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“Creativity is intelligence having fun."
Albert Einstein
Creativity is not just a skill reserved for artists or scientists. It's an essential tool in our daily lives. It allows us to solve problems innovatively, adapt to new circumstances, and face challenges with an open mind. When we embrace creativity, we discover new ways of seeing the world and interacting with it. Every day presents an opportunity to be creative, from how we organize our time to how we approach a difficult conversation. It's not just about generating new ideas but implementing effective solutions to existing problems.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming many aspects of our society, including education. Cultivating creativity in the classroom is more necessary than ever for the following reasons:
Develops Critical Thinking Skills: Creativity helps students develop critical thinking skills. It allows them to question, analyze, and evaluate information more effectively, essential skills for making informed decisions and solving complex problems.
Adapting to Change: In a world where AI automates many repetitive and predictable tasks, the ability to adapt to new situations and challenges becomes fundamental. Creativity fosters mental flexibility and the ability to generate novel and effective solutions.
Personal Development: Creativity benefits not only academic and professional realms but also personal development. It fosters self-expression, self-confidence, and emotional resilience. Creative students are better equipped to face personal challenges and maintain a positive perspective.
🛑 Common Barriers to Creativity Development
Rigid Curricular Structures: Traditional curricula are often static, limiting adaptability to new methodologies and pedagogical approaches. This hinders the incorporation of innovative techniques that foster creativity and critical thinking.
Fear of Making Mistakes: The fear of making mistakes can negatively affect students' self-efficacy, reducing their willingness to approach problems innovatively and limiting the development of creative solutions. However, young students are naturally creative because they do not fear experimenting and making mistakes. This lack of fear fosters innovation and creativity, allowing them to explore new ideas and approaches without the pressure of seeking perfection.
🖌️ Promoting Creativity in the Classroom
Create Engaging Learning Activities: Designing learning activities that allow students to explore their creativity in relevant ways is fundamental. Educators should create learning environments that stimulate curiosity and imagination, integrating interdisciplinary projects and real-world problems requiring innovative solutions.
Value and Reward Creativity: It's essential to value and reward creativity in the classroom to foster a culture that appreciates it. Educators should recognize and celebrate students' original ideas and innovative approaches, offering specific praise and constructive feedback. This can include reward systems such as certificates, presentations of creative work, and special mentions in class.
Teach Necessary Skills for Creativity: To be creative, students need to know various complementary skills, including critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and time management. Educators should incorporate the development of these skills into their curriculum through structured activities and practical exercises. For example, teaching brainstorming techniques, practicing teamwork, and implementing design thinking can equip students with the tools necessary to channel their creativity effectively.
Remove Limitations and Provide Creative Space: Educators should create flexible environments that allow experimentation and risk-taking without fear of failure. This includes physical spaces that inspire creativity, such as collaborative work areas, and schedules that allow sufficient time for reflection and exploration. By reducing restrictions and offering a supportive environment, students feel freer to express their ideas and develop innovative projects.
Promote Divergent Thinking: Teachers should encourage cognitive flexibility, prompting students to question established premises and consider multiple perspectives. This can be achieved through activities that challenge conventional problem-solving structures and encourage the open exploration of alternatives.
Incorporate Gamification: Gamification makes learning more engaging and fun, allowing students to engage more deeply and explore their creative capabilities naturally.
Mental Models to Foster Creativity
First Principles Thinking: This approach involves breaking down a problem into its fundamental components and rebuilding it from scratch without relying on existing assumptions. This allows finding innovative solutions that challenge established norms.
Example: When designing a backpack, analyze basic materials like fabric and zippers. Instead of improving existing designs, create a completely new backpack that optimizes comfort and functionality using innovative materials and different structures.
Reverse Thinking: This involves imagining the desired final result and working backward to identify the steps necessary to achieve it.
Example: Instead of asking what you should do to be happy, ask what you should do to avoid being unhappy. This makes you see the problem in reverse.
