypothesizing of possible alternative solutions will be encouraged, promoting hypothetical-deductive thinking, creative and metacognitive thinking skills are supported;

Evaluation: group feedback on the creative resolution of the activity is done, suggestions for improvement of the solutions are proposed. Individual and group student’s self-evaluation is carried out to analyse the creative strategies application during the learning process. Finally, teacher's evaluation of the activity resolution (i.e., using a weighted evaluation scale) is proposed which is based on previously established evaluation criteria. Thus evaluation, should assess the main implemented creativity factors that were involved in the teaching sessions, as the indicators of creative thinking developed: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration, among others.

5. Conclusions

It can be affirmed that development involves skills of increasing complexity and, in general, it has been shown that human thinking is diverse, complex and multifaceted and that it requires the coordination of multiple cognitive processes.

For this reason, we highlight the importance of the development of higher order thinking skills, more specifically those that have been shown to be most effective in teaching-learning processes, namely critical, creative and metacognitive thinking skills. Traditionally, more attention has been paid in education to the development of critical, analytical or formal thinking skills, and creative thinking processes have been neglected. For this reason, it is highlight creative skills as an object of development and study in this chapter.

Creativity is a complex and multidimensional construct, which makes it difficult to define in a precise and consensual way. However, it can be affirmed that the different existing approaches to the study of creativity provide a complementary vision of creativity and shed more light for future research, which will serve to discover the mental processes and mechanisms involved in creative and human thinking and the factors that influence them.

So far, it has been highlighted the importance of creativity in society and in education, as well as the importance of creativity in everyday life, while it has been shown through research that the development of creativity can provide an improvement in educational quality and student learning. Accordingly, we believe that creative skills should be developed in all possible contexts, taking into account the personal characteristics of each student, so that they are able to generate creative products in a variety of contexts. It has also been highlighted that essential indicators of creative potential are creative thinking processes applied to problem solving in the curriculum and, more specifically, those involving divergent thinking for the generation of ideas.

From this approach, it is proposed that the development of creative thinking skills should be carried out in the different areas of the curriculum as a transversal competence and in a deliberate and specific way. Likewise, evaluation is proposed, with the intention of assessing whether their development has been effective. In order to develop creative skills and creative thinking, barriers it should be removed and it should be applied creative skills involved in the problem-solving process. The aim is to generate creative products through the use and application of creative strategies intentionally in the teaching-learning process.

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• Educational Research and Innovation

Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking

Creativity and critical thinking in everyday teaching and learning, what it means in school.

Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting. To make it more visible and tangible to practitioners, the OECD worked with networks of schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial a set of pedagogical resources that exemplify what it means to teach, learn and make progress in creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education. Through a portfolio of rubrics and examples of lesson plans, teachers in the field gave feedback, implemented the proposed teaching strategies and documented their work. Instruments to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention in a validation study were also developed and tested, supplementing the insights on the effects of the intervention in the field provided by the team co-ordinators.

What are the key elements of creativity and critical thinking? What pedagogical strategies and approaches can teachers adopt to foster them? How can school leaders support teachers' professional learning? To what extent did teachers participating in the project change their teaching methods? How can we know whether it works and for whom? These are some of the questions addressed in this book, which reports on the outputs and lessons of this international project.

English Also available in: French

• https://doi.org/10.1787/62212c37-en
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This chapter presents a framework to support teachers in the design of classroom activities that nurture students’ creativity and critical thinking skills as part of the curriculum. Developed collaboratively by participants in the OECD-CERI project, the framework is composed of a portfolio of domain-general and domain-specific rubrics and a set of design criteria to guide teachers in the development of lesson plans that create opportunities for students to demonstrate their creativity and critical thinking while delivering subject content. Teachers across teams in 11 countries worked to adapt their usual teaching practice to this framework and to develop lesson plans in multiple subject areas. The chapter presents a selection of exemplar lesson plans across subject areas and concludes with some key insights.

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Cite this content as:

Author(s) Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin i , Carlos González-Sancho i , Mathias Bouckaert i , Federico de Luca i , Meritxell Fernández-Barrerra i , Gwénaël Jacotin i , Joaquin Urgel i  and Quentin Vidal i i OECD

12 Nov 2019

Pages: 127 - 164

Creative Thinking

Creative Thinking involves the generation of ideas and concepts that are novel and innovative in the context in which they are generated, reflection on their value to the individual or others, and the development of chosen ideas and concepts from thought to reality.

People who think creatively are curious and open-minded, have a sense of wonder and joy in learning, demonstrate a willingness to think divergently, and are comfortable with complexity. A creative thinker reflects on existing ideas and concepts; uses imagination, inventiveness, resourcefulness, and flexibility; and is willing to take risks to go beyond existing knowledge.

• Back to Thinking

• Connections
• Illustrations

Creating and innovating

Students get creative ideas that are novel and have value. An idea may be new to the student or their peers, and it may be novel for their age group or the larger community. It may be new to a particular context or absolutely new. The idea or product may have value in a variety of ways and contexts – it may be fun, provide a sense of accomplishment, solve a problem, be a form of self-expression, provoke reflection, or provide a new perspective that influences the way people think or act. It can have a positive impact on the individual, classmates, the community, or the world.

Generating and incubating

Students may generate creative ideas through free play, engagement with other’s ideas, or consideration of a problem or constraint, and/or because of their interests and passions. New ideas and inspirations can spontaneously arise from the unconscious mind, but students can also develop strategies to facilitate the generation of ideas – learning a lot about something, engaging in a period of reflection, providing time for incubation, and doing relaxing or automatic activities to quiet their conscious mind. The capacity for creative thinking expands as individuals increase their range of ideas and concepts to recombine them into new ideas. The ideas available as raw material for creative thinking depend on previous experiences and learning, as well as students’ cultural legacies.

Evaluating and developing

Students reflect on their creative ideas in order to decide which ones to develop. They consider whether their idea would ultimately support the well-being of self, community, and the land. They do this with a sense of place and taking into consideration unintended consequences for other living things and our planet. If they decide to develop an idea, they work individually and/or collaboratively to refine it and work to realize it. This may require accessing the knowledge of those who have gone before, building the necessary skills, sustaining perseverance, using failure productively over time, and reflecting on process and results. It may also require the generation of additional creative ideas to come up with solutions to problems along the way.

I get ideas when I play.

I get ideas when I use my senses to explore. My play ideas are fun for me and make me happy. I make my ideas work or I change what I am doing.

I can get new ideas or build on or combine other people’s ideas to create new things within the constraints of a form, a problem, or materials.

I can get new ideas to create new things or solve straightforward problems. My ideas are fun, entertaining, or useful to me and my peers, and I have a sense of accomplishment. I can use my imagination to get new ideas of my own, or build on other’s ideas, or combine other people’s ideas in new ways. I can usually make my ideas work within the constraints of a given form, problem, or materials if I keep playing with them.

I can get new ideas in areas in which I have an interest and build my skills to make them work.

I generate new ideas as I pursue my interests. I deliberately learn a lot about something by doing research, talking to others, or practicing, so that I can generate new ideas about it; the ideas often seem to just pop into my head. I build the skills I need to make my ideas work, and I usually succeed, even if it takes a few tries.

I can get new ideas or reinterpret others’ ideas in novel ways.

I get ideas that are new to my peers. My creative ideas are often a form of self-expression for me. I have deliberate strategies for quieting my conscious mind (e.g., walking away for a while, doing something relaxing, being deliberately playful), so that I can be more creative. I use my experiences with various steps and attempts to direct my future work.

I can think “outside the box” to get innovative ideas and persevere to develop them.

I can get new ideas that are innovative, may not have been seen before, and have an impact on my peers or in my community. I have interests and passions that I pursue over time. I look for new perspectives, new problems, or new approaches. I am willing to take significant risks in my thinking in order to generate lots of ideas. I am willing to accept ambiguity, setbacks, and failure, and I use them to advance the development of my ideas.

I can develop a body of creative work over time in an area of interest or passion.

I can get ideas that are groundbreaking or disruptive and can develop them to form a body of work over time that has an impact in my community or beyond. I challenge assumptions as a matter of course and have deliberate strategies (e.g., free writing or sketching, meditation, thinking in metaphors and analogies) for getting new ideas intuitively. I have a strong commitment to a personal aesthetic and values, and the inner motivation to persevere over years if necessary to develop my ideas.

The Core Competencies relate to each other and with every aspect of learning.

Connections among Core Competencies

The Core Competencies are interrelated and interdependent. Taken together, the competencies are foundational to every aspect of learning. Communicating is intertwined with the other Core Competencies.

Creative Thinking is one of the Thinking Core Competency’s two interrelated sub-competencies, Creative Thinking and Critical and Reflective Thinking.

Creative Thinking and Critical and Reflective Thinking overlap. For example:

• Students use critical thinking to analyze and reflect on creative ideas in order to determine whether they have value and should be developed
• Students engage in ongoing reflection as they develop their creative ideas
• Students use creative thinking to generate new ideas to solve problems and constraints that arise as they design and develop

Communication

Creative Thinking is closely related to the two Communication sub-competencies, Communicating and Collaborating. For example:

• Students communicate to share and build on one another’s creative ideas and collaborate to develop their creative ideas
• Students use creative thinking to get new ideas about how to communicate effectively
• Students can use creative thinking to come up with new ideas about how to distribute leadership and co-regulate group interactions as they collaborate

Personal and Social

Creative Thinking is closely related to the three Personal and Social sub-competencies: Personal Awareness and Responsibility, Social Awareness and Responsibility, and Positive Personal and Cultural Identity. For example:

• Students use their personal and social awareness and responsibility to decide which creative ideas have value for themselves, others, and the community
• Students use creative thinking to generate new ideas for ways to exercise personal and social responsibility
• Students often see their chosen forms of creative expression as an important part of their identity

Connections with areas of learning

Creative Thinking is embedded within the curricular competencies of the concept-based, competency-driven curriculum. Curricular competencies are focused on the “doing” within the area of learning and include skills, processes, and habits of mind required by the discipline. For example, the Creative Thinking sub-competency can be seen in the following Big Ideas in Arts Education:

• Creative expression develops our unique identity and voice. (Arts Education 2)
• Artists experiment in a variety of ways to discover new possibilities. (Arts Education 4)
• Creative growth requires patience, readiness to take risks, and willingness to try new approaches. (Arts Education 8)

The science behind creativity

Psychologists and neuroscientists are exploring where creativity comes from and how to increase your own

Vol. 53 No. 3 Print version: page 40

• Neuropsychology
• Creativity and Innovation

Paul Seli, PhD, is falling asleep. As he nods off, a sleep-tracking glove called Dormio, developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detects his nascent sleep state and jars him awake. Pulled back from the brink, he jots down the artistic ideas that came to him during those semilucid moments.

Seli is an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and also an artist. He uses Dormio to tap into the world of hypnagogia, the transitional state that exists at the boundary between wakefulness and sleep. In a mini-experiment, he created a series of paintings inspired by ideas plucked from his hypnagogic state and another series from ideas that came to him during waking hours. Then he asked friends to rate how creative the paintings were, without telling them which were which. They judged the hypnagogic paintings as significantly more creative. “In dream states, we seem to be able to link things together that we normally wouldn’t connect,” Seli said. “It’s like there’s an artist in my brain that I get to know through hypnagogia.”

The experiment is one of many novel—and, yes, creative—ways that psychologists are studying the science of creativity. At an individual level, creativity can lead to personal fulfillment and positive academic and professional outcomes, and even be therapeutic. People take pleasure in creative thoughts, research suggests—even if they don’t think of themselves as especially creative. Beyond those individual benefits, creativity is an endeavor with implications for society, said Jonathan Schooler, PhD, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Creativity is at the core of innovation. We rely on innovation for advancing humanity, as well as for pleasure and entertainment,” he said. “Creativity underlies so much of what humans value.”

In 1950, J. P. Guilford, PhD, then president of APA, laid out his vision for the psychological study of creativity ( American Psychologist , Vol. 5, No. 9, 1950). For half a century, researchers added to the scientific understanding of creativity incrementally, said John Kounios, PhD, an experimental psychologist who studies creativity and insight at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Much of that research focused on the personality traits linked to creativity and the cognitive aspects of the creative process.

But in the 21st century, the field has blossomed thanks to new advances in neuroimaging. “It’s become a tsunami of people studying creativity,” Kounios said. Psychologists and neuroscientists are uncovering new details about what it means to be creative and how to nurture that skill. “Creativity is of incredible real-world value,” Kounios said. “The ultimate goal is to figure out how to enhance it in a systematic way.”

Creativity in the brain

What, exactly, is creativity? The standard definition used by researchers characterizes creative ideas as those that are original and effective, as described by psychologist Mark A. Runco, PhD, director of creativity research and programming at Southern Oregon University ( Creativity Research Journal , Vol. 24, No. 1, 2012). But effectiveness, also called utility, is a slippery concept. Is a poem useful? What makes a sculpture effective? “Most researchers use some form of this definition, but most of us are also dissatisfied with it,” Kounios said.

Runco is working on an updated definition and has considered at least a dozen suggestions from colleagues for new components to consider. One frequently suggested feature is authenticity. “Creativity involves an honest expression,” he said.

Meanwhile, scientists are also struggling with the best way to measure the concept. As a marker of creativity, researchers often measure divergent thinking—the ability to generate a lot of possible solutions to a problem or question. The standard test of divergent thinking came from Guilford himself. Known as the alternate-uses test, the task asks participants to come up with novel uses for a common object such as a brick. But measures of divergent thinking haven’t been found to correlate well with real-world creativity. Does coming up with new uses for a brick imply a person will be good at abstract art or composing music or devising new methods for studying the brain? “It strikes me as using way too broad a brush,” Seli said. “I don’t think we measure creativity in the standard way that people think about creativity. As researchers, we need to be very clear about what we mean.”

