Wired to be Inspired
Knowing Creativity's Framework Prepares Educators to Support It's Development
What are the Creativity Pitfalls Educators Fall Into?
You already know creative thinking is an important skill for all children to possess and develop. Did you know most teachers have two biases regarding creativity?
Educators have an “arts bias” and tend to see creativity as an artistic endeavor. Frequently, when people are asked if they are creative, they respond with some variation of “I can’t paint”, “I'm not good at drawing”, or “I don’t play an instrument”. Most people, including educators, have been conditioned to think of the “creative arts” instead of creative thinking when thinking of creativity.
Second, educators have a bias against creative children. Teachers will say they support creativity, but show a bias against children with creative behaviors. This has been documented through several research studies. Knowing there likely are biases is the best way to not act upon those biases.
Four Creative Processes Educators Can Support
Creative thinking skills develop and move through phases. Preschool children, given the right environment and support will succeed at all four creative processes. Ultimately creating together in design challenges or shared dramatic play experiences.
The four creative processes educators need to know and support are:
Exploration and Experimentation
Making & Constructing.
Inventing with a Plan
Creating Together
Design Thinking Fosters Creative Confidence and Creative Thinking Skills
Design thinking is a human-centered creative problem solving process originally utilized by designers in creative fields such as graphic design, product design, business design, etc. Design thinking can also be described as a mindset which engages empathy, idea generation, and taking action.
Design challenges, as we use them with preschoolers, are playful and thought-provoking activities used to solve problems experienced by other people. With preschools, however, the other person might easily be The Gingerbread Man, a squirrel in our garden, a stuffed animal, or one of the other children in the classroom. The problem being solved might be how to keep a stuffed animal safe from a predator, how to keep the Gingerbread Man from being eaten by the people and animals chasing him, or how to get across the classroom without touching the floor.