System Thinking: Analyzes how different parts of a system interact with each other. This helps understand the "big picture" and identify effective patterns and solutions that might not be evident when observing only individual parts.
Example: Viewing a scooter as composed of many different parts that allow it to move from one place to another, instead of observing just one wheel of the scooter by itself.
4.- Six “hat thinking” : This model involves approaching a problem from various perspectives: logical, emotional, creative, cautious, and optimistic. This fosters a comprehensive and balanced analysis, allowing a deep understanding of the issue.
Example: In a debate on a controversial topic, each participant uses a different "hat," such as the emotional hat to express feelings, or the logical hat to focus on data, enriching the discussion with multiple viewpoints.
💡Creativity in Action
Example from Stanford
Imagine being a student in an entrepreneurship class at Stanford. One day, the professor enters the classroom, divides the class into three groups, and gives each one five dollars. The goal is to make as much money as possible in two hours and then give a three-minute presentation on the results.
If you were a student in this class, what would you do? One group used the five dollars to buy materials and offer a car wash service. The second group decided to set up a lemonade stand. The third group, however, decided to "think outside the box." Instead of focusing on the five dollars, they realized that this amount was actually a distraction. They reframed the problem from scratch: "What can we do to make money if we start from scratch?" They realized that their most valuable assets were not the five dollars or even the two hours, but the three minutes of presentation time in front of a group of Stanford students.
So, they made a clever move. Instead of investing in materials, they invested in ideas. They approached a recruitment company, knowing it would be eager to gain visibility in front of a group of Stanford students. With a convincing proposal, they sold their three minutes of presentation to the company for 650 dollars, winning the challenge.
This experience teaches us an important lesson: just because a five-dollar bill is in front of us does not mean it is the right tool. Tools, as Neil Gaiman reminds us, "can be the subtlest traps." When we are blinded by them, we stop seeing other possibilities. The true value lies in creativity and the ability to see beyond the obvious.
“If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat every problem as if it were a nail.”
Abraham Maslow
Where’s the mistake?
🏺 Did you know that Cleopatra lived closer in time to the launch of the iPhone than to the construction of the Pyramids of Giza? While the pyramids were built around 2560 BCE, Cleopatra was born in 69 BCE. This means that over 2,400 years separated Cleopatra from the pyramids, while only 2,000 years separate her from the iPhone's launch in 2007. This surprising comparison puts into perspective the vast expanse of ancient history and how seemingly distant events can be more connected to our present than we might imagine.
MOVE OF THE WEEK
🌟 Carl Sagan, one of the brightest minds and most influential science communicators of the 20th century, left an indelible mark on humanity with his work in astronomy and his ability to convey the mysteries of the universe. Among his most notable achievements is the television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage," which inspired millions of people to look at the stars and ponder their place in the universe.
One day, at the Washington train station, a porter helped Carl Sagan with his luggage, as he did with any other passenger. However, when Sagan took out his wallet to give him a tip, the porter firmly raised his hand and, looking him in the eyes, said,
"I don't need your money, Mr. Sagan. You've already given me the universe."
And to conclude today’s post about creativity, I want to share a historical anecdote that I found, to say the least, ingenious:
During the Middle Ages, sieges of castles and cities were common, with strategies of resistance and surrender varying greatly. Besieged garrisons often exhausted their resources before considering surrender, always hoping to secure guarantees of safety for their lives.
When these reserves were depleted, they finally offered their surrender. However, on some occasions, they surrendered earlier if guaranteed their lives. A remarkable example of ingenuity and creativity occurred during the siege of Weinsberg in 1141. The attackers, under the command of Conrad III, offered freedom only to the women, allowing them to take everything they could carry in a sack. The women, in an act of cunning, accepted the offer but instead of carrying objects, they carried their husbands, thus saving them from certain death.
If we learn to apply creativity correctly, we may start to be cautious with the use of the word 'impossible.'
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