Creativity Tip 1. Got a Problem? Get Creative!

In our homes and classrooms, children exhibit creativity when they express new or unusual ideas and connections, enjoy imagining, inventing, and divergent thinking; and they initiate new projects based on their ideas.

Creativity empowers us to “Think Different,” the mantra of Apple founder Steve Jobs. But creative thinking is only part of innovation, and we want to educate innovators, those creative problem solvers who will change our world for the better.

Creativity applied in a product, idea, or service that is unique and useful is the process of innovation. The creative problem-solving process we use to innovate requires two distinctly different types of thinking: divergent (open) and convergent (focused).In this Creativity series, we’ll be walking through the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process developed by business executive Alex Osbourne and professor Sidney Parnes. Their CPS process is still used widely by businesses today and was adapted for K-12 education by Donald Treffinger and others. The table below outlines the classic stages of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) that we’ll explore over the next three Creativity episodes.

Source: Paynter, J.L.(2021) Teach to Develop Talent: How to Motivate and Engage Tomorrow's Innovators Today. Corwin Press. Chapter 8, p. 180.

NEXT: Creativity Tip#2: What's the Real Problem?