One way to do that may be to move away from defining creativity based on a person’s creative output and focus instead on what’s going on in the brain, said Adam Green, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist at Georgetown University and founder of the Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity . “The standard definition, that creativity is novel and useful, is a description of a product,” he noted. “By looking inward, we can see the process in action and start to identify the characteristics of creative thought. Neuroimaging is helping to shift the focus from creative product to creative process.”

That process seems to involve the coupling of disparate brain regions. Specifically, creativity often involves coordination between the cognitive control network, which is involved in executive functions such as planning and problem-solving, and the default mode network, which is most active during mind-wandering or daydreaming (Beaty, R. E., et al., Cerebral Cortex , Vol. 31, No. 10, 2021). The cooperation of those networks may be a unique feature of creativity, Green said. “These two systems are usually antagonistic. They rarely work together, but creativity seems to be one instance where they do.”

Green has also found evidence that an area called the frontopolar cortex, in the brain’s frontal lobes, is associated with creative thinking. And stimulating the area seems to boost creative abilities. He and his colleagues used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to stimulate the frontopolar cortex of participants as they tried to come up with novel analogies. Stimulating the area led participants to make analogies that were more semantically distant from one another—in other words, more creative ( Cerebral Cortex , Vol. 27, No. 4, 2017).

Green’s work suggests that targeting specific areas in the brain, either with neuromodulation or cognitive interventions, could enhance creativity. Yet no one is suggesting that a single brain region, or even a single neural network, is responsible for creative thought. “Creativity is not one system but many different mechanisms that, under ideal circumstances, work together in a seamless way,” Kounios said.

In search of the eureka moment

Creativity looks different from person to person. And even within one brain, there are different routes to a creative spark, Kounios explained. One involves what cognitive scientists call “System 1” (also called “Type 1”) processes: quick, unconscious thoughts—aha moments—that burst into consciousness. A second route involves “System 2” processes: thinking that is slow, deliberate, and conscious. “Creativity can use one or the other or a combination of the two,” he said. “You might use Type 1 thinking to generate ideas and Type 2 to critique and refine them.”

Which pathway a person uses might depend, in part, on their expertise. Kounios and his colleagues used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine what was happening in jazz musicians’ brains as they improvised on the piano. Then skilled jazz instructors rated those improvisations for creativity, and the researchers compared each musician’s most creative compositions. They found that for highly experienced musicians, the mechanisms used to generate creative ideas were largely automatic and unconscious, and they came from the left posterior part of the brain. Less-experienced pianists drew on more analytical, deliberative brain processes in the right frontal region to devise creative melodies, as Kounios and colleagues described in a special issue of NeuroImage on the neuroscience of creativity (Vol. 213, 2020). “It seems there are at least two pathways to get from where you are to a creative idea,” he said.

Coming up with an idea is only one part of the creative process. A painter needs to translate their vision to canvas. An inventor has to tinker with their concept to make a prototype that actually works. Still, the aha moment is an undeniably important component of the creative process. And science is beginning to illuminate those “lightbulb moments.”

Kounios examined the relationship between creative insight and the brain’s reward system by asking participants to solve anagrams in the lab. In people who were highly sensitive to rewards, a creative insight led to a burst of brain activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, the area of the brain that responds to basic pleasures like delicious food or addictive drugs ( NeuroImage , Vol. 214, 2020). That neural reward may explain, from an evolutionary standpoint, why humans seem driven to create, he said. “We seem wired to take pleasure in creative thoughts. There are neural rewards for thinking in a creative fashion, and that may be adaptive for our species.”

The rush you get from an aha moment might also signal that you’re onto something good, Schooler said. He and his colleagues studied these flashes of insight among creative writers and physicists. They surveyed the participants daily for two weeks, asking them to note their creative ideas and when they occurred. Participants reported that about a fifth of the most important ideas of the day happened when they were mind-wandering and not working on a task at hand ( Psychological Science , Vol. 30, No. 3, 2019). “These solutions were more likely to be associated with an aha moment and often overcoming an impasse of some sort,” Schooler said.

Six months later, the participants revisited those ideas and rated them for creative importance. This time, they rated their previous ideas as creative, but less important than they’d initially thought. That suggests that the spark of a eureka moment may not be a reliable clue that an idea has legs. “It seems like the aha experience may be a visceral marker of an important idea. But the aha experience can also inflate the meaningfulness of an idea that doesn’t have merit,” Schooler said. “We have to be careful of false ahas.”

Boosting your creativity

Much of the research in this realm has focused on creativity as a trait. Indeed, some people are naturally more creative than others. Creative individuals are more likely than others to possess the personality trait of openness. “Across different age groups, the best predictor of creativity is openness to new experiences,” said Anna Abraham, PhD, the E. Paul Torrance Professor and director of the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgia. “Creative people have the kind of curiosity that draws them toward learning new things and experiencing the world in new ways,” she said.

We can’t all be Thomas Edison or Maya Angelou. But creativity is also a state, and anyone can push themselves to be more creative. “Creativity is human capacity, and there’s always room for growth,” Runco said. A tolerant environment is often a necessary ingredient, he added. “Tolerant societies allow individuals to express themselves and explore new things. And as a parent or a teacher, you can model that creativity is valued and be open-minded when your child gives an answer you didn’t expect.”

One way to let your own creativity flow may be by tapping into your untethered mind. Seli is attempting to do so through his studies on hypnagogia. After pilot testing the idea on himself, he’s now working on a study that uses the sleep-tracking glove to explore creativity in a group of Duke undergrads. “In dream states, there seems to be connectivity between disparate ideas. You tend to link things together you normally wouldn’t, and this should lead to novel outcomes,” he said. “Neurally speaking, the idea is to increase connectivity between different areas of the brain.”

You don’t have to be asleep to forge those creative connections. Mind-wandering can also let the ideas flow. “Letting yourself daydream with a purpose, on a regular basis, might allow brain networks that don’t usually cooperate to literally form stronger connections,” Green said.

However, not all types of daydreams will get you there. Schooler found that people who engage in more personally meaningful daydreams (such as fantasizing about a future vacation or career change) report greater artistic achievement and more daily inspiration. People who are prone to fantastical daydreaming (such as inventing alternate realities or imaginary worlds) produced higher-quality creative writing in the lab and reported more daily creative behavior. But daydreams devoted to planning or problem-solving were not associated with creative behaviors ( Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts , Vol. 15, No. 4, 2021).

It’s not just what you think about when you daydream, but where you are when you do it. Some research suggests spending time in nature can enhance creativity. That may be because of the natural world’s ability to restore attention, or perhaps it’s due to the tendency to let your mind wander when you’re in the great outdoors (Williams, K. J. H., et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology , Vol. 59, 2018). “A lot of creative figures go on walks in big, expansive environments. In a large space, your perceptual attention expands and your scope of thought also expands,” Kounios said. “That’s why working in a cubicle is bad for creativity. But working near a window can help.”

Wherever you choose to do it, fostering creativity requires time and effort. “People want the booster shot for creativity. But creativity isn’t something that comes magically. It’s a skill, and as with any new skill, the more you practice, the better you get,” Abraham said. In a not-yet-published study, she found three factors predicted peak originality in teenagers: openness to experience, intelligence, and, importantly, time spent engaged in creative hobbies. That is, taking the time to work on creative pursuits makes a difference. And the same is true for adults, she said. “Carve out time for yourself, figure out the conditions that are conducive to your creativity, and recognize that you need to keep pushing yourself. You won’t get to where you want to go if you don’t try.”

Those efforts can benefit your own sense of creative fulfillment and perhaps lead to rewards on an even grander scale. “I think everyday creativity is the most important kind,” Runco said. “If we can support the creativity of each and every individual, we’ll change the world.”

How to become more creative

1. Put in the work: People often think of creativity as a bolt of inspiration, like a lightbulb clicking on. But being creative in a particular domain—whether in the arts, in your work, or in your day-to-day life—is a skill. Carve out time to learn and practice.

2. Let your mind wander: Experts recommend “daydreaming with purpose.” Make opportunities to let your daydreams flow, while gently nudging them toward the creative challenge at hand. Some research suggests meditation may help people develop the habit of purposeful daydreaming.

3. Practice remote associations: Brainstorm ideas, jotting down whatever thoughts or notions come to you, no matter how wild. You can always edit later.

4. Go outside: Spending time in nature and wide-open spaces can expand your attention, enhance beneficial mind-wandering, and boost creativity.

5. Revisit your creative ideas: Aha moments can give you a high—but that rush might make you overestimate the merit of a creative idea. Don’t be afraid to revisit ideas to critique and tweak them later.

Further reading

Creativity: An introduction Kaufman, J. C., and Sternberg, R. J. (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2021

The eureka factor: Aha moments, creative insight, and the brain Kounios, J., & Beeman, M., Random House, 2015

Creativity anxiety: Evidence for anxiety that is specific to creative thinking, from STEM to the arts Daker, R. J., et al., Journal of Experimental Psychology: General , 2020

Predictors of creativity in young people: Using frequentist and Bayesian approaches in estimating the importance of individual and contextual factors Asquith, S. L., et al., Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts , 2020

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Module 5: Thinking and Analysis

Creative thinking in your education, learning objectives.

• Identify the value of creative thinking in education

Think about a time when you visited a museum or a sculpture garden, or you attended an orchestral performance or a concert by a favorite performer. Did you marvel at the skill, the artistry, and the innovation? Did you imagine how wonderful it must feel to have those abilities?

If you’ve ever had thoughts like this, you must know you’re not alone. It’s hard for anyone to behold a great work of art or performance and not imagine standing, even briefly, in the artist’s shoes.

You might be surprised to know that everyone has creative abilities: it’s true of everyone who fully expresses creative abilities as well as those who express them very little or not at all. All humans are innately creative, especially if creativity is understood as a problem-solving skill.

Put another way, creativity is inspired when there is a problem to solve. For example, when a sculptor creates an amazing sculpture, it’s an act of problem-solving: perhaps she must determine which artistic style to use in order to create the likeness of an object, or perhaps she is deciding which tools will most suit her purpose or style, perhaps she is assessing how best to satisfy a customer’s request or earn income from her art—you get the idea. In every case, the problem sparks the sculptor’s creativity and she brings her creativity to bear in finding an artistic solution.

Considered as an act of problem-solving, creativity can be understood as a skill —as opposed to an inborn talent or natural “gift”—that can be taught as well as learned. Problem-solving is something we are called upon to do every day, from performing mundane chores to executing sophisticated projects. The good news is that we can always improve upon our problem-solving and creative-thinking skills—even if we don’t consider ourselves to be artists or “creative.” The following information may surprise and encourage you!

• Creative thinking (a companion to critical thinking) is an invaluable skill for college students . It’s  important because it helps you look at problems and situations from a fresh perspective. Creating thinking is a way to develop novel or unorthodox solutions that do not depend wholly on past or current solutions. It’s a way of employing strategies to clear your mind so that your thoughts and ideas can transcend what appear to be the limitations of a problem. Creative thinking is a way of moving beyond barriers. [1]
• As a creative thinker, you are curious, optimistic, and imaginative. You see problems as interesting opportunities, and you challenge assumptions and suspend judgment. You don’t give up easily. You work hard. [2]

Is this you? Even if you don’t yet see yourself as a competent creative thinker or problem-solver, you can learn solid skills and techniques to help you become one.

Creative Thinking in Education

Now that you have taken the creative problem-solving self-assessment test, do you have a better sense of which creative thinking skills and attitudes you have, and which ones you might want to improve upon?

College is great ground for enhancing creative thinking skills. The following are some college  activities that can stimulate creative thinking. Are any familiar to you?

• Design sample exam questions to test your knowledge as you study for a final.
• Devise a social media strategy for a club on campus.
• Propose an education plan for a major you are designing for yourself.
• Prepare a speech that you will give in a debate in your course.
• Develop a pattern for a costume in a theatrical production.
• Arrange audience seats in your classroom to maximize attention during your presentation.
• Arrange an eye-catching holiday display in your dormitory or apartment building.
• Participate in a brainstorming session with your fellow musicians on how you will collaborate to write a musical composition.
• Draft a script for a video production that will be shown to several college administrators.
• Compose a set of requests and recommendations for a campus office to improve its customer service.
• Develop a marketing pitch for a mock business you are developing.
• Develop a comprehensive energy-reduction plan for your cohousing arrangement.

How to Stimulate Creative Thinking

The following video, How to Stimulate the Creative Process , identifies six strategies to stimulate your creative thinking.

• Sleep on it. Over the years, researchers have found that the REM sleep cycle boosts our creativity and problem-solving abilities, providing us with innovative ideas or answers to vexing dilemmas when we awaken. Keep a pen and paper by the bed so you can write down your nocturnal insights if they wake you up.
• Go for a run or hit the gym. Studies indicate that exercise stimulates creative thinking, and the brainpower boost lasts for a few hours.
• Allow your mind to wander a few times every day. Far from being a waste of time, daydreaming has been found to be an essential part of generating new ideas. If you’re stuck on a problem or creatively blocked, think about something else for a while.
• Keep learning. Studying something far removed from your area of expertise is especially effective in helping you think in new ways.
• Put yourself in nerve-racking situations once in a while to fire up your brain. Fear and frustration can trigger innovative thinking.
• Keep a notebook with you so you always have a way to record fleeting thoughts. They’re sometimes the best ideas of all.

You can view the transcript for “How to Stimulate the Creative Process” here (opens in new window) .

A Brainstorm of Tips for Creative Thinking

The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas. —Linus Pauling, double Nobel Laureate, chemist, biochemist, and peace campaigner

Below are some additional tips to help you tap into original and creative thinking in your college assignments and endeavors:

• Use all your senses—see, taste, smell, touch, hear, think, speak.
• Be a good observer of people, nature, and events around you.
• Engage thinking on the right side of your brain (intuition, open-mindedness, visual perception, rhythm . . .).
• Change  your interpretation of an event, situation, behavior, person, or object.
• Allow ideas to incubate.
• Be open to insight as ideas pop into your mind.
• Brainstorm by generating ideas with a group of people.
• Ask, “What would happen if . . .”
• Ask, “In how many different ways . . .”
• Develop ideas and expand their possibilities.
• Envision the future.

