Creativity Triggers For College Students

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Another study actually shows that seeing red or blue can have different effects on our cognitive performance: Another idea I had about creative thinking which was proved wrong is that freedom leads to more creative ideas. Counterintuitively, it turns out that constraints can actually increase our creative output. This could be due to removing the overwhelm of having too many choices. Writer and actor John Cleese describes creativity as something that can be so elusive that one almost has to trap it using constraints. One of my favorite examples of amazing creativity coming out of constraints is an old story in which an author often Ernest Hemingway, but the true author is debateable bet his friends that he could write a whole story using just six words.

This research proved that a messy environment leads to more creative thinking. The study also found that a more orderly environment led participants to be more generous and choose healthier snacks than those in the messy environment. Perhaps the answer is to have two work spaces, for different types of work, as writer Austin Kleon does:. His digital desk in the background is where his analytical work takes place, while the foreground is home to his messy, analog desk for creative thinking tasks.

This period of coming out of sleep is called the hypnopompic state. We often end up with strong visual images lingering from our dreams when we wake out of REM sleep , when most of our dreaming happens. For this reason, lots of artists have coveted this just-waking-up period to improve their creative thinking. He would often nap in a chair, holding a spoon in his hand. Under the spoon, on the floor, was a tin plate. Changing one thing at a time about your process or working environment could eventually lead you to incorporating more of these into your day.

This article originally appeared on Buffer and is reprinted with permission. By Belle Beth Cooper 7 minute Read. Ambient noise levels are best for creativity I actually thought silence might turn out to be the best sound for creative thinking, but it turns out that ambient noise levels are just right. I really like this article.. If you are a human, do not fill in this field. What are some ways then, as educators, that we promote creativity in our classrooms? Embrace creativity as part of learning. Create a classroom that recognizes creativity. You may want to design awards or bulletin boards to showcase different ways of solving a problem, or creative solutions to a real world scenario.

Use the most effective strategies. Torrance performed an extensive meta-analysis that considered the most effective ways to teach creativity. He found that the most successful approaches used creative arts, media-oriented programs, or relied on the Osborn-Parnes training program. Programs that incorporated cognitive and emotional functioning were the most successful.

Think of creativity as a skill. Much like resourcefulness and inventiveness it is less a trait and more a proficiency that can be taught. If we see it this way, our job as educators becomes to find ways to encourage its use and break it down into smaller skill sets. Psychologists tend to think of creativity as Big-C and Little C. Big C drives big societal ideas, like the Civil Rights movement or a new literary style. Little C is more of a working model of creativity that solves everyday problems. Both concepts can be included in our classrooms to promote creativity in general.

Participate in or create a program to develop creative skills. Programs like Odyssey of the Mind and Thinkquest bring together students from around the world to promote creativity, design creative solutions, and bring them to competition. Research suggests that the best creativity instruction ties in the emotions of the learner.

This topic is worthy of more discussion by itself. A blog post by fellow blogger Julie DeNeen gives some valuable information about this type of teaching. Creative thinking needs to be shared and validated by others in a socially supportive atmosphere. Researcher Csikszentmihalyi coined this term, to explain the importance of reception from others. Others consider how to create social communities that promote creativity to solve problems.

Be aware during discussions. You know that student who often asks the question that goes a bit outside the lecture? Once a week, intentionally address those questions. Write them down on an assigned space in the board to go back to later. See creativity in a positive light. In his blog in Psychology Today, Eric Jaffe talks about research that suggests see creativity in a negative light.

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If we are going to promote creativity, we need to embrace it too. Reward students for thinking of problems in varied ways by recognizing their efforts. Try the Incubation Model.

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Paul Torrance designed this model. It involves 3 stages: Engage the curriculum in new ways. Brainstorm and create opportunities to solve a novel problem. Continue the thinking beyond the lesson or classroom. Find ways to extend learning opportunities at home or even the community. Use a cultural artifact. Research from experimental social psychology finds that artifacts can enhance insight problem solving.

Consider using an ordinary object, such as a light bulb used in the study or a historical artifact to have students think about living in a particular time period. The classroom environment must be a place where students feel safe to share novel ideas. Allow for flexibility and create norms that promote creativity. Be familiar with standards.

Knowing the standards inside and out helps find creative solutions in approaching a lesson. Teachers can adapt them and work within the current framework. Some topics allow for flexibility and use of creative approaches. There are some great resources to read related to creativity. The University of Georgia, provides an array of amazing resources related to how to promote creativity in practical ways. It also gives a list of programs and organizations that can help with the process.

Allow room for mistakes. Design some classroom space for exploration, such as a thinking table, a drama stage, a drawing table, or a space for groups to discuss ideas. Give students time to ask questions.

