How to Nurture Your Learners' Creativity (And Why You Need To)
What does it mean to be creative, and why is it something our learners should have room to exercise as much as possible?
I've asked educators worldwide about the most important skills learners need to thrive beyond school. It's pleasing to see that nurturing creativity is very high on that list. It's in third place after critical thinking and problem-solving. So how do we ensure we're letting our learners exercise their creative abilities in ways that will serve them and the world?
Robyn Ewing AM and John Nicholas Saunders have this to say about creativity's essential place in modern learning:
"As any passionate teacher will tell you, it is possible for education to nurture key skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving, imagination, communication, agility, and empathy. And, as many studies will tell you – or perhaps even your own experience as a student or parent – the common path to nurturing these skills is to foster fun, play, and creativity in the classroom." (Ewing & Saunders, 2016)
Creativity is a lot like a compound muscle movement in that exercising it benefits many different areas at once (Spacey, 2020). However, creativity takes effort and patience, which is largely why most people don't believe they are or can be creative. It's a personal decision anyone can make but many do not due to the high cost of commitment involved (Sternberg, 2006).
So let's face this question head-on: How can teachers make room for and encourage creative practice for our learners, and moreover, why should they?
Nurturing Student Creativity, Not Technical Capacity
In the quest to bring creativity into our classrooms, we must first understand what it really means. Consider this: if you sat down and drew a model using a charcoal pencil every day for a year, you'd certainly improve at drawing. Just like strength training, your muscles get stronger and more in tune with activity over time.
However, this has nothing to do with being creative. It’s simply a repetition of motion leading to technical proficiency.
On the other hand, creativity actually enhances the value of the function through the form (Crockett, 2011). And rest assured, you are indeed creative, as we all are. When it comes to nurturing creativity, it's a process and it can be taught and learned. Creativity is a whole-brain exercise in which both hemispheres are working together.
The Workplace is Changing
We've discussed the idea that learners can develop their creative abilities, which is critical because our global workplace is changing due to technological advances (Attaran, et al., 2019). The shift in valuing creativity and adaptability, and the ability to increase revenue by enhancing product value through design and function, echoes in a growing number of market segments (Yu, et al., 2019).
In his book A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink discusses the success of nations depending on "having artists in the room" (Pink, 2005). Such insights lead to the realization that having creative people on any team is essential. It's paramount to the success of any corporation wanting to innovate and inspire with its products.
Ultimately any job focusing on routine work and repetitive mental tasks can and probably will be outsourced in the future, and many including manufacturing, data entry, accounting, call support, legal assistance, and others already have been for years.
In response to this, bloggers such as culture writer Gabriel Navarro discuss the necessity for employees to be consistently upskilling in modern workplaces:
"Learning new skills has become crucial in the workforce. Since the digital economy requires new ideas, upskilling will be an integral part of the workplace in the future. Employees may need to get more creative, critical and may have to learn more digital skills in order to manage complex problems." (Navarro, 2023).
In the article "6 Ways the Workplace Will Change in the Next 10 Years", blogger Jordan Turner echoes Navarro's take on the continuing call for self-directed skill development, stating that, "employees will have to apply creativity, critical thinking, and constant digital upskilling to solve complex problems" (Turner, 2022).
It doesn't matter what you make or how you make it. It also doesn't matter how long it takes. Just start somewhere.
The presence of creativity as a fixture of the modern workplace means potentially good news for any organization fighting for its place in a changing world. According to the article "The Importance of Creativity in the Workplace", being creative is inherently linked to more innovative thinking, better productivity, adaptability, personal growth and development, and the essential well-being of an employee (Ritchie, 2022).
But of course, it all comes down to purpose. The more creative skill our learners obtain for applying to solving problems, the better. All around us are complex matters of national and international importance that are crying out for inventive and viable answers. Our learners are inheriting such issues as:
- Global warming
- Overpopulation
- Pollution
- Climate change
- Disaster response
- Healthcare
- Poverty
- Pandemics
- Food and water shortages
- Electronic waste management
- Energy crises
Our learners who are graduating into the global workforce must be able to think divergently and creatively in digital and non-digital environments to create useful solutions to these challenges. Richard Florida, the author of The Rise of the Creative Class, reminds us in "It’s Time For The Creative Class To Grow Up" that such creative thinking essentially requires responsibility:
"It’s time for the creative class to grow up and stop thinking all you need to do to build a better community is make your neighborhood 'so cool.' We need a more inclusive society, a more diverse society, a better world for everyone. We can’t do that just by following our passions and finding meaning in our work." (Florida, 2006)
Ways of Nurturing Student Creativity
Tina Seelig of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program suggests that jumpstarting creativity involves something as simple as "building your base of knowledge, which will ultimately serve as the toolbox for your imagination" (Peek, 2023). She goes on to explain other methods for igniting creative potential:
"You can also build habitats ... that foster creativity. This involves crafting spaces that are conducive to creative problem-solving and instituting rules, rewards, and incentives that reinforce creative behavior. And, most important, you can cultivate an attitude that problems are opportunities for a creative solution."