Speaking and Writing

• Use your words and your “voice” when conveying your original ideas.
• Avoid using clichés or overly familiar responses to questions or problems.
• Explain how your ideas move beyond the status quo and contribute to a discussion.
• Take notes.
• Use mind-mapping to capture ideas; start with a key concept and write it in the center of your page; use connecting lines, radiating from the central concept, and write down any connected or related ideas that come to you.
• Create pictures or drawings of situations (“rich pictures”) to show them in a different way.
• Find ways to demonstrate your personal investment in projects.
• Gather knowledge and conduct research.
• Have more fun learning!
• Do physical activities to engage the creative areas of your brain and think differently.
• Take breaks.

Contribute!

Improve this page Learn More

• Mumaw, Stefan. "Born This Way: Is Creativity Innate or Learned?" Peachpit . Pearson, 27 Dec 2012. Web. 16 Feb 2016. ↵
• Harris, Robert. "Introduction to Creative Thinking." Virtual Salt . 2 Apr 2012. Web. 16 Feb 2016. ↵
• College Success. Authored by : Linda Bruce. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Text adaptation . Authored by : Claire. Provided by : Ivy Tech. Located at : http://ivytech.edu . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Image of cello player. Authored by : M. G. N.. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/rdkoXt . License : CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
• Creative Thinking Skills. Provided by : Fostering Creativity and Critical Thinking with Technology. Located at : https://creativecriticalthinking.wikispaces.com/Creative+Thinking . License : Other . License Terms : GNU Free Documentation License
• How to Stimulate the Creative Process. Authored by : Howcast. Located at : https://youtu.be/kPC8e-Jk5uw . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License

Teaching, Learning and Assessing Creative and Critical Thinking Skills

Creativity and critical thinking prepare students for innovative economies and improve wellbeing. However, educators often lack guidance on how to equip students with creativity and critical thinking within subject teaching. Education systems have likewise rarely established ways to systematically assess students’ acquisition of creativity and critical thinking.

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The project explores new approaches to equip people with the skills required for innovation and to support radical innovation and continuous improvement in education systems.

Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for the complex and globalized economies and societies of the 21st century. There is a growing consensus that education systems and institutions should cultivate these skills with their students. However, too little is known about what this means for everyday teaching and assessment practices.

This project at the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) aims to support education institutions to innovate in their teaching and nurture students’ creative and critical thinking.

The project builds an international community of practice around teaching, learning and assessing creativity and critical thinking. It seeks to identify the key contextual factors and effective approaches to foster these skills in education settings, develop and implement example instructional practices and assess the effects of innovative pedagogies on students and educators

.The project works across primary, secondary and higher education. It includes a strong focus on initial teacher education and continuing professional learning. 

Networks of institutions and educators experience professional learning and change their teaching to more explicitly develop students’ creativity and critical thinking along with disciplinary content and skills.

This redesign of teaching relies on a shared definition of creativity and critical thinking made visible through a common international rubric. Beyond this common goal, institutions and educators preserve full pedagogical freedom.

The OECD developed a monitoring system to assess the impact of re-designed teaching using both quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaires were designed to measure the progression of related skills, beliefs and attitudes.

Questionnaires are also administered to control groups for comparison and to better evaluate the outcomes of the pedagogical changes. Qualitative data collection based on interviews, focus groups and observations, complements the quantitative data to provide comprehensive evidence of the effects of the different pedagogies tested.

Participating countries and institutions

Countries (primary and secondary education).

• The Netherlands
• Russian Federation
• Slovak Republic
• United States
• United Kingdom (Wales)

Institutions (Higher Education)

• Monash University  - Australia                            
• Ontario Tech University  - Canada
• McGill University  - Canada
• University College Copenhagen  - Denmark
• Aalto University  - Finland
• NISE (University of Limerick + Mary Immaculate College)  - Ireland
• Politecnico di Torino  - Italy
• Sophia University  - Japan
• International Christian University  - Japan
• KEDI  (national coordinator) - Korea
• Universidad de Guadalajara  - Mexico
• Universidad Pedagogica Nacional  - Mexico
• Shanghai Normal University  - People's Republic of China
• Northeast Normal University  - People's Republic of China
• Central China Normal University  - People's Republic of China
• Escola Superior de Saude de Santa Maria  - Portugal
• Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo  - Portugal 
• Tecnico Lisboa  (Lisbon University) - Portugal
• Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias  - Portugal
• University of Porto  - Portugal
• Universidade de Aveiro  - Portugal
• Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro  - Portugal
• Politecnico de Leiria  - Portugal 
• Universidad Camilo Jose Cela  - Spain
• University of Winchester  - United Kingdom

Project outputs

Conceptual rubrics.

• Comprehensive domain general rubric
• Class friendly domain general rubric
• Class friendly science rubric
• Class friendly maths rubric
• Class friendly music rubric
• Class friendly visual arts rubric
• Class friendly language arts rubric
• Blank rubric template

ASSESSMENT RUBRICS

Class friendly assessment rubric creativity (available in spanish/español )

Class friendly assessment rubric critical-thinking (available in spanish/español )

Design criteria

Lesson plans, interdiciplinary.

• My region past and future
• The Vinland Map
• Smart clothes
• Digging for Stories 
• Telling the world what we are learning
• The bicycle
• Mapping the future 
• Journey into space
• The interdisciplinary world
• Healthy eating and suspended vegetable garden
• The garbage 
• Worms: How is a worm like a first grader?

Language and literacy

• The 50 word mini epic
• Do you believe in dragons?
• The debate that multiplies
• Alternative books
• Musical poetry  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• Create a movie Score
• Haiku composition
• Discover the sounds of your school SECONDARY
• Discover the sounds of your school PRIMARY
• Folk song with word chains
• Scotland's burning song revision
• Making music without instruments: sounds from water
• Body percussion
• Shoes as musical inspiration  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• Harry Potter Ostinato

Visual Arts

• Symbolic Self Portrait
• The Duke of Lancaster: a graffiti case-study
• Graffiti art Styles, iconography and message
• Graffiti Perceptions and historical connections
• Integrity in art
• Curate your own exhibition
• The world through the eyes of colour
• How can everyday objects and living beings become art
• Attachment and junk challenge
• Painting with tape
• Hybrid creatures of the subconscious
• Memory maps
• Perspective in drawing and beyond
• Useless object redesign
• Glow in the dark: design a multi-functional product
• Building buildings
• Revitalizing the school environment with Modern Art
• The Mystery of the Disappearing Water
• Should we replace our power station
• Rivers full of Water
• When is a Mammal not a Mammal
• Ant Communication
• Molecules-workshop
• Forces and Motion
• What Controls My Health  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• Evaporative-Cooling  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• Dynamic Earth: How is this place on Earth going to change over 10, 100, 1 000, 10 000, and 1 000 000 years?
• How can we help the birds near our school grow up and thrive?
• Why do I see so many squirrels but I can’t find any stegosauruses?
• How to classify an alien
• 3D printing
• Cells on t-shirts
• Negative climatic events
• Building ecosystems
• Animal cell creation
• Prepare for a natural disaster
• How is human activity and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changing our oceans?
• How we can prevent a chocolate bar from melting in the sun?
• Does Rubbish disappear?
• If fire is a hazard, why do some plants and animals depend on fire?
• What makes a good environment for fungi? How do fungi make a good environment for us? 
• How do farmed animals affect our world?
• When are rain events a problem for people, and what can we do about them?
• London Bridge is Falling Down
• Mathematics for a new Taj Mahal  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• How happy are we  (version with adaptatation for online teaching)
• Create a lesson for the year above
• How much will the school trip cost
• The math-mystery of the Egyptian Pyramids
• A world of limited resources
• The probability games
• The pie of life
• How can I use mathematics for painting?
• Paper airplanes
• Geometrical architecture and artwork
• Improving sport performance with maths
• Cutting and enlarging art
• Refresher bomb
• Should this be in the Guinness book of records?
• The great cookie bake
• Crime scene investigation
• Area of a dream place

Professional learning resources

Supporting teachers to foster creativity and critical thinking: a draft professional learning framework for teachers and leaders .

This  professional learning framework  offers professional learning activities to help teachers, institutional leaders and policy-makers consider what planning, teaching, assessment and school practices can support students to develop creativity and critical thinking as part of subject learning.

It provides a flexible framework, with separate modules on creativity and critical thinking, which can be adapted and implemented to address the needs of local contexts, participants, disciplines, and education levels according to the time and resources available.

The OECD CERI creativity and critical thinking app

The  app  brings together the pedagogical resources developed in the primary and secondary phase of the project with the aim of supporting changes in teaching and learning.

Please register as a teacher to ensure you have access to all resources (whatever your status).

Main publications

All publications

Primary and secondary education, fostering students' creativity and critical thinking: what it means in schools.

What are the key elements of creativity and critical thinking? What pedagogical strategies and approaches can teachers adopt to foster them? How can school leaders support teachers' professional learning? To what extent did teachers participating in the project change their teaching methods? How can we know whether it works and for whom? These are some of the questions addressed in this book, which reports on the outputs and lessons of this international project.

Skills for Life: Fostering Creativity

In an age of innovation and digitalization, creativity has become one of the most valued skills in the labor market. This brief shows how policymakers and teachers can empower students to innovate and improve their education by developing students creativity.

by Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin

Skills for Life: Fostering Critical Thinking

Critical thinking has become key to the skill set that people should develop not only to have better prospects in the labor market, but also a better personal and civic life. This brief shows how policymakers and teachers can help students develop their critical thinking skills. 

How do girls and boys feel when developing creativity and critical thinking?

Do girls and boys report different feelings during teaching and learning for creativity and critical thinking? This document highlights differences between the emotions reported by male and female secondary students in a project about fostering creativity and critical thinking run by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation at the OECD.

Progression in Student Creativity in School

The paper suggests a theoretical underpinning for defining and assessing creativity along with a number of practical suggestions as to how creativity can be developed and tracked in schools. 

by Bill Lucas, Guy Claxton and Ellen Spencer

Intervention and research protocol for OECD project on assessing progression in creative and critical thinking skills in education

This paper presents the research protocol of the project of school-based assessment of creative and critical thinking skills of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). 

Higher Education

Fostering higher-order thinking skills online in higher education: a scoping review.

This scoping review examines the effectiveness of online and blended learning in fostering higher-order thinking skills in higher education, focussing on creativity and critical thinking. The paper finds that whilst there is a growing body of research in this area, its scope and generalisability remain limited. 

by Cassie Hague

The assessment of students’ creative and critical thinking skills in higher education across OECD countries. A review of policies and related practices

This paper reviews existing policies and practices relating to the assessment of students’ creativity and critical thinking skills in higher education across OECD countries.

by Mathias Bouckaert

Fostering creativity and critical thinking in university teaching and learning. Considerations for academics and their professional learning

This paper focuses on ways in which students’ creativity and critical thinking can be fostered in higher education by contextualising such efforts within the broader framework of academics’ professional learning.

by Alenoush Saroyan

Does Higher Education Teach Students to Think Critically?

There is a discernible and growing gap between the qualifications that a university degree certifies and the actual generic, 21st-century skills with which students graduate from higher education. By generic skills, it is meant literacy and critical thinking skills encompassing problem solving, analytic reasoning and communications competency. As automation takes over non- and lower-cognitive tasks in today’s workplace, these generic skills are especially valued but a tertiary degree is a poor indicator of skills level.

Conferences and session replays

17 October 2024 : IIEP–UNESCO, Paris

18 October 2024 : OECD Conference centre, Paris

Creativity in Education Summit 2024

The 2024 Creativity in Education Summit on 'Empowering Creativity in Education  via Practical Resources' is a premier gathering designed to address the critical  role of creativity in shaping the future of education.

Co-organised by the OECD , UNESCO anf the Global Institute of Creative Thinking .

CREATIVITY IN EDUCATION SUMMIT 2023 (Paris, 23-24 November 2023)

The 2023 Creativity in Education Summit was the stage for the launch of the  OECD’s Professional Learning framework  for fostering and assessing creativity and critical thinking, an initiative that seeks to enhance the teaching of creative and critical thinking skills in schools internationally. 

Watch the recordings of the sessions at  this link . 

• 23 November 2023 -  all sessions
• 24 November 2023 -  morning sessions
• 24 November 2023 -  afternoon sessions

Read the  brochure  about the conference and its highlights.

CREATIVITY EDUCATION SUMMIT 2022 (London, 17 October 2022 and Paris, 18 October 2022)

The theme of this year’s event was “Creative Thinking in Schools: from global policy to local action, from individual subjects to interdisciplinary learning”.

Download the  agenda  and the  brochure .

ONLINE EVENT: HOW CAN GOVERNMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS SUPPORT STUDENTS’ SKILLS DEVELOPMENT? (12-13 January 2022)

Download the  agenda .

CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN SCHOOL: MOVING A SHARED AGENDA FORWARD (London, 24-25 September 2019)

The conference took place at the innovation foundation  nesta  and it brought together policy makers, experts and practitioners to discuss the importance of creativity and critical thinking in OECD economies and societies – and how students can acquire these skills in school.

Rewatch the videos and the interviews at  this link .

Check the  agenda , the  bios of the speakers  and the  presentations .

The Creative Classroom: Rethinking Teacher Education for Innovation

Evaluating ideas: navigating an uncertain world with critical thinking 

Playing with ideas: Cultivating student creativity, innovation and learning in schools

Embedding creativity in education: Ireland’s whole-of-government approach

Teaching, learning and assessing 21st century skills in education: Thailand’s experience

Empowering students to innovate:India's journey towards a competency-based curriculum

Why and how schools should nurture students' creativity

Engaging boys and girls in learning: Creative approaches to closing gender gaps

Illustrations by Grant Snider for OECD/CERI

No adaptations of the original Art are permitted.

