Thinking and Creativity

Thinking is mental activity using concepts, images and language to solve problems. Creativity is the ability to produce ideas that are both new and useful, and it depends on divergent thinking — generating many different answers — rather than the convergent thinking that school tests usually reward.

Convergent and divergent thinking

The four traits of creative thinking

• Fluency — the number of ideas produced.
• Flexibility — the number of different categories those ideas fall into.
• Originality — how uncommon the ideas are.
• Elaboration — the detail with which an idea is developed.

These four are the scoring dimensions of Torrance's Tests of Creative Thinking, and CTET has asked for them by name.

Stages of the creative process

1. Preparation — gathering material and defining the problem.
2. Incubation — a period of no conscious work on it.
3. Illumination — the idea arrives, the 'aha' moment.
4. Verification — the idea is tested and refined.

Blocks to creativity

Creativity is lost more often than it is absent. The usual killers in a primary classroom are ridicule of an odd answer, rigid rules about how work must look, constant time pressure, an over-full syllabus, rewarding only the expected response and copying from the board. Rigid habit and fear of being wrong close divergent thinking faster than any lack of ability.

Intelligence and creativity

The relationship is a threshold one: a minimum level of intelligence is needed for creativity, but above roughly an average IQ the two stop moving together. Highly intelligent children are not necessarily creative, and creative children may not top the class — which is exactly why CTET asks the question.

Encouraging creativity in Classes 1-5

• Ask open-ended questions with several right answers: 'what else could this shape be?'
• Accept unusual answers without ridicule; one laugh ends divergent thinking for the year.
• Allow time and materials for free construction, drawing and story-making.
• Do not over-reward the single expected answer, and never grade imagination.

✗ A high IQ child is automatically a creative child.  |  ✓ Beyond an average level, intelligence and creativity are only weakly related.

Frequently asked questions

What is divergent thinking?

Thinking that generates many different responses to an open problem instead of searching for a single correct answer. It is measured by fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration, and it underlies creative work.

Are intelligence and creativity the same thing?

No. A minimum level of intelligence is needed for creative work, but beyond an average level the two are only weakly related. Many high scorers on intelligence tests show ordinary creativity, and the reverse also happens.

How can a teacher develop creativity in primary children?

By asking open-ended questions, accepting unusual answers without mockery, giving free time with materials, encouraging children to find more than one method, and avoiding rewards that make the expected answer the only safe one.