Betelehem Gulilat, the lead editor at The Innovation Hub, talks about the importance of maintaining room for the unexpected conversations, learning, and growth that are often a byproduct of creativity. She reminds us, "By creating a safe space for students to think outside the box, they can develop the creative confidence they need to become vulnerable and fearless in their work" (Gulilat, 2021).
Creativity is a lot like a compound muscle movement in that exercising benefits many different areas at once.
Creativity also does not mean disregarding the curriculum; in fact, the two can and should complement each other. As authors Ronald Beghetto and James Kaufman suggest in Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom (2010):
"Teaching for creativity and teaching specific content knowledge need not be in opposition, as is often feared by educators. Creative thinking actually requires significant content knowledge, and thinking creatively about a topic helps deepen one's knowledge of that topic." (Beghetto & Kaufman, 2010).
But the Best Way to Be Creative Is ...
Ray Bradbury told us, "Just write".
Wayne Dyer proclaimed, "Just be yourself".
Jojo Moyes encouraged us to, "Just live".
Here's what we say—Just create.
Here's a freedom formula every learner can appreciate. It doesn't matter what you make or how you make it. It also doesn't matter how long it takes. Just start somewhere, and bring what's in your imagination into the physical world. Do it often, and do it like you'll never get the chance ever again.
We stated before that creativity is like a muscle that must be worked to stay strong. Learners have to flex those creative muscles as frequently as possible or risk losing them to a kind of sarcopenia. That's really it.
Adopting such a discipline is perhaps the straightest road any learner can take to honing their creativity. You exercise your creative muscle by making, drawing, painting, writing, cooking, crocheting, filming, presenting, programming, designing, brainstorming, dialoguing, reflecting, and any other activity that brings something out of nothing.
Here are some ways you can support your learners in their creative spaces:
- Capitalize on the importance of using their interests to immerse them in the learning journey.
- Design a learning environment and a schedule that encourages play, discovery, and useful failure.
- Find ways to involve parents and the wider community in creative pursuits.
- Connect problems and their solutions to real-world situations using PBL and inquiry learning tools.
- Let learners collaborate personally and virtually as much as possible; make creativity a social affair as much as an educational one.
- When designing a solution for a problem, lead them towards imagining what they want as opposed to just what they think is possible.
- Stretch them to take creative risks and do what they're unsure of.
A Final Word
So what is creativity? Perhaps a better question would be, what happens within us when we get creative?
Excitement, anticipation, determination, joy, pride, and a kind of high that comes with a sensation of accomplishment, and the materialization of a bold new idea.
Isn't that how ALL learning should be?
References
Attaran, M., Attaran, S., & Kirkland, D. (2019). The need for digital workplace: Increasing workforce productivity in the information age. International Journal of Enterprise Information Systems (IJEIS), 15(1), 1-23.
Beghetto, R. Kaufman, J. (2010). Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Crockett, L., Jukes, I., & Churches, A. (2011). Literacy is not enough: 21st-century fluencies for the digital age. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Ewing, R. Saunders, J. (2016). Keeping creativity in the classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2016/11/17/keeping-creativity-in-the-classrooms.html Apr. 24, 2023.
Florida, F. (2006). It’s Time For The Creative Class To Grow Up. Retrieved from https://www.good.is/articles/issue-37-its-time-for-the-creative-class-to-grow-up Apr. 24, 2023.
Gulilat, B. (2021). Nurturing student creativity. Retrieved from http://blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca/innovationhub/nurturing-student-creativity/ Apr. 27, 2023.
Navarro, G. (2023). Future of Work: 5 essential ways the workplace is changing. Retrieved from https://www.peoplemattersglobal.com/article/strategic-hr/how-the-workplace-is-changing-35274 Apr. 25, 2023.
Peek, S. (2023). Who Says Creativity Can’t Be Learned? Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2471-creativity-innovation-learned.html Apr. 25, 2023.
Pink, D. (2005). A whole new mind: Moving from the information age to the conceptual age. NewYork: Riverhead.
Ritchie, D. (2022). The Importance of Creativity in the Workplace. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/growth-strategies/the-importance-of-creativity-in-the-workplace/433525 Apr. 25, 2023.
Spacey, J. (2020). 42 examples of creativity skills. Retrieved from https://simplicable.com/en/creativity-skills Apr. 28, 2023.
Sternberg, R. J. (2006). The nature of creativity. Creativity research journal, 18(1), 87.
Yu, X., Li, D., Tsai, C. H., & Wang, C. (2019). The role of psychological capital in employee creativity. Career Development International.