Fostering creative thinking skills in college students

FOSTERING CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

prepared by Leila Palis English Faculty, Paradise Valley Community College, Phoenix, AZsupported by a grant from the Maricopa Community Colleges, 2015

DEFINING CREATIVE THINKING

• the ability to create new ideas or products, to think “outside-of-the-box,” and to engage in divergent thinking (Croisile, 2010; Hardiman, 2010; Torrance, 1972)

• the ability “to see problems in a new way…escape the bounds of conventional thinking…recognize which of one’s ideas are worth pursuing” (Sternberg, 2008, p. 8)

• “a process that leads to products or ideas that are novel, appropriate, and valuable to society (Baker & Baker, 2012)

DEFINING CREATIVE THINKING

• how does creative thinking relate to critical thinking?• “Critical and creative thought are both

achievements of thought. Creativity masters a process of making or producing, criticality a process of assessing or judging. The very definition of the word ‘creative’ implies a critical component (e.g., ‘having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness’). When engaged in high-quality thought, the mind must simultaneously produce and assess, both generate and judge the products it fabricates. In short, sound thinking requires both imagination and intellectual standards”(Paul & Elder, 2008).

CREATIVE THINKING CAN BE MEASURED• although a person’s creativity might

only be expressed in a specific area or areas, his or her creativity is measureable as a an overall way of thinking (Kim, 2011; Torrance 1972)

MEASUREMENT TOOLS FOR ASSESSING CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

• several tests exist for measuring creativity• Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task• Wallas and Kogan Creativity Test• Baron-Welsh Art Scale• Khatena-Torrance Creative Perception Inventory• The Creativity Behavior Inventory• Creative Attitude Survey• NEO-PI-R• Gough Personality Scale• Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (most

commonly used)

CREATED BY PAUL E. TORRANCE IN 1962

Torrance Test of Creativity• assesses divergent thinking and other problem-

solving skills based on fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration (Bronson & Merryman, 2010)

• most commonly used measure of creativity world-wide;

has been translated into more than 30 languages (Kim, 2011)• has the highest measure of predictive validity of

all measures of creativity (Kim, 2011)• high scores on the Torrance Test of Creativity

consistently predict higher levels of creative achievement later in life (Bronson & Merryman, 2010)

• 3 times stronger predictor of future creative achievements than IQ score (Bronson & Merryman, 2010)

• appropriate for all ages• scored against national norms, standard scores,

and national percentiles for each age group (Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development, 2015 )

CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS CAN BE DEVELOPED• while it was once thought that creativity

was a rare gift bestowed upon only great thinkers and artists, this is no longer believed to be true • many researchers and educators believe that

although creativity may come more naturally to some, it is a skill that can and should be taught (Baker & Baker, 2010; Clifford, 2012; Hardiman, 2010; Kim 2011; Ornaheim & Friis-Olivarius; Torrance, 1972)

IMPORTANCE OF FOSTERING CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN SCHOOLS

impact of

creative thinking on the brain

• creative thinking requires skills related to frontal-lobe processing, like working memory and continued attention (Hardiman, 2010)

• a 2007 study found that people who had high creativity scores on the Torrance Test had greater activity in brain regions involved in novelty response, cognition, working memory, and emotions (Hardiman, 2010)


impact of

creative thinking on the brain

• brain research shows that creative thinking engages more complex neural networks than conventional thinking, enhancing cognition and learning (Hardiman, 2010)

• research has found that during tasks considered to be highly creative, more brain areas are activated than during tasks that require conventional thinking (Fink, et al., 2010)


impact of creative

thinking on academic

achievement

• creative thinking has been associated with higher levels of cognition and attention than tradition thinking (Hardiman, 2010)

• creative thinking scores have been shown to be better predictors of academic success than IQ or SAT scores (Palaniappan, 2007; Runco, Millar, Acar, & Cramond, 2010; Torrance, 1972 )


impact of creative

thinking on academic

achievement

• fostering creative thinking skills in students results in an increase in students’ abilities to continue on a task over a sustained period of time, express their personal voices, connect their school work to the real world, innovate by exploring, and self-evaluate (Winner & Hetland, 2008).

• creative thinking requires skills known to positively impact academic achievement: divergent thinking, problem, identification, problem-solving skills, motivation, intellectual risk-taking, self-efficacy, and openness to new ideas (Lubart & Jaques, Henri, 2004)


creative thinking skills are

desired by employers

• “Cliché as it sounds, employers want to hire people who can ‘think outside the box.’ The ability to creatively use existing resources in order to efficiently complete tasks is valued. Successful employees are flexible, able to evaluate options to determine the best approach for a given situation and adapt accordingly” (Kuther, 2013).