Download the high resolution version of the Comics in:

More facts, key findings and policy recommendations

Create customised data profiles and compare countries

For any information about the project, you can contact via email Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin (Project lead),  Cassie Hague (Analyst) and Federico Bolognesi (Project Assistant).

Creative Thinking Definition

Creative thinking examples, why is creative thinking important, how to include creative thinking skills in a job application, how to build creativity, what is creative thinking definition and examples.

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Forage puts students first. Our blog articles are written independently by our editorial team. They have not been paid for or sponsored by our partners. See our full  editorial guidelines .

Table of Contents

Creative thinking is the ability to come up with unique, original solutions. Also known as creative problem-solving, creative thinking is a valuable and marketable soft skill in a wide variety of careers. Here’s what you need to know about creative thinking at work and how to use it to land a job. 

Creative thinking is all about developing innovative solutions to problems. Creative thinkers brainstorm not only a large number of ideas but also a variety and range of them. In the workplace, creative thinking is highly valuable because employers look to hire innovative employees who can help them solve the company’s problems.

So, what does creative thinking in the workplace look like? First, a creative person brainstorms their ideas, then they’ll experiment with them. They look at ideas from multiple perspectives and examine how their solutions fit into the scope of what they’re working on. Creative thinkers aren’t afraid to take risks and try new ideas. In fact, this ability to develop, test, and implement original solutions makes them a valuable asset to just about any workplace. 

Creative thinking in the workplace might look like:

• Holding an interactive brainstorm to gather initial thoughts on a project
• Evaluating a current process and offering suggestions on how to improve it
• Researching other ways to market a product and leading experiments on new marketing channels
• Developing an innovative way to reach out to prospective clients
• Identifying a unique opportunity to promote the company brand and developing a strategy to do so
• Discovering a new way to measure a product initiative’s success and using learnings to iterate on the next version

Finding patterns in a company’s revenue growth and using data trends to strategize a new sales plan  

Creative thinking includes the process of innovative problem-solving — from analyzing the facts to brainstorming to working with others. Creative thinking examples include analytical skills, innovation, and collaboration.

Analytical Skills

Analytical skills are problem-solving skills that help you sort through facts, data, and information to develop rational solutions. These skills aid you in the first part of the creative thinking process as you brainstorm and start to generate ideas. 

Analytical skills include:

• Data analysis
• Forecasting
• Interpreting
• Communication

Innovation is the ability to come up with something new; however, you don’t need to develop the first flying car to be an innovative thinker. “Something new” at work might mean a method you haven’t tried before or experimenting with an unfamiliar process. Innovators in the workplace aren’t afraid to step away from tradition and explore something original, even if it might fail. 

Innovation skills include:

• Risk-taking
• Brainstorming
• Critical thinking

Collaboration

Creative thinking doesn’t have to happen alone; you might have your most creative ideas when bouncing your work off others. Collaboration skills ensure you consider multiple perspectives and ways of thinking when you develop and refine ideas.

Collaboration skills include:

• Written and verbal communication
• Active listening
• Inclusivity

A soft skill like creative thinking will always be valuable to employers, whether you’re looking for a marketing job or trying to land a career in finance . Employers need employees who can develop and experiment with new ideas to help them solve complex problems. 

“Many employers seek candidates that are analytical and outside-the-box thinkers which are iterations of creative thinking skills,” says Alejandra Garcia, manager, alumni college and career success at Code2College and Forage content development partner. “Thus, creative thinking, creative problem solving, innovative thinking, and analytical skills are all valuable in the current workplace — these skills are especially important in our ever-changing workplaces with new emerging technologies.”

The data supports this idea, too. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report , creative thinking is the second most important skill for workers in 2023, preceded only by analytical skills. Other top skills include soft skills like resilience, flexibility and agility, motivation and self-awareness, and curiosity and lifelong learning .

“The ability to navigate new challenges quickly can benefit any workplace!” Laura Fontenot, resume writing expert, ACRW, and CPRW, says. “The current world of work is fast-paced, technically driven, and constantly changing. Being intuitive, creative, driven, and a problem solver are key.”

If creative thinking is one of the top soft skills employers look for, how do you show you have it in a job application? The key is to prove these skills through examples of how you’ve used them rather than just naming them.

On a Resume

While creative thinking is a skill employers might look for, you don’t necessarily need to write “creative thinking” on your resume to show you have this skill. Instead, it’s better to demonstrate how you’ve used creative thinking skills to drive results.

“Think of your best mental strengths,” says Fontenot. “Are you a great problem solver? Do you understand how to phrase things differently? Can you learn a new skill quickly? Those questions can help you find great words for the resume . Consider adding things like problem-solving, intuition, collaboration, fast learner, organized, or communication.”

Log in to view and download a customizable resume template with examples of how to include creative thinking skills:

On Your Professional Profiles

You can show these skills outside of your resume in creative ways — including on your LinkedIn profile and website (if you have one!).

“Early professionals can make creative thinking a part of their professional brand by explicitly adding creative thinking or creative problem solving to their list of skills on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles — this will help with ATS optimizations,” Garcia advises. 

Yet beyond just listing this skill, Garcia adds that you can provide real proof of your creativity online, too.

“Consider adding projects or an online portfolio website link to your resume and LinkedIn where you can showcase projects you’ve worked on that demonstrate their problem-solving skills.”

In the Interview

In the interview , make sure you can describe your workflow and process for these projects or any other situation when you’ve used creative thinking. Elaborate how you brainstormed ideas, what range of ideas you had, how you tested and experimented, and how you decided on a final solution. 

It’s best to use the STAR method to structure your answers. This will ensure you clearly explain the situation and the results you brought by using your creative thinking skills.

>>MORE: Prepare to speak about your soft skills by practicing answers to commonly asked behavioral interview questions .

1. Put Yourself in a Box

Creative thinking is about “thinking outside the box,” but putting limitations on your problem-solving can help you think more freely and innovatively. For example, if someone tells you to make dinner, you may struggle to come up with a meal you don’t always cook. Yet if they ask you to make a hot dinner with three specific ingredients and two spices, you’ll more likely come up with something original. 

Putting yourself inside a box can help expand your thinking, whether that’s by telling yourself you need to include three charts in your presentation or giving yourself a strict word count for an article.

2. Switch up Your Routine

Routine can be a great productivity booster, but it also can get in the way of your creativity. So, switch up your routine for one project, day, or even an hour. This can be something as small as where you’re physically sitting when you do your work or something as big as your process for approaching projects. Challenging yourself to do something different will help you find creative ways to adapt to your new environment.

3. Challenge What’s Currently Working

Think about how you might expand or improve upon a current process. What would you do if you had more resources, whether that’s time, money, or another expert? What would you do if you had fewer resources? If this project was taking place at a different time of year? If the target audience was different? Imagining these different potential scenarios will force you to problem-solve and adjust for various (very possible!) circumstances. 

4. Find Inspiration

Creative thinking doesn’t happen in a bubble. It’s vital to ask for others’ opinions and ideas. Creative thinkers consider multiple perspectives and are curious about how others think. Ask your colleague about their work processes, whether it’s how they research for a client deliverable or how they approach meeting an external buyer. 

5. Ask for Feedback

The best way to improve a skill is to get feedback from others on how you’re using it — and you don’t need to set up a formal feedback session to do so. Instead, ask questions when you’re working with others about your work. Keep these questions open-ended and lead with curiosity instead of looking for a specific answer. What did they think of how you led the brainstorm? What would they have done differently? What strikes them about the final product? Keep an open mind and remember not to take the feedback personally. It’s an opportunity to grow, and growing those skills might just help you land your next job!

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What is creative thinking and how can I improve?

Creative thinking refers to the ability to consider something in a new way, from a fresh perspective, or with novel ideas and solutions. It involves using one's imagination to generate original ideas, make new connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, and explore multiple possibilities.

Many people believe that creative thinking is something that strikes at random. In reality, there are many ways to use creative problem-solving every day, even if you don’t think you have innate creativity.

Building your creative skills is the key to innovation. But where do you start?

In this article, we’ll cover what creative thinking is, how it works, and how to strengthen your creative skills.

What is creative thinking?

At its core, creative thinking is intentionally gaining new insights and different ideas through existing information. Often, creative thought involves tapping into different styles of thinking and examining information from different viewpoints to see new patterns. Anyone can foster a creative mind with some practice!

Using a wide variety of brainstorming strategies can help you discover new solutions for issues in every area of your life, including at work.

In fact, 61% of employees say they’re expected to come up with creative ideas or new ways to do things at work. But, with only 30% of employees saying they’re given time to think or discuss new ideas daily, it’s becoming increasingly important to develop our creative thinking muscles.

Types of creative thinking

Fostering creative thinking starts with changing your perspective. Learning new and different styles of thinking can help give birth to powerful idea generation. 

Aesthetic, divergent , lateral, convergent, and inspirational thinking are five types of innovative thinking to get the ball rolling.

( Image source )

Divergent and convergent thinking are the most common ways to foster more creative thought. 

• Divergent thinking is like a traditional brainstorming session, where you come up with as many possible solutions as your imagination will allow. 
• Convergent thinking takes a more logical approach, encouraging you to gather facts and discover the most common solution to a problem. These strategies are frequently used together to conjure new creative solutions.
• Inspirational thinking focuses on imagining the best-case scenarios to find a new way to solve a problem.
• Lateral thinking involves letting ideas flow in a step-by-step format.
• Aesthetic thinking focuses on reframing the problem to see its inherent beauty and value, like looking at a painting.

Why is creative thinking important?

It’s easy to get stuck in the same thought patterns, especially at work. However, those thought patterns may be hampering your innovation and keeping you stuck in routines that don’t serve you. 

Creative thinking shows us that there are many solutions to any problem, and developing your creative thinking skills helps you recognize innovative solutions more quickly. 

Plus, creativity was the most sought-after soft skill in 2020 , so strengthening your creativity skills can set you apart at work, too.

Alongside critical thinking and focus , creative thinking is crucial to help recognize patterns that may not be obvious at first glance. Thinking creatively makes you a better problem-solver, which has far-reaching benefits in both your work and personal life.

Expressive, creative thinking helps us challenge our own assumptions, discover new things about ourselves and our perspective, stay mentally sharp, and even be more optimistic .

How creative thinking works

Many business leaders see creativity and innovation as something unpredictable, with 53% of businesses reporting that innovation occurs by chance . However, with the right tools, you can tap into creative thinking whenever you want.

There are many ways to get your creative juices flowing, and practicing creative thinking strategies can help you think outside the box more readily and more often: 

• A go-to example for creative thinking may be the advertising executive coming up with creative campaigns by brainstorming with divergent thinking. However, that’s far from the only way to use creative thinking. 
• In STEM industries like biomedicine, stimulating creativity by asking open-ended questions and creating fictional scenarios helps professionals find innovative solutions to health problems. These questions encourage medical professionals to experiment and discover new ways of solving a persistent problem. 

Creative thinking is valuable in many situations, not just in traditionally creative industries. Whether you’re solving a problem , organizing your calendar, or at an impasse with your team, creative thinking can come in handy.

Here are 5 examples of using creative thinking in and out of the workplace:

• Mind mapping for brainstorming : When tackling a new project, you create a mind map to explore various aspects and ideas. Start with the central concept in the middle of a page and branch out into subtopics, then further divide into smaller ideas. This visual representation helps you see connections and generate innovative solutions.
• Reverse thinking : Instead of thinking about how to solve a problem, consider how to cause it. For example, if you're trying to improve customer service , think about what actions would lead to poor customer service. Identifying these actions can help you understand what to avoid and inspire ideas for improvement.
• Combining unrelated concepts : Take two seemingly unrelated ideas and combine them to create something new. For instance, combining the concept of a café with a library led to the creation of a "book café," where people can read and enjoy coffee in a comfortable environment.
• Role-playing : Put yourself in someone else's shoes to gain a new perspective . For example, if you're developing a new product, imagine you're the end-user and think about their needs, desires, and pain points. This can help you design more user-friendly and innovative products.
• SCAMPER technique : Use the SCAMPER method to improve or innovate existing products or ideas. SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse. By systematically applying these actions, you can generate new ideas and solutions. For instance, you might think about how to modify a traditional bicycle to create a more efficient electric bike.

The benefits of creative thinking

Creative thinking doesn’t just make you a better employee; it also makes you a better parent, student, and leader, too. By developing your creative thinking skills , the benefits of thinking creatively can show up throughout your daily life.

Here are a few major benefits of creative thinking.

Improved problem-solving capabilities

We don’t just solve problems at work, and we shouldn’t only use our creative thinking skills at work, either! Developing your creative thinking abilities can help you solve a wide variety of problems faster. 

As your mind becomes more accustomed to using different thought techniques, you’ll quickly recognize patterns that you might not have before.

Stronger interpersonal connections

Creative thinking can help you communicate your ideas more clearly , which leads to better conversations and relationships with your friends, family, and coworkers. 

Plus, many creative thinking methods work best when they’re done in a group. Developing new ideas together can strengthen bonds and help you combine ideas to create something truly innovative.

Heightened productivity

It may seem like creative thinking is a time-consuming distraction from your work, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

When we get stuck in thought patterns, it’s easy to get frustrated when something isn’t working correctly. That frustration can cause our productivity to plummet. 

Taking a moment and engaging in a creative thinking strategy can renew your motivation , reinvigorate your passion, and help you find new solutions when you’re stuck. 

Higher self-awareness

Creative thinking allows you to try on perspectives that you may not have considered before. 

As you’re exploring new perspectives, you may discover something about your own assumptions, viewpoints, or biases that you never noticed . 

Challenging your traditional way of thinking can offer higher self-awareness and build your emotional intelligence. With creative thinking, you strengthen your ability to reframe your perspective and harness a growth mindset.

Breaking away from your normal routine and trying something new is the key to fostering creative thinking in your daily life.

