Cultivating Creativity

Can creativity be taught?  

Many teachers’ first reaction to the question “can creativity be taught” is “no, some people are just born creative and others are not!”  As I reflected on my own classroom, classrooms that I was in as a student, and classrooms that my children have been students in, I would have to agree and disagree.  While I don’t feel that creativity itself can be directly taught, I do believe that the foundations for creative and innovative thinking can be promoted in educational environments that value those behaviors.  Certain habits and strategies that correlate with the creative process can be modeled in the classroom and the curriculum can support a nurturing environment. Creative tools and techniques can be provided to encourage creativity.  Learning about the creative process does not guarantee students will learn how to be creative; rather it can provide them with the understanding of what creativity is and make them familiar with their own strategies and behaviors and how they think innovatively. 

Are schools killing creativity?  

Unfortunately I feel that too many classrooms and teachers do not foster the environment needed for students to feel free to be creative.  Instead, students are made to conform to the norms, not create and display their individuality.  In my opinion, students are taught to the test and not given opportunities to have free play, which encourages imagination and creativity.  In lower grades, students learn teamwork, creativity and collaboration when given opportunities to play, as well as create imaginative stories and whimsical drawings.  However, those same students struggle with creating even the most basic story or idea in the upper grades because educators are not cultivating their creativity.  Instead students learn how to be test-takers and concern themselves with what grade they receive rather than what they learn.  Students need to be given the opportunity to experiment, explore, question, use their imaginations and synthesize their information.

What can be done to reverse this trend?

The US educational system claims to create students that are 21^st century learners and have the skills to be competitive in the world; however, with the current focus on testing, that statement is not entirely valid.  Educators need to steer the focus from testing to assessing.  Not all activities need to be assigned a grade, yet that is the mentality of most of our society. Students need to be given opportunities to solve problems where there is no right or wrong answer.  Project-based learning and/or Problem-based learning activities need to be increased for students of all levels.  Teachers need to design projects help to bring out student creativity; create a classroom culture to promote creativity and innovation; and scaffold student learning of creativity.  When students are provided choices, they are more likely to produce quality work of topics that interest them.  Students asking questions, brainstorming ideas and communicating those ideas in new and innovative ways will lead to creative thinking processes.  Originality needs to be valued in our educational system in order for students to see the value in creativity and desire to be more creative.   

Miller, A. (2013, March 7). Yes, You Can Teach and Assess Creativity! Retrieved June 15, 2015.

Naiman, L. (2014, June 6). Can Creativity be Taught?  Results from Research Studies. Retrieved June 15, 2015.

Root-Bernstein, R., & Root-Bernstein, M. (2011, April 22). Can Creativity Be Taught? Retrieved June 15, 2015.