• “IBM surveyed 1,500 chief executives in 33 industries around the world in 2010 to gauge how much they valued characteristics like creativity, integrity, management, discipline, rigor, and vision in an increasingly volatile, complex, and interconnected world. Creativity topped the list” (Berrett, 2013).


creative thinking skills are vital for

innovation

• “Every grand American accomplishment, every innovation that has benefited and enriched our lives, every social transformation… has been the fruit of the creative imagination, of the ability to reach beyond received ideas and ready-made answers to some new place…” (Michael Chabon of the Obama Art Policy Committee, 2009).


creative thinking skills are vital for

innovation

• results of a 50- year longitudinal study revealed that children who scored higher in creativity had more creative accomplishments later in life; they became inventors, college presidents, diplomats, authors, and software developers (Bronson & Merryman, 2010)


creative thinking skills are vital skills

for innovation

• both China and Japan (even though their educational systems are top-ranked) have undertaken major reforms to de-emphasize rote memorization and high-stakes testing and to adopt curricula that foster more creative thinking. Both nations claim that a focus on creative thinking will produce free-thinkers who are able to innovate (“Education’s Pendulum,”2012).

• a 2011 analysis of almost 300,000 Torrance Test scores found that creative thinking skills have significantly decreased since the 1990’s even though IQ scores have risen (Kim, 2011)

• one of the major contributing factors to this decline is the education system in America, which focuses on high-stakes testing rather than applying knowledge in novel ways (Hardiman, 2010; Bronson & Merryman, 2010; Kim, 2011)

FEWER STUDENTS ARE LEAVING SCHOOL WITH THE ESSENTIAL SKILLS FOR INNOVATION TODAY THAN TWENTY YEARS AGO

• a 2011 study of 2,300 college students found that many students are not being challenged to think creatively (Baker & Baker, 2012)

• students enter college already preconditioned to think in a standardized way, and most faculty are trained only within their own discipline and not in fostering creative thinking (Segesten, 2013)

• “the enhancement of critical and creative thinking [at the post-secondary level] is still more of a desirable vision than an empirical outcome” (Halpern, 2010, p. 381)

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES ARE NOT ADEQUATELY FOSTERING CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• infuse the arts into all disciplines

• have students draw pictures or use nonverbal representations of information that needs to be remembered

• have students write stories which integrate information that needs to be remembered

• encourage students to relate subject matter to themselves through first-person narratives or visual art

• encourage students to generate information (rather than to simply receive it) through story writing or visual art

• allow students to perform scenarios and historical events (Rinne, Gregory, Yarmolinskaya, & Hardiman, 2011)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• help students understand the

neuroscience underlying creative thinking • teach students how the brain makes associations• teach students how differences in the way

information is processed can impact creative thinking

• teach students that creative thinking is not about genetics or innate abilities

• teach students that creative thinking skills can be developed

(Onarheim & Friis-Olivarius, 2013)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• implement creativity training courses

• training in creative thinking should be based on a solid understanding of the cognitive processes underlying creative thinking

• training should be extended and challenging• concepts related to creative thinking should

be illustrated using examples that are contextualized

• concepts related to creative thinking should be followed by practice exercises that allow students to apply strategies in realistic ways

(Scott, 2010)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• foster creativity in the classroom

• create assignments that connect to the emotions of the learner

• create assignments that consider both convergent and divergent thinking skills

• create assignments in which students must consider multiple ways of approaching and solving problems

• reward students for thinking about problems and issues in diverse ways, not just for giving the correct responses

• create a classroom environment in which students feel safe to explore new and diverse ideas

(Clifford, 2012)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• adopt the Brain-Targeted Teaching Model

• 1) set the emotional climate for learning• reduce stress, establish a positive learning

environment, design assignments that are emotionally engaging to students

• 2) create a physical learning environment• use natural full-spectrum lighting, have an ordered

and organized learning space, display student-generated work

• 3) design the learning experience• help students relate new information to existing

information or experiences; give students a holistic view of information in a visual way so that they understand the relationships between ideas

(Hardiman, 2010)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• adopt the Brain-Targeted Teaching Model

• 4) teach mastery of skills, content, and concept• teach content and skills using a variety of arts-

based activities• 5) teach for extension and application of knowledge

• allow students to apply knowledge to problem-solving tasks (divergent thinking); create assignments that encourage students to use content knowledge to solve real-world problems

• 6) evaluate learning• provide relevant and timely feedback using a

variety of measures; allow students the opportunity to make adjustments

(Hardiman, 2010)

TECHNIQUES TO FOSTER CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN THE COLLEGE CLASSROOM• adopt pedagogical strategies found in

art schools• focus on process, not just on outcome• create assignments that result in something

valuable in terms of offering new insights or novel ways of thinking about topics

• creative an environment that supports risk-taking

• give students time to practice and experiment with content in multiple ways

• allow students to create their own assignments(Baker & Baker, 2012)

There has remained an enduring tension between academic rigor and fostering creativity. However, one does not need to replace the other. A curriculum that develops students’ creative thinking skills can also be academically rigorous. Many brain processes involved in creative thinking, such as memory, cognition, and attention, are essential to academic success. The importance of creative thinking must be acknowledged, and the curricula of American schools must be redesigned so that creativity is infused into all disciplines.

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