There are many ways to do this. While practicing different thinking strategies and brainstorming with your team at work help to develop these skills, they’re far from the only way to foster a more creative thought process. Here are 13 suggestions to inspire you:

1. Meet new people

One powerful way to get your creativity flowing is to meet new people , especially if they’re in the arts or in a different industry from you. Sharing your interests and listening to others can inspire you to view the world differently. 

2. Let yourself get bored

Practicing boredom can help you develop your creativity , too. Allowing yourself to become bored and seeing what pulls your interest can help you practice letting your curiosity lead the way. 

3. Embrace curiosity

Ask questions about everything that piques your interest, and come up with possible answers before you look up the actual answer. Challenging the status quo and seeking new information can develop a beginner mindset and lead to innovative ideas.

4. Seek out diverse experiences

Engage in different activities, travel, meet new people, and explore various cultures. Exposure to diverse experiences broadens your perspective.

5. Practice mindfulness and meditation

Regular mindfulness and meditation can help clear your mind, reduce stress, and improve your focus, creating a fertile ground for creativity.

6. Collaborate with others

Work with people from different backgrounds and fields. Collaborative efforts often lead to the cross-pollination of ideas and new perspectives.

7. Keep a journal

Maintain a journal to jot down thoughts, ideas, and observations. Writing regularly can help organize your thoughts and stimulate creativity.

8. Engage in brainstorming sessions

Set aside time for brainstorming . Allow free flow of ideas without judgment. Quantity can often lead to quality in creative thinking.

9. Change your environment

Alter your workspace or take breaks in different settings. A new environment can provide fresh stimuli and break routine thinking patterns.

10. Read widely

Read books , articles, and papers from various genres and fields. Reading widely exposes you to new ideas and ways of thinking.

11. Practice creative exercises

Engage in activities like drawing, writing, playing music, or solving puzzles. Creative exercises can enhance your problem-solving skills and imaginative thinking.

12. Take risks and embrace failure

Don’t be afraid to take risks and fail. Failure is a crucial part of the creative process , providing valuable lessons and insights for future endeavors.

13. Work with a coach

Coaching can also help you hone your creative thinking. In fact, 71% of employers see managerial coaching as helpful for creative development . When you’re feeling distracted or uninspired, coaching can refocus your attention and help you get curious about your experience.

Start fostering your creative thinking skills

Thinking more creatively can take effort, but a little practice can offer a ton of benefits. Honing your skills to recognize patterns and find solutions shifts your perspective and offers a new vantage point for you to explore. 

Not only can creative thinking improve your performance at work, but it can also improve every other area of your life too. 

Coaching is a powerful tool to help foster your creativity skills. Are you ready to become more innovative? 

Start working with a dedicated coach today to develop your own creative thinking skills.

Understand Yourself Better:

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Maggie Wooll, MBA

Maggie Wooll is a researcher, author, and speaker focused on the evolving future of work. Formerly the lead researcher at the Deloitte Center for the Edge, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Maggie is passionate about creating better work and greater opportunities for all.

Why creativity isn't just for creatives and how to find it anywhere

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19 Creative Thinking Skills (and How to Use Them!)

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In a fast-moving world, being able to find new perspectives and create innovation is an increasingly valuable skill . Creative thinkers are often at the forefront of driving change, solving problems, and developing new ideas. Not only that, but those who bring creative thinking to how they work are often happier, more productive, and resilient too!

So you might be asking yourself, how can I develop my creative thinking skills and think more creatively at work?  Whether you want to supercharge your interpersonal skills, advance your career or be happier and more satisfied in the work you do, it pays to learn to think more creatively.

For many people, creative thinking is the key that unlocks solutions, promotes diverse thinking, and leads to better relationships and job satisfaction. So how can you get started with creative thinking?  As passionate believers in the value of creative thinking, we’re here to help and truly think unleashing your creativity can be key to your personal development!

In this post we’ll define what creative thinking is, highlight the benefits, explore 19 key creative thinking skills and give you some examples of how to apply them in the workplace . Let’s dig in!

What is creative thinking?

Why is creative thinking important, what are the benefits of creative thinking.

• What are creative thinking skills?  
• Examples of creative thinking skills (and how to use them)
• How to use creative thinking skills at work?

How to improve your creative thinking skills? 

Creative thinking is the ability to approach a problem or challenge from a new perspective, alternative angle, or with an atypical mindset. This might mean thinking outside of the box, taking techniques from one discipline and applying them to another, or simply creating space for new ideas and alternative solutions to present themselves through dialogue, experimentation, or reflection.

Bear in mind that the number of different creative approaches is as vast as the number of creative thinkers – if an approach helps you see things differently and approaching a challenge creatively, follow that impulse.

While there are some proven methods and guidelines that can help you be a better creative thinker, remember that everyone can be creative and finding what works for you is what is important, not the terminology or specific framework.

One misapprehension about creative thinking is that you have to be skilled at more traditional creative skills like drawing or writing. This isn’t true. What’s important is that you are open to exploring alternative solutions while employing fresh techniques and creative approaches to what you’re working on. 

You don’t need to be a great artist or even work in a traditionally creative field – we believe everyone is capable of creative thinking and that it enriches your personal and professional lives when you learn to be more creative.

Another misconception about creative thinking is that it applies only to the ideation or technically creative parts of the process. All aspects of our lives and interactions with people and challenges can benefit from creative thinking – from the ability to see things differently.

At work, thinking creatively might mean finding better ways to communicate, improve your working practices, or developing and implementing fresh solutions too.

Creative thinking is important because it drives new ideas, encourages learning, and creates a safe space for experimentation and risk-taking.

As organizations and people grow, they often develop tried and tested ways of operating. While it’s important to have solid working practices and processes, unswerving dedication to the norm can lead to stagnation and a lack of innovation and growth. 

Creative thinking is important because it drives new ideas, encourages learning and creates a safe space for experimentation and risk-taking. Simply put, creativity and creative thinking are part of what helps businesses and individuals succeed and grow .

Whether your team or business thinks of itself as a creative one, you can’t afford to miss out on the benefits of creative thinking if you want to grow , deliver change, and help your team bring their best selves to work. 

Using creative thinking skills at work creates b enefits not only in the ways we solve problems but also in how we approach everything from communication to self-fulfillment, task management, and growth . Bringing a culture of creative thinking into a workshop or group is often the job of a talented facilitator but whatever your role, there are benefits to thinking more creatively. Let’s explore some of the benefits of thinking creatively at work and in your everyday life!

Build empathy

• Bust assumptions  
• Become a better problem solver  

Find ways to move quickly and effectively

• Increase happiness

Discover new talents and promote learning

• Boost resilience and deal with adversity

Boost your CV and employability 

Empathy and creative thinking go hand-in-hand. By practicing creative thinking skills and regularly looking for new ideas and points of view, you can actively become better at understanding your colleagues, customers, and even your family and friends. One of the major barriers to having productive and meaningful relationships is an unwillingness to see things from a perspective other than your own or failing to understand how another person is feeling. 

By developing this skill, you can engage more meaningfully and honestly with people, ideas, and perspectives in all aspects of life. What’s more, because of the benefits that creative thinking can bring, you’ll actively want to see things from new perspectives and be more empathic : something that’s fundamental to creating real change.

Bust assumptions 

Assumptions can be harmful in both our personal and professional lives. Whether it’s making assumptions about why someone is behaving the way they are in a workshop or what features will make your customers happiest, holding onto incorrect or inadequately formed assumptions can be problematic . It can create difficulty and tension in relationships and what’s more, it can lead to the development or introduction of solutions that are simply unfit for purpose.

Using creative thinking skills to challenge assumptions, build clarity, and see things from new perspectives can be transformative. If an assumption someone else makes feels incorrect, think about why and try to find out more. If someone challenges an assumption you hold, be open and listen.

Become a better problem solver

An example of not being a creative thinker is sticking to a tried and tested approach and sticking to the norm in every situation without considering whether trying something new might not lead to better results.

When looking to solve a problem or create innovative solutions, going outside of what you know and being open to new ideas is not only exciting, but it can create more impactful solutions too. You might even try using problem-solving techniques alongside some of the creative thinking skills below to find the absolute best solutions!

Some processes and working practices can be slow, especially in large organizations with many moving parts – but do they all have to be? Thinking creatively can help you find lean, actionable solutions that you can put into practice quickly and test ahead of bigger changes .

Experimentation and a willingness to take risks are vital to growth and change, and creative thinking helps create a climate conducive to finding and trying quick, effective solutions. 

Increase happiness and satisfaction

Finding fresh, appropriate solutions to problems can be incredibly satisfying and is a fast-track to finding happiness both in and out of work. Bringing your whole self to a situation and being enabled to think outside of the box is a great way to feel valued and engaged with what you are doing.

Feeling frustrated with how a situation or process at work is going? Try developing and employing your creative thinking skills alongside your colleagues to find a better, happier way to collaborate! Feel unfulfilled or that not all of your skills and interests are being utilized? Consider how you might creatively deploy the skills or talents that make you happy and scratch that itch.

As children, we are encouraged to see things differently and try new things as part of our learning and growing process. There’s no reason we shouldn’t do this as adults too! Trying new things and learning to think creatively can help you find new skills, talents, and things you didn’t even know you were good at.

Staying curious and following what interests you with an open mind is a prime example of what a small change in thinking can achieve. Remember that creative thinking is a gateway to learning and by actively developing your creative toolset, you can grow and discover more in all walks of life – a surefire path to personal development.

Get better at dealing with adversity

It’s easy to get frustrated when problems seem to come thick and fast and existing solutions or methods don’t work. Adversity is something all of us will face at some point in our personal and professional lives but there are ways you can become more able to handle problems when they arise .

A strong suite of creative thinking skills is an important aspect of how we can build resilience and be more flexible when adapting or creating change. By exploring alternative ways of thinking, you’ll be better prepared to face adversity more openly and find alternative ways to resolve challenges in whatever context they emerge.

Creative thinkers are valuable employees at organizations of any size. Whether it’s championing innovation, creating change in policy, or finding better ways to collaborate, people who can effectively solve problems and leverage their creative thinking skills are better positioned for success at work.

Consider how you might plug your skills gap and boost your CV by developing your creative skillset and you won’t just be more successful – you’ll be happier and more engaged at work too! 

Whatever your background or role, you are capable of thinking creatively and bringing creativity into your life.

What are creative thinking skills? 

Creative thinking skills are the methods or approaches you might use when trying to solve a problem differently and explore a fresh perspective. While some of these skills might come naturally to you, others might need a more considered, purposeful approach.

For example, you might be a natural visual thinker who is great at presenting and interpreting visual information but you might not be so good at freely experimenting or creating space for reflection. In this case, you might try some brainstorming exercises to loosen up your experimentation muscles or create scheduled time for reflection in your working routine.

While creative professions like artists, writers, or designers may see more obvious uses for creative thinking skills, all professions can benefit from developing and deploying creative thinking . If you find yourself having difficulty at work or in need of inspiration or motivation, finding space to build on your creative skillset is a way to not only move forward but have fun while doing so.

If you think you’re not creative or have no creative thinking skills, we’re here to tell you that whatever your background or role, you are capable of thinking creatively and bringing creativity into your life : you might just need a little push or to reframe how you think about creativity!

Save time planning your next creative workshop

Examples of creative thinking skills (and how to use them) 

Creative thinking skills come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from things like abstract thinking and storytelling to finding ways to radically plan projects or recognize organizational patterns .

In this section, we’ll explore each of the example creative skills below and talk about how you might use them in your personal and professional practice. We’ll also point out some things to watch out for where appropriate so you can make the most out of your new creative skills and avoid potential setbacks.

We’ll also include a method from the SessionLab library that will help you practice and explore each skill, whether alone or with others .

Feel free to read and explore the creative thinking skill which feels most interesting or applicable to you and come back and experiment with others in the future!  

Some example creative thinking skills include:

Experimentation

Open-mindedness, lateral thinking.

• Pattern recognition   

Deep and active listening

Challenging norms, lean organization, simplification, radical planning.

• Collaborative thinking

Data collection

• Interpretation and analysis

Interdisciplinary thinking

Frameworks and rulesets, micro and macro thinking, visual thinking, abstract thinking, storytelling.

Note that this list is not exhaustive, and there are many more ways of thinking creatively – try to see these creative skills as a jumping-off point for seeing things differently and exploring creative thinking at work . 

Let’s get started!

A core creative skill is the ability to experiment and try new things, whether that’s in your personal practice, in a closed environment, or even in the field. It can be easy to fall short of implementing new ideas or following through with creative projects because critical judgment or overthinking gets in the way . A good experimenter is a self-starter who makes informed decisions to kickstart projects and test hypotheses. 

Think of a painter who throws paint at a canvas and introduces new materials without overthinking or being self-critical. While not everything they try will be perfect, that’s the point – not every experiment needs to be successful in order to teach you something useful. By experimenting, you can try things that might prove useful or will lead you towards new solutions and better ideas. Remember that the act of experimentation is generative and often fun so be sure to give it a try!

One thing to watch out for is being sure to effectively capture the results of your experiments and to continue developing and iterating on the results. Experimentation is a great place to start, but remember that it is part of a larger process. Without effective documentation, you might not trace what delivered the best results and be unable to reproduce the outcomes. Experimentation is a great example of why creative freedom should be paired with a strong process in order to be at its best. 

Four-Step Sketch   #design sprint   #innovation   #idea generation   #remote-friendly   The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes: Review key information Start design work on paper,  Consider multiple variations , Create a detailed solution . This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

Four-Step Sketch is a great method for promoting experimentation. By following a process that enables quick brainstorming before development, you can help build an experimental mindset that also generates results.

Open-mindedness is a critical element of creativity and one of the best creative thinking skills you can try to build if you’re new to the practice. Being open-minded means being receptive to new ideas, different ways of thinking, and perspectives which are not your own. It means not closing down conversations or ideas prematurely and trying to actively explore what is presented to you.