Organizations such as CCE Creativity, Culture, Education suggest teachers incorporate opportunities for students to ask questions. Intentionally design lessons that allow for wondering and exploration. Students take ownership of their own learning. Think of ways where students might design a project. For instance, for the history requirement, I suggested students of both fifth grade classes create an exhibition of their final projects. The students were so proud of their final work and learned from others presentations. Parents and community members were happy to see students take ownership of their learning.

Consider what is important to students. Student interest is a great place to start on what drives their own thinking tank. Creativity is intrinsic in nature. Try to promote creativity by stepping into their viewpoint to find what motivates them. Studies, such as a meta-analysis by Torrance suggest that creativity instruction is best with clear structure. For instance, consider the guidelines of the standard curriculum objectives and add these to the design. For example, reading considers communication, comprehension, listening, writing and reading.

Observe a working model of creativity.

What is Creativity?

To get a better idea of how others promote creativity, visit a creative classroom or watch a video about how a creative classroom works. This school adopted a school-wide approach to recognize students. Consider the work of current experts in the field. Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally renowed creativity and innovation expert. His work is used to meet global challenges, renovating education, business, and government organizations to implement his strategies. His books and TED talks are great places to promote creativity in your own teaching.

Culture is an excellent vehicle for inspiring creative thinking. Kirpal Singh discusses how cultural contexts are central to creative endeavors. You can discuss how collaboration between cultures, such as in the space program, produces unique, novel ideas. Find ways to incorporate and integrate art, music and culture.

A recent report prepared for the European commission considered that creativity is a central force that shapes our culture. With the changing times we live in, the report suggested that society is enriched by cultural-based creativity. Use a collaborative creative thinking model to solve classroom problems. For instance, read a paragraph and then have groups discuss a list of questions. Collaborative problem solving is catching on quickly. In fact, many business schools have implemented creative thinking models into their curriculum. Design multidisciplinary lessons when possible.

It included works of Art to show fifth graders their application to everyday geometric concepts. The result was astounding.

I never thought that the subject matter would be so successful. I designed an entire unit that focused on how different concepts rely on geometry. I even asked the Art teacher to help reinforce those concepts in class. Tapping into multiple intelligences is key. Creativity requires us to use different parts of our brain.

We often bridge connections between seemingly unrelated areas to make new concepts emerge. Allow students to use their strengths to find new ways of approaching a topic or solving a problem. You might be surprised with what they come up with. Create a focus question specifying the problem or issue the map should help resolve. List the key concepts roughly that apply to the area of knowledge. Put the most general, inclusive concepts at the top of the list, and most specific at the bottom.

Build a hierarchical organization of the concepts, using post-its on a wall or whiteboard, large sheets of paper, etc. Revision is a key element in concept mapping, so participants need to be able to move concepts and reconstruct the map.

30 Things You Can Do To Promote Creativity

Seek cross links between concepts, adding linking words to the lines between concepts. This method helps in building ideas for solutions. It is useful to illustrate a problem, by testing unspoken assumptions about its scale. It helps one think about what would be appropriate if the problem were of a different order of magnitude. After defining a problem to be addressed or idea to develop, list all the component parts of the idea or if a problem, its objectives and constraints.

Choosing one component, develop ways of exaggerating it and note them on a separate sheet. The fishbone technique uses a visual organizer to identify the possible causes of a problem. This technique discourages partial or premature solutions and demonstrates the relative importance of, and interactions between, different parts of a problem. On a broad sheet of paper, draw a long arrow horizontally across the middle of the page pointing to the right. Label the arrowhead with the title of the issue to be explained.

Sub-spurs can represent subsidiary causes. Ideally, the fishbone is redrawn so that position along the backbone reflects the relative importance of the different parts of the problem, with the most important at the head. This method simply asks the Who? Laddering techniques involve the creation, reviewing and modification of hierarchical knowledge. In a ladder containing abstract ideas or concepts, the items lower down are details or sub-sets of the ones higher up, so one moves between the abstract and concrete.

Laddering can help students understand how an expert categorizes concepts into classes, and can help clarify concepts and their relationships. Why questions are ladders up; so-what questions are ladders down. Negative brainstorming involves analyzing a short list of existing ideas, rather than the initial massing of ideas as in conventional brainstorming.

Examining potential failures is relevant when an idea is new or complex or when there is little margin for error. Negative brainstorming raises such questions as: Evaluating these negative ideas can lead to possible positive solutions. In most role-playing exercises, each student takes the role of a person affected by an issue and studies an issue or events from the perspective of that person. Role plays should give the students an opportunity to practice what they have learned and should interest the students.

14 Creative Ways to Engage Students

Provide concrete information and clear role descriptions so that students can play their roles with confidence. Once the role play is finished, spend some time on debriefing. The method uses action verbs to stimulate ideas and creative thinking. By providing a list of active verbs that may be associated with your problem and hence will create ideas. The verbs are about doing to get students to think about the action.

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