Creative Thinking

In the 21^st Century workplace, businesses want people who are creative thinkers, flexible thinkers, people who are able to see new ways of doing things and who are able to innovate rapidly in an ever changing market place.

Harvey Firestone (Firestone Tyres) states that:

“Capital isn’t so important in business. Experience isn’t so important. You can get both these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn’t any limit to what you can do with your business and your life.”

As much as students need to learn academic content, they also need to know how to keep learning — and make effective and innovative use of what they know — throughout their lives.

There are two types of thinking Skills.

Critical Thinking; which is a persistent effort to examine evidence which supports any belief, solution or conclusion prior to its acceptance.  Critical thinking is about thinking clearly and reasoning logically.

Creative Thinking; which is “the act of being able to produce along new and original lines” – Costa A (1985) Developing Minds.

We teach creative thinking so children will be producers of knowledge not just consumers of knowledge.

The skill of creating involves using previous knowledge to produce new ideas and different ways of seeing things.

Creativity is:

• Expressing ourselves in a unique and imaginative way.
• The process of bringing something new into being.
• An original product of some kind.
• Being able to take unusual or innovative approaches to the common place or
• Combining things that we already know but in an original way.
• Seeing something old in a new light.
• Taking an unusual approach to solve a problem.
• Coming up with an alternative course of action.
• Applying lateral thought to take a sideways step in our thinking.

Sir Ken Robinson was an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources in education and in business.   He believed that ……

“We have to go from what is essentially an industrial model of education, a manufacturing model, which is based on linearity and conformity and batching people. We have to move to a model that is based more on principles of agriculture. We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process; it’s an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development.  All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish……”

To find out more about Dr Robinson’s ideas, you can watch his video on TED https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

This course covers a number of creative thinking tolls that can be taught to children in the Intermediate and Senior Phase.  An example of which is provided below:

Thinking Tool 1 – Brainstorming – is the ability to think up lots of ideas – but not necessarily different ideas.

The first step to problem solving or generating anything creative is having as many ideas as possible to choose from.  Brainstorming loosens up the creative wheels!

In groups of four or five think about as many ideas as you can about the different ways you can use a paperclip.

Remember to record your ideas and don’t worry about spelling, neatness or keeping your writing neat.  Brainstorming is about collecting as many ideas as possible before they float out of your head!

Learning outcomes

After completing this course, you should be able to:

• understand 21st Century Teaching and Learning, the need to change the way we do things and particularly to concentrate on the Core Skill of Creative Thinking
• have a better understanding of what creative thinking is about
• understand how creative thinking ‘fits into’ Bloom’s taxonomy
• realise why it is important to teach higher order thinking but particularly creative thinking
• understand the need for teaching creative thinking in our schools to equip our students with the skills they need to work in the 21st Century workplace
• use a series of warm up techniques to develop creativity in the classroom
• use a set of practical tools to use in the classroom across all subject areas to develop creative thinking in children such as modification, SCAMPER, forced associations etc.
• help learners to work collaboratively
• value of creative thinking

How your final mark is calculated?

Your course is mark is calculated using the average mark achieved each of the quizzes. In order to pass this course, you must achieve a final course mark of at least 70%. This means that even if you fail a few of the quizzes, if your marks in the other quizzes are high enough you will still be able to pass the course. Good Luck!

SACE Points

This course will show teachers how to teach learners in the intermediate and senior phases to become creative thinkers.  The course is endorsed by SACE for 10 CPTD points.