Imagine that a colleague comes up with an idea that is so far out of the status quo it seems off-the-wall and bizarre. Being open-minded means actively engaging with what is presented and to refrain from forming judgments before first understanding where your colleague is coming from .

Your colleagues’ initial idea might not be perfect, but being open-minded and truly attempting to understand their perspective means you can create dialogue, foster creativity, and move forward as a team. 

Being open-minded doesn’t mean accepting every new idea and agreeing wholesale with every different opinion. While you should always try to be open and receptive to new ideas and other perspectives, you should also critically appraise and engage with them as part of a larger creative process. Don’t be so open-minded you have no strong opinions of your own!

Heard, Seen, Respected (HSR)   #issue analysis   #empathy   #communication   #liberating structures   #remote-friendly   You can foster the empathetic capacity of participants to “walk in the shoes” of others. Many situations do not have immediate answers or clear resolutions. Recognizing these situations and responding with empathy can improve the “cultural climate” and build trust among group members. HSR helps individuals learn to respond in ways that do not overpromise or overcontrol. It helps members of a group notice unwanted patterns and work together on shifting to more productive interactions. Participants experience the practice of more compassion and the benefits it engenders.

Open-mindedness is particularly useful when it comes to meaningfully communicating with others. Whether its developing the ability to walk in the shoes of someone else or building empathy and listening skills, Heard, Seen, Respected is a great method to try when learning to be more open-minded.

Lateral thinking is a prime example of how we can creatively solve real-world problems in a measurable and easy-to-understand manner. Deploying lateral thinking means using reasoning or non-traditional logic to find an indirect or out-of-the-box approach to solving a problem. 

A simple example might be a challenge like: we need to increase revenue. Traditional thinking might mean considering hiring new salespeople to try and get more direct sales. A lateral approach might mean engaging more with current customers to reduce churn, working with external partners to get new leads, working to get sponsorship, piloting an affiliate scheme or any number of new ways to solve the existing problem.

Broadly speaking, lateral thinking often means stepping back and considering solutions or approaches outside of the immediately obvious.

One potential danger with lateral thinking is spending time to create new solutions to problems that don’t need them. Not every problem needs to be solved laterally and the best solution might actually be the most straightforward. Be sure to tap into existing knowledge and appraise a problem before trying something radical to avoid wasted time or frustration!  

The Creativity Dice   #creativity   #problem solving   #thiagi   #issue analysis   Too much linear thinking is hazardous to creative problem solving. To be creative, you should approach the problem (or the opportunity) from different points of view. You should leave a thought hanging in mid-air and move to another. This skipping around prevents premature closure and lets your brain incubate one line of thought while you consciously pursue another.

Developing your lateral thinking skills comes more naturally to some than others. The Creativity Dice is a great method for getting out of linear thinking habits and moving into different ways of thinking.

Pattern recognition 

Pattern recognition is the ability to recognise existing or emerging patterns and make connections based on the patterns you have discerned . While pattern recognition goes back to our prehistoric roots, being able to spot patterns outside of the ordinary and consider what may not be immediately obvious is a vital creative thinking skill for today. 

Consider how meetings between some members of a team might often end in conflict. While it might first seem that these two people just can’t get along, it might actually be that certain emotional triggers are being tripped or the format of the conversation isn’t working. Looking beyond your initial impressions and from a new perspective might let you find a repeating pattern that isn’t immediately obvious.

When trying to spot patterns, try to be mindful of existing biases so you avoid bending what is happening to fit a pattern you might be expecting. Be sure to interpret all data fairly and honestly, even if you believe a pattern is already forming. 

Affinity Map   #idea generation   #gamestorming   Most of us are familiar with brainstorming—a method by which a group generates as many ideas around a topic as possible in a limited amount of time. Brainstorming works to get a high quantity of information on the table. But it begs the follow-up question of how to gather meaning from all the data. Using a simple Affinity Diagram technique can help us discover embedded patterns (and sometimes break old patterns) of thinking by sorting and clustering language-based information into relationships. It can also give us a sense of where most people’s thinking is focused

Pattern recognition is a skill that benefits from thoughtful practice. Try starting with a deliberate pattern-finding process like Affinity Map to build the ability to see patterns where they might not first be obvious.

While it might not seem like it at first, being a good listener is a creative thinking skill. It asks that a person not only try to understand what is being said but also to engage with the why and how of the conversation in order to reframe prior thinking and see things from a new perspective.

Deep listening or active listening is not only hearing the words that someone is saying but actively seeking to interpret their intent, understand their position, and create a positive space for further conversation. Not only does this create a deeper conversation for both parties, but this act of engagement and understanding leads to more creative and dynamic results too. 

Think of a workplace grievance that one person might have against another. Without actively listening and trying to understand the core issues from the perspective of everyone involved, you might not only fail to solve the issue but actually make staff feel less heard and valued too.

By employing this creative thinking skill in such a conversation you can see things more clearly and find a way to creatively satisfy the needs of everyone involved. 

Active Listening   #hyperisland   #skills   #active listening   #remote-friendly   This activity supports participants to reflect on a question and generate their own solutions using simple principles of active listening and peer coaching. It’s an excellent introduction to active listening but can also be used with groups that are already familiar with it. Participants work in groups of three and take turns being: “the subject”, the listener, and the observer.

Trying to be more present in conversations is a great place to begin building your deep listening and active listening skills . Want to supercharge the process as a group? Try a role-play activity like Active Listening to more thoughtfully see and reflect on how important this skill can be.

Not all established working practices are the best way of doing things. People who practice this creative thinking skill are likely to question the status quo in search of something new which can deliver meaningful change. While any challenge to the established order needs to be conducted respectfully and thoughtfully, thinking of how to go beyond the norm is how innovation occurs and where creative thinkers excel.

When trying to practice this skill, be prepared to question existing methods and frameworks and ask if there might be a better way outside of the limits of the current system. 

As with lateral thinking, it’s important to recognize that not everything is a problem that needs to be solved and so you may need to be selective in which norms should be challenged – otherwise, you may never make it out of the front door!

Additionally, challenging the established order often means questioning the work someone else has already done. While this is a necessary part of growth, it should always be done constructively and respectfully.  

W³ – What, So What, Now What?   #issue analysis   #innovation   #liberating structures   You can help groups reflect on a shared experience in a way that builds understanding and spurs coordinated action while avoiding unproductive conflict. It is possible for every voice to be heard while simultaneously sifting for insights and shaping new direction. Progressing in stages makes this practical—from collecting facts about What Happened to making sense of these facts with So What and finally to what actions logically follow with Now What . The shared progression eliminates most of the misunderstandings that otherwise fuel disagreements about what to do. Voila!

Challenging norms without a considered approach can be ineffective and potentially frustrating. Taking the time to build shared understanding and push in the same direction with What, So What, Now What? is a great way to explore how your existing process is or isn’t working and challenge norms productively.

Creative thinking doesn’t mean being disorganized or chaotic just because you have an abundance of ideas. In order to facilitate creative thinking, it’s important to stay organized and approach the process with the right framework, mindset, and space. As a creative thinking skill, lean organization means considering what you absolutely need to do in order to make things happen, versus what you don’t.

Think of how a large, multi-discipline team might go about organizing themselves for a big project. While it’s vital everyone is aligned and kept up to date, a traditional system of scheduled meetings might not be the most productive. Lean organization means considering the needs of the team, the project and thinking creatively about what you need to stay organized, and keeping unnecessary admin to a minimum.

Thinking creatively about organization is something all leaders should practice but any project can benefit from thinking through the process by which it will be accomplished. 

MoSCoW   #define intentions   #create   #design   #action   #remote-friendly   MoSCoW is a method that allows the team to prioritize the different features that they will work on. Features are then categorized into “Must have”, “Should have”, “Could have”, or “Would like but won‘t get”. To be used at the beginning of a timeslot (for example during Sprint planning) and when planning is needed.

Lean organization often means being honest and realistic about what is absolutely necessary versus nice to have. MoSCoW is an effective agile framework for planning work and also reframing your approach to organizing time, tasks and more!

Simplifying, presenting or decoding any information is a vital skill when working with others. In a creative thinking context, simplification is the act of seeing what is important about a task or piece of data and stripping away the extraneous parts to see things more clearly.

Some problems can feel unassailable because of their complexity or scale – simplification allows you to reconsider a problem in simple terms and reframe it in a way that means you can approach it productively. 

An example of using this creative thinking skill at work might be when presenting the results of a project to the rest of your organization. People working on other teams and in different disciplines could become disengaged if exposed to too many complex moving parts or it might simply be a waste of time to discuss every detail.

By simplifying a project into more succinct terms, you not only can help your group connect with the material swiftly but also boil a project down to its most important elements . This is a great way to creatively re-energize a project and identify where you can make an impact immediately. 

6 Words   #ufmcs   #red teaming   This tool is designed to help critical thinkers focus on a core idea by writing a short phrase summarizing their thoughts into a set number of words that are clear, concise, and accurate. This idea is based on a complete short story written by Ernest Hemingway: “For sale, baby shoes – never worn.” Six Words forces people to synthesize their ideas in a succinct and meaningful way, cutting away fluff and distilling the idea to its bare essence.

One way of practicing simplification is by summarising or condensing thoughts, ideas of stories into a more concise, compressed form . 6 Words is a method for cutting away extraneous material from ideas that engages creative thinking and reframing approachably – great for groups!

Any major project requires some measure of planning in order to succeed, especially when working with others. But are there times where overplanning or traditional working processes feel too slow or frustrating for the project at hand? This is where these creative thinking skills come in handy! Radical planning is a way of approaching project planning from an alternative angle in order to generate fast, effective results.  

When taking this planning approach, you will often shuffle the order of the normal planning process in order to create alternative outcomes and cut out elements you may not need. For example, with the backcasting workshop activity, the approach is to think of desired outcomes up to twenty years in the future and work backward to figure out how we can make small steps today.

You might also try planning with a mindset of what you and your team can each achieve immediately and in a more experimental fashion with an activity like 15% solutions . 

By approaching planning with a creative thinking mindset, you can surface ideas and plans which may not have come up with a more traditional planning process. Another great benefit is to question the normal manner in which your team or organisation approaches planning and can help your team find a method that works best for you!

Backcasting   #define intentions   #create   #design   #action   Backcasting is a method for planning the actions necessary to reach desired future goals. This method is often applied in a workshop format with stakeholders participating. To be used when a future goal (even if it is vague) has been identified.

Collaborative thinking 

Effective collaboration requires us to bring many different skills together, but consciously considering how to be a more effective collaborator is worth mentioning separately. When a creative thinker approaches collaboration, they will try to think of how to use alternative approaches to make the collaborative process more effective while also helping everyone on the team contribute and be heard.

An example is when it comes to getting work done in meetings – if the current process isn’t enabling everyone to collaborate effectively, you might employ creative thinking to try finding an alternative format, consider working asynchronously, or timeboxing parts of your agenda.

The best collaborators also find ways to champion the work of others and create a safe space for everyone to contribute – it might not be enough to assume collaboration will be accomplished when you get people in a room.

Employing this creative thinking skill can make all the difference when it comes to job satisfaction, interpersonal relationships and group outcomes too! Try approaching your collaborative projects more mindfully and see how it changes things for you!

Marshmallow challenge with debriefing   #teamwork   #team   #leadership   #collaboration   In eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The Marshmallow Challenge was developed by Tom Wujec, who has done the activity with hundreds of groups around the world. Visit the Marshmallow Challenge website for more information. This version has an extra debriefing question added with sample questions focusing on roles within the team.

Working together on a task as a team is an effective way of kickstarting collaborative thinking, especially if you approach the task mindfully . The Marshamllow Challenge with debriefing is a proven method for engaging teamwork and by adding reflection time afterward, your group can share and build on what they learned.

Collecting data might seem like a solely analytical skill, but it is another area where creative thinking can lead to productive, unexpected and transformative results. Approaching the data collection process creatively might mean trying new techniques or sources, or simply reconsidering the how and why of your data collection processes.  

Imagine you are running a survey to measure customer happiness. You might try asking traditional survey questions, but find that your response rate is low and furthermore, your approach might be invasive and actively decrease happiness too!

If you were to approach this problem creatively, you might find that using a simplified form, asking for feedback at a different point in the customer journey, or utilizing an alternative measurement scheme delivers the data you are looking for. In many cases, thinking about the questions you are asking from a new point of view is what unlocks a better data collection process.

The key to this creative thinking skill is to try looking at the data collection process from a new, preferably customer-centric perspective while also considering why and how you are collecting data. You will likely find that by asking for input from your customers more creatively, you create space for more creative responses too!

3 Question Mingle   #hyperisland   #team   #get-to-know   An activity to support a group to get to know each other through a set of questions that they create themselves. The activity gets participants moving around and meeting each other one-on-one. It’s useful in the early stages of team development and/or for groups to reconnect with each other after a period of time apart.

3 Question Mingle is a get to know you activity that does double duty in demonstrating the power of approaching data collection creatively. By creating their own questions, a group can really think about what they want to know, how they ask questions, and how the results differ. Be sure to give it a try!

Interpretation and analysis

Interpretation skills can be varied though in a creative thinking context it means being able to successfully analyze an idea, solution, dataset, or conversation and draw effective conclusions. Great interpreters are people with a desire to listen, understand, and dig deeper in order to make their interpretation fully realised.

One of the ways creative thinking can improve interpretation is in helping us challenge assumptions or initial readings of data in order to consider other possible interpretations and perspectives.

Say your product is having a problem with losing lots of new customers shortly after signing up. You do a survey and people say that they leave because the product isn’t useful to them. Your initial interpretation of that data might be that you’re not the right fit for these customers or that the product needs new features.

If you were to apply creative thinking to the interpretation of this data, you might conduct further research and see that the product is fine, but people didn’t find the right features for them and that your onboarding process needs to be improved.

The key here is interpreting the data from various perspectives and then correlating that with other sources to form an accurate and representative interpretation, rather than going with your initial assumption . By following this process, you might also find that the way you are collecting data is flawed (perhaps not asking the right questions) or that more research and data collection is needed.

So long as you are sure to have data points and analysis to back up your findings, it pays to explore alternative interpretations so you can avoid bias and find the most accurate takeaways . 

Fishbone diagram   #frame insights   #create   #design   #issue analysis   Fishbone diagrams show the causes of a specific event.

Effective interpretation and analysis isn’t possible without a thorough exploration of the problem or topic at hand. Fishbone Diagram is a simple method for not only surfacing insights but framing them in a way that allows for proper and multi-perspective analysis.

Einstein is quoted as saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” In this mold, sometimes the best ideas and solutions come from fields and disciplines outside of our own. By considering how someone with a different skillset to your own would solve a problem or deploy solutions, you can often find ideas and techniques you may never have considered. 

Consider being tasked with improving employee happiness. A social media manager with a background in illustration and events management would likely try a very different approach to a sales manager who is used to a culture of incentives and bonuses. If you were trying to develop a new product, think of how a developer would approach deciding on key features versus an academic or a customer success manager? 

The important thing here is to try and use the perspective, skill set , and approach of another field or discipline to first consider and then solve a problem more fully . Where possible, try and include people from other disciplines in the process and try to avoid making assumptions.

As with all creative thinking skills, being open-minded and sourcing the expertise and opinions of others where necessary is vital when creating true innovation.

Mash-Up Innovation   #hyperisland   #innovation   #idea generation   Mash-ups is a collaborative idea generation method in which participants come up with innovative concepts by combining different elements together. In a first step, participants brainstorm around different areas, such as technologies, human needs, and existing services. In a second step, they rapidly combine elements from those areas to create new, fun and innovative concepts. Mash-ups demonstrates how fast and easy it can be to come up with innovative ideas.

Interdisciplinary thinking isn’t just for radical academics. By combining ideas from disparate fields in a fast, fun manner, Mash-Up Innovation is great for building creative thinking skills and generating results in one fell swoop!

All creative thinking skills are about reframing things in a new way of finding alternative approaches. This can often mean abandoning an existing framework and thinking outside of the box. That said , another way of applying creative thinking is by bringing rulesets, constraints, or frameworks to your approach in order to trigger deeper creative work and tap into a problem-solving mindset . 

Consider a simple task like trying to generate more customers. With free reign, there are innumerable ways to accomplish this. But what happens if you create a rule like, we cannot spend any money, or, these must be driven by social media alone. In order to accomplish your goal under these conditions, you must think more creatively and deeply, deploying more concentrated problem-solving skills than if you could try any approach you wanted. 

Alternatively, you might approach a problem with a framework that forces you to think under specific circumstances or with a rigid set of steps. Six thinking hats is a great workshop activity that asks participants to frame and reframe a problem from six different angles. While it might first seem counterintuitive, the use of rules or frameworks can create fertile ground for creative thinking and lead to more realized solutions!

The Six Thinking Hats   #creative thinking   #meeting facilitation   #problem solving   #issue resolution   #idea generation   #conflict resolution   The Six Thinking Hats are used by individuals and groups to separate out conflicting styles of thinking. They enable and encourage a group of people to think constructively together in exploring and implementing change, rather than using argument to fight over who is right and who is wrong.

Not all problems are created equal. Depending on how much it directly affects you, you might see a given problem as being more or less important than your colleagues, leading to a different response and approach to solving the problem. This creative thinking skill is all about being able to switch between seeing the bigger picture while also considering how something might manifest on a smaller scale.

Think of how frustrating it can be when an executive team makes sweeping changes that affect frontline staff in a way they might not have anticipated. Micro and macro thinking means seeing both problems and potential solutions from multiple perspectives and adjusting accordingly. 

Another key aspect of applying this approach is knowing the limits of your own knowledge and involving stakeholders from all levels of an organization to inform your ideation and problem-solving process.

If you’ve never worked in support and don’t regularly talk to your support team, you might not understand how a change to helpdesk software could impact your team and your clients – remember that a big part of any change in perspective is doing the research and talking to who will be affected ! 

Stakeholder Round Robin Brainstorm   #idea generation   #brainstorming   #perspectives   #remote-friendly   #online   A divergent process to generate ideas and understanding from different perspectives.

Learning to practice micro and macro thinking often starts with first listening to and understanding the needs and perspectives of others . Especially those who have varied positions in relation to the problem, solutions, or organization you are working with. Stakeholder Round Robin Brainstorm is an effective method of surfacing insights and perspectives quickly and productively.

Of all the creative thinking skills on this list, visual thinking might be one you are most familiar with. Visual thinking is a method of processing, learning, and presenting information and concepts with visual assets such as images.

Visual thinking is often associated with creative thinking because of the consumption and creation of images at its heart. Don’t let this make you think you have to be able to draw in order to be a visual thinker.

Applying this creative thinking skill means being able to interpret visual information, present concepts in an often simple visual manner, and communicate in a way that is more universally understood.  Drawing stick people is actively encouraged!

Visual approaches to problem-solving can help foster shared understanding and help people be more succinct or creative in their ideas. Remember: if an idea is too complex to be put into pictures, perhaps it needs further refinement .

Imagie-ination   #idea generation   #gamestorming   Images have the ability to spark insights and to create new associations and possible connections. That is why pictures help generate new ideas, which is exactly the point of this exercise.

While you might be able to jump straight into direct applications of visual thinking, it can help to try an exercise where you and a group explore using images simply and engagingly. Imagie-ination helps unlock the power of visual thinking as a team while also helping generate ideas too!

Abstraction or abstract thinking is the art of taking things out of their normal context and presenting them in a radical new light . While most creative thinking skills utilise abstraction in some form, it’s worth noting that actively trying to take an idea from one context and place it in another is a creative approach all on its own.

Think of Pablo Picasso’s cubist portraits – by taking something as common as a human face and bringing abstraction to his process, he created something radically different and innovative. You can create a similar effect by recontextualizing ideas, concepts, and problems and by looking at them from different, perhaps even conflicting points of view.

Abstract thinking is often built on engaging with absurdities, paradoxes, and unexpected connections . As such, it can often be fun, wild and surprising, and is a great way to generate creative ideas even in those who might be resistant to other forms of creative thinking. Lean into the weird!

Forced Analogy   #divergent thinking   #zoom   #virtual   #remote-friendly   People compare something (e.g. themselves, their company, their team) to an object.  

Forced Analogy is a quick, fun activity you can use to promote abstract thinking. Comparing one thing to another seemingly unrelated thing asks for a creative approach to context and metaphor and can really unlock a groups divergent thinking process.

Telling stories or narrativizing a problem can help us not only see things differently but understand where we share common ground with others. Everybody tells stories – whether that’s explaining our employment history, telling colleagues about what happened at the weekend, or when creating user personas and journeys. 

Leverage this inclination to help people not only realize they are creative thinkers by nature but to help them share something of themselves too!

As a creative thinking skill, storytelling is about applying our natural proclivity for stories into new situations or thinking about how to reappraise or present material narratively . Think of the basic storytelling concept like the idea that all stories have a beginning, middle, and end – how might we bring this thinking to a tough challenge, a new product, or when solving a customer complaint?

You might even use storytelling tropes like the hero’s journey when exploring ideas or company conflicts. Whichever way you go, remember that stories are a universal element of culture and you have a rich lineage to dip into if you need a new perspective. 

Telling Our Stories   #hyperisland   #team   #teambuilding   To work effectively together team members need to build relations, show trust, and be open with each other. This method supports those things through a process of structured storytelling. Team members answer questions related to their childhood, young adulthood, and now; then weave them into a story to share with the rest of their team.

Telling Stories in a collaborative space is one of the best ways you can approach creative thinking through narrative . By doing this activity as a team, you can help a group see the benefit of applying storytelling approaches outside of more traditional forms.

How many times have you had a tough problem that you can’t seem to solve so you get frustrated and leave your desk. Then, when you’re on a walk, standing in the supermarket, or falling asleep, a solution seems to arrive out of thin air? Often, you’ll find that creating space to reflect on a problem is an effective way to find a way forward.

The trick with making reflective space work as a larger part of your working practice is knowing when to take time to reflect, building space into your regular schedule, and finding techniques that allow things to surface effectively.

This might mean going for a walk with the intention to be present in noticing the world around you and gaining insights that can help your situation. It might also mean remembering to take time to rest or simply read and give your brain something good to chew on.

I notice, I wonder   #design   #observation   #empathy   #issue analysis   Learn through careful observation. Observation and intuition are critical design tools. This exercise helps you leverage both. Find clues about the context you’re designing for that may be hidden in plain sight.

In a creative thinking context, reflection often means giving an idea time to unfurl and to resist the temptation to force it – by creating space to observe and reflect with I notice, I wonder you might see new ways of thinking emerge naturally.

How to use creative thinking skills at work? 

At SessionLab, we’ve found many of the above creative thinking skills helpful when finding better ways to collaborate , handle workplace challenges or generate new ideas . Here are just a few small examples of things we’ve done that have benefited from thinking creatively as a team.

Using creative thinking to facilitate a site redesign

Using creative thinking to improve team communication, using creative thinking to improve collaboration.

Remember that creative thinking needn’t be explosive or radical to be useful – a simple shift in mindset or perspective can be all you need to create meaningful and impactful change.

When we began working on a site-wide redesign, we had to deploy a large number of creative thinking skills to make the process smooth and effective.

When first determining how to approach the project and scope the work, we reviewed how we had worked together on large projects in the past. While we saw there was room to improve, finding the best way to proceed and make the changes we needed was no easy task.

Challenging the entire process from start to finish with a creative thinking mindset and trying to stay open to alternative methods where possible was what unlocked the process for us. By reconsidering how we were running meetings, sharing feedback, and collaborating, we were able to identify where we were going wrong and then try alternative approaches more freely.

When it came to implementing solutions, we were also sure to  stay open to experimentation while challenging our core assumptions of what would work and wouldn’t. This really helped us refine the working process and tailor it to our particular team and goals.

Another example came with finding a new approach when work stalled on a specific page. For our features page, we began by following the standard approach we had developed – writing the copy and structuring the page first before then following with illustrations and images.

In this case, our existing approach got us to an impasse : it felt difficult for our designer to be creative and find the best way to translate ideas into images if the copy had already been defined and the structure felt too rigid. What we decided to do was to reverse the workflow completely and allow the designer to create design elements before we wrote the copy and implemented too rigid a structure.  

Throughout the project, creative thinking allowed us to challenge whether the existing way we did something was the right one and gave us scope to experiment and be open when finding solutions. Not only did this help us solve the immediate problems as they arose but they helped us come up with a great new design too! 

Creative thinking can come in extremely handy when it comes to communicating. If one form of communication or working process isn’t working, approaching the discussion with a creative thinking mindset can help resolve the immediate issue and create lasting change in how we converse and work together too. 

Like many virtual teams, we faced the challenge of some meetings feeling unproductive . The issues ranged from overrunning, crosstalk, not everyone feeling heard or able to contribute, or getting lost in ancillary discussions that were not productive or necessary. In an online setting, it can be hard to keep everyone on track and for things to run smoothly without accidentally talking over one another or causing frustration. 

When it came to crosstalk, we wanted to avoid the frustration of interruption and disruption but also wanted to ensure people did not feel like they couldn’t contribute . Using the finger rules technique in a remote setting allowed people to easily show when they wanted to speak and what they wanted to discuss without disrupting the flow of the meeting.

We also found that the reason some daily meetings felt unproductive was because the meetings were for the purpose of daily updates and there didn’t always feel like there was a lot to say, thus leading to frustration or unproductive time being spent in these meetings.

In this example, we moved to a weekly format while also ensuring that we continue daily check-ins on Slack. This approach meant that we cut down on unnecessary meetings while still ensuring everyone’s needs were met .

This method is an example of creatively approaching a communication problem by thinking outside of the box and being prepared to challenge core assumptions . While we all wanted to stay informed, it really helped to reconsider the methods for staying informed and whether our current approach was the best way to achieve what we needed. It was also useful to reassess how we approached meeting agendas and goal-setting – follow the link for more on that if you’re having difficulty with unproductive meetings!

Remember that creative thinking needn’t be explosive or radical to be useful – a simple shift in mindset or perspective can be all you need to create meaningful and impactful change .

Remember that looking to others and being inspired by how they did things can be as transformative as trying to reinvent the wheel!

A final example is how we approached collaborating on creating the new design. While all projects at SessionLab feature collaboration between multiple parties, in this case we wanted to create space for everyone on the team to contribute.

We found that when trying to collectively brainstorm in a live, remote session, it became difficult for everyone to contribute and reflect on what was being shared by other members of the team effectively .

Some people had been able to prepare less than others, other people were less aware of all the circumstances of the project, or others were less able to switch gears during their working day. This led to some contributions being missed, a messier working process, and a feeling of being rushed – all of which lead to less effective outcomes than we might have hoped for.

In this case, we thought of how asynchronous work , reflection time, and some small process changes might help solve the problems we were running into. We wanted to be able to respond to what was being shared more effectively while also creating space for everyone to contribute in a way that was most productive for them.

Starting the brainstorming session in personal MURAL boards asynchronously and on our own time meant everyone was able to ideate at the time that was best for them and without any distractions . By then encouraging review and reflection on other people’s boards ahead of the main session, we were able to properly take in ideas and let them develop without feeling hurried.

This approach reduced the amount of time we actively spent working together in a meeting while improving the quality of the work . It helped people engage with the process, reduced potential frustration, and also meant we were more able to respond fully to the suggestions of others. This was a great example of how thinking creatively and learning from others can help create better outcomes and a more streamlined process. 

It’s also worth noting that reflecting on our conversation with Anja Svetina Nabergoj regarding asynchronous learning and finding inspiration there was part of what helped this process along. Remember that looking to others and being inspired by how they did things can be as transformative as trying to reinvent the wheel!

Creative workshops and meetings made easy

Whether you find that creative thinking doesn’t come naturally, if your skills need some attention, or even if you just want to try new ways of working, it can be difficult to know where to begin .

Thinking about the creative thinking skills above and considering which you might be missing or could benefit from purposeful attention is a great place to start, though there are also some concrete ways you can approach the process and improve your creative thinking abilities in a pinch. Let’s see how! 

Be present and aware of how you feel

Create space for new ideas, look to others for inspiration, throw yourself into new things, encourage creative thinking in others.

All skills get better with practice and creative thinking is no exception. Whether it’s active listening, experimentation or any other creative thinking style, it’s okay to not get it right the first time . The very act of being open to new approaches and perspectives is itself a way to improve your creative thinking skill set. However you try to implement creative thinking, know that exploration, iteration, and practice are fundamental parts of the process.

Try starting small and practice your creative thinking skills in your interpersonal relationships and collaborative projects. Take note of how it goes and try building up to larger and larger implementations of your creative thinking approaches. 

A key part of cultivating or improving any new skill is to be fully present and aware when utilizing that skill. Consider how a sculptor needs to be aware of their materials, how they handle the material and place them on the board in order to be truly successful. Being present in the moment is important for any collaborative process, but is an especially vital aspect of creative thinking.

If you find yourself frustrated, excited, engaged, or stuck, make a mental note of how you are feeling and consider how you might do things differently. Staying present and actively engaging with how a situation makes you feel before responding is one of the most effective ways of cultivating and improving your creative thinking – be sure to give it a go! 

As with many aspects of creativity, it’s not always effective to force it. Good ideas and finding new approaches can take time and an important part of the creative thinking process is creating space not only for reflection but to rest and allow things to surface. This might mean building more quiet, mindful time into your routine, reading and finding new inspiration, or simply learning to take a break. 

While this can be difficult to get into the habit of, it does get easier with time. Try blocking out reflective time in your calendar or letting others know that you are taking the time in order to make it stick and avoid interruptions. Reflective space is important and useful, and by treating it as such, you can help ensure it happens and doesn’t get discarded or forgotten about.

One of the biggest barriers to thinking creatively is simply not being open to what is in front of you. Whether it’s rushing to use an existing solution without investigating alternatives, failing to listen or be present when something new is being presented, or sticking with your existing assumptions, a failure to stay open and reserve judgment can kill creative thinking.

Try to stay open and apply creative thinking without pressure or being overly critical in order to improve those skills and let more creative approaches surface in the future. 

One of the best ways to find new perspectives and alternative ways of thinking is by looking to others. Whether it’s finding inspiration from other creative thinkers via conversation, reading and researching new sources, or simply listening and observing, looking outside of yourself is one of the most effective ways you can jolt your creative thinking. 

Try finding sources outside of your normal circles, whatever the medium. It can be very easy to get into creative bubbles that might unwittingly exclude new forms of thinking. By broadening your social, creative and critical circles , you can be exposed to all kinds of potentially inspiring or creatively engaging ways of thinking and doing.

It’s hard to create space and an opportunity for new ways of thinking if you stick to the same routines and activities. You’ll often find that trying new things and exposing yourself to new hobbies, skills and approaches can be massively engaging and exciting too.

An important aspect of creative thinking is applying the learnings from one discipline or approach to another. If a developer were to throw themselves into learning how to dance, they might learn something they can apply to their role as a developer.

An open and honest desire to explore new experiences in and outside of your working life is a vital ingredient in the creative thinking process. Try saying yes to doing new things wherever you can find them – being alive to possibility and engaging in the world is a great way of supercharging your creativity! 

Creativity is even better when shared. Whether it’s crowdsourcing new ideas, iterating together, or helping others build their creative thinking skills, sharing the experience is often a useful and generative process for all involved.

Try bringing a group together to explore thinking creatively together or run a workshop on developing creative thinking skills in the workplace. Not only will it help your participants with their own creative discovery, but it will also help you develop your own creative skills. 

Over to you

As facilitators and advocates of the power of workshops, we’re passionate about how creative thinking can improve many aspects of a group’s personal and working lives. At its heart, creative thinking is an empathic, generative act, and by bringing those concepts to the fore, we believe everyone can see better outcomes when solving problems, generating ideas or communicating with others. 

We hope we’ve given you some great examples of creative thinking at work and how you might discover and nurture your own creative thinking skills . That said, this list is by no means exhaustive and there are many more ways you might try thinking creatively. Think of this post as a jumping-off point for further exploration and creative development!

Do you have any concepts or approaches you’ve used to become a better creative thinker? Did you find any of the creative thinking methods above particularly helpful? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below!

James Smart is Head of Content at SessionLab. He’s also a creative facilitator who has run workshops and designed courses for establishments like the National Centre for Writing, UK. He especially enjoys working with young people and empowering others in their creative practice.

Very nice information. Thanks for posting such an informative blog. Creative thinking is an unconventional thinking that looks at an issue from different perspectives. Innovative thinking is a thinking that converts / commercializes a creative idea into practical application.

The Fosbury Flop is a very good example of a creative idea and trend when we apply “the learnings from one discipline or approach [Engineering] to another [High Jump].”

thanks alot…very informative and thoroug

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What is Creative Thinking? An Ultimate Guide

Read this blog to know What is Creative Thinking, its features, examples, and significance as well as the tips to unleash your Creative Thinking. The key to find innovative solutions is by practicing Creative Thinking skills. Learn how you can develop your Creative Thinking skills to come up with solutions to complex problems.

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Do you want to give solutions to problems that are completely out of the box? Wouldn’t it be better if you could solve your problems in your workplace in a more creative manner? If you are wondering how you can do this, the answer is with the help of Creative Thinking. But do you know What is Creative Thinking, and how can you develop this skill to help you find creative solutions? 

Creative Thinking allows you to find hidden patterns and generate solutions even to the most complex problems. Want to know more about  What is Creative Thinking, its features, examples, and its importance? Read this blog to learn more!

Table of Contents  

1) What is Creative Thinking?

2) Types of Creative Thinking 

3) Importance of Creative Thinking

4) Benefits of Creative Thinking

5) 5 ways to improve Creative Thinking

6) Conclusion

What is Creative Thinking?

Defining Creative Thinking is important before one chooses to explore its depth. It is a crucial aspect of Design Thinking, characterised as the capacity to perceive scenarios, ideas, or challenges in novel, innovative, and often unconventional manners. It necessitates surpassing established patterns or notions, leading to the creation of original and impactful ideas. At its core, it represents the act of venturing beyond conventional boundaries.  

Types of Creative Thinking  

Let’s understand the various types of Creative Thinking so that you can employ the skills depending on the context or the problem at hand. Here are its five common types: 

a) Divergent T hinking : This type of Thinking is about generating multiple solutions or ideas from a single starting point. It's similar to brainstorming, where the goal is to come up with as many answers or ideas as possible. Divergent Thinking is expansive, non-linear, and unrestrained, allowing for a wide array of potential solutions.

b) Convergent Thinking: Opposite to Divergent Thinking, Convergent Thinking seeks to narrow down options to find the single best solution to a problem. It involves analytical skills and logic to evaluate the ideas generated by divergent thinking, ultimately arriving at the most suitable answer.

c) Lateral Thinking: Coined by Edward de Bono, Lateral Thinking involves looking at a problem from a completely different perspective. It's about thinking "outside the box" and seeking solutions that might not be immediately obvious. Lateral thinkers often use indirect and creative approaches to problem-solving, making connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.

d) Abstract Thinking: This ability refers to the about concepts, ideas, or objects that are not physically present. It involves understanding complex ideas by breaking them down into their constituent parts and understanding how they relate to one another. Abstract thinkers are often good at seeing the "bigger picture" and understanding overarching themes and patterns.

e) Aesthetic Thinking: Rooted in the appreciation of beauty, art, and nature, Aesthetic Thinking is about recognising and creating harmony, balance, rhythm, and emotion. It's a form of Thinking often employed by artists, designers, musicians, and other creatives who seek to convey emotion, evoke reactions, or represent abstract ideas through their works.

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Importance of Creative Thinking

In the contemporary job market, the enduring value of soft skills, such as Creative Thinking, extend across diverse industries. Employers increasingly prioritise adept at developing and experimenting with novel ideas. They actively seek analytical and outside-the-box thinkers, emphasising the iterative nature of Creative Thinking skills. These skills include creative problem-solving, innovative thinking, and analytical abilities. They hold particular significance in workplaces marked by constant evolution and the integration of emerging technologies.

Creative Thinking is a linchpin in the contemporary professional landscape. With the rising importance of soft skills, including resilience, flexibility, agility, motivation, self-awareness, curiosity, and a commitment to lifelong learning, these attributes complement and amplify the impact of Creative Thinking. They reflecting the multifaceted nature of skills demanded in an ever-evolving workplace.

Thus, Creative Thinking is not confined to specific roles or industries but emerges as a cross-cutting competency essential for addressing the complexity of modern challenges. As workplaces grapple with rapid technological advancements and paradigm shifts, professionals with impressive Creative Thinking skills stand out as valuable assets. Their ability to navigate challenges, devise innovative solutions, and adapt to changing market environments aligns with the demands of an era marked by continuous transformation.

Benefits of Creative Thinking

Here are the key benefits of Creative Thinking skills across personal, academic, and leadership domains:

Improved problem-solving capabilities

Creative Thinking is a versatile problem-solving tool, not limited to workplace challenges. It accelerates problem resolution by introducing diverse thought techniques. The cultivated ability to discern patterns more swiftly broadens the scope of effective solutions, promoting agility in addressing many issues encountered in daily life.

Stronger interpersonal connections

Enhanced communication lies at the heart of Creative Thinking's impact on relationships. Clear articulation of ideas enriches conversations with friends, family, and colleagues. Moreover, collaborative Creative Thinking fosters a collective approach to problem-solving. This, in turn, strengthens bonds and generates innovative solutions through the synergy of diverse perspectives.

Heightened productivity

Contrary to misconceptions, Creative Thinking is not a diversion but a catalyst for productivity. When traditional thought patterns lead to frustration and stagnation, engaging in Creative Thinking strategies becomes a rejuvenating pause. It rekindles motivation, reignites passion, and unlocks new solutions. As a result, it prevents productivity decline by introducing fresh perspectives and approaches.

Higher self-awareness

Creative Thinking acts as a vehicle for self-discovery by encouraging the exploration of diverse perspectives. This process unveils assumptions, biases, and viewpoints that may have remained unnoticed.

Challenging conventional thinking nurtures self-awareness and bolsters emotional intelligence. The ability to reframe perspectives and embrace a growth mindset becomes a decisive outcome of this ongoing journey of self-exploration.

5 ways to improve Creative Thinking

Here are several ways that you can improve your Creative Thinking Skills:

1) Be curious

It is very crucial that you stay curious because it opens you up to new opportunities and helps you solve problems in a creative manner. Staying curious helps you develop your Creative Thinking skills. Staying curious will help you gain more knowledge, and you will be able to open yourself to many new experiences.

2) Open your mind

There are many professionals who lose out on amazing opportunities because they are unable to adapt to changes quickly. As a result, these opportunities are passed on to candidates who can readily adapt to market changes. Moreover, keeping yourself open to new experiences will help you improve your Creative Thinking skills. This will help you come up with more creative solutions.

3) Expand your knowledge horizon

If you have willingness to learn new skills and knowledge every day, you will be able to expand your Creative Thinking ability to solve complex problems. Try to read research papers, watch interactive videos, talk with professionals who are from different industries as well. This will open your capability to adapt to any new or sudden market changes, which will make you a capable candidate for your organisation.

4) Think how you can improve

To make sure that your Creative Thinking skills are being nurtured, try to always think about solutions or practice thinking about any random subject which you may find interesting. For example, you may find the subject of international public relations interesting, which necessarily doesn’t relate to your present career. Studying or thinking about a different subject matter allows you not only to increase your general knowledge but also to keep your mind active.

5) Practice brainstorming activities

The best way to improve your Creative Thinking skills is by practicing different games and activities which keeps your brain active. These games are mainly designed so that you’ll be challenged intellectually and induce sensory stimulation. It might not seem apparent to you but practicing brainstorming activities will help you improve the quality of your Creative Thinking.

6) Take inspiration from others

It is a very important factor while you are trying to improve your Creative Thinking skills. This is often overlooked because you might ask, “How can observing others help your Creative Thinking skills?” You need to understand that if you are inspired, your creativity will also improve. Creativity can be in many forms, whether it be cooking, drawing, reading, knitting, etc. Observing people who are good at these, will also inspire you to express your creative side and develop them.

7) Collaborate with your team

While you are solving problems, do not forget to collaborate with your team. Your team members are your strongest point in an organisation. When you collaborate with many people or members of your team, you get so many different ideas which when combined gives out Creative solutions to the problems. Also, collaboration helps you to look at a problem from different perspectives, which in turn nurtures your Creative Thinking.

Learn to be a dignified figure among your peers by joining our Introduction to Supervising a Team Course !

Conclusion  

We hope that you understood What is Creative Thinking from this blog. This blog also discussed how Creative Thinking can transform and innovate problem-solving capabilities. As illustrated by examples, improving Creative Thinking skills can help you tackle immense challenges and enhance personal growth.  

Curious about how the human mind works? Try our Creative and Analytical Thinking Training !

Frequently Asked Questions

Practising mindfulness directs us to the moment and helps us stop and see what we are feeling without judging it, whatever it is, thus coping with our moods and directing our attention. Practising Creative Thinking mainly involves learning how to think differently, provide fresh viewpoints, and seek solutions in an innovative manner by mixing divergent thinking and often drawing from transdisciplinary knowledge.

In structured business environments, Creative Thinking can be applied through design thinking, strategic innovation, and problem-solving methodologies.

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