Back to: Creativity and Education B.ed Notes, M.A Notes, IGNOU Notes and Graduation Notes
Meaning of Creativity
Creativity is derived from the word ‘creo’ meaning-to create’ or ‘to make”.
Creativity means discovering new relationships between ideas. Creativity is a wonderful ability that helps a man to solve the most complex problems of life and to make life comfortable. Creativity gives a new fascinating turn to humanity and a Nation. Creativity is related to Cognitive Operations. The Cognitive operations include Divergent Cognition, Convergent productions, Recognition of Ideas, Judging and knowing. Creativity is a specific scientific process of thinking that yields solutions to problems.
It is a factor or an ability, which is the result of divergent thinking.
Creativity is Goal-directed, which is useful for the individual as well as for society.
The ability to create depends on the acquisition of the accepted knowledge.
Whether it is oral, written, abstract or concrete, in any case, it is unique.
Curiosity, Flexibility Original Thinking, independent Judgement, Concentrated Attention, complex Thinking, High Energy Level, risk-taking Tendency, Courage, Power of Imagination, desire for Superiority and Far Sightedness are the major characteristics of creativity.
Spearman defined “Creativity is the power of the human mind to create new contents by transforming relations and generating new correlates”.
Drevdahl (1956) defined “Creativity is the capacity of a person to produce compositions, products or ideas which are essentially new or novel and previously unknown to the producer”.
Guilford (1959) defined “Creativity as the capacity to, produce ideas that are both new and useful through divergent thinking”.
Barren defined “Creativity may be defined quite simply as the ability to bring something new into existence”
According to Ausubel “ Creative achievement reflects rare capacity for developing insights, sensitivities and appreciations in an area of intellectual or artistic activity.”
According to Stein” A process is creative when it results in a novel work that is accepted as tenable, useful or satisfying by a group at a point in time.”
Creativity explains that e personality traits of creative people .It breaks away from rational, conventional ideas and formalized procedures to awake curiosity.
Productivity, Flexibility and Originality determine the qualities of “ Creativity “.
Creativity is fundamental and variable, where we think beyond existing boundaries. It involves the generation of new ideas or the recombination of known elements into something new, providing a valuable awakening to problems. To develop creativity among children, parents and teachers need to work together and give proper guidance and environment. They need to contribute scientifically to the creative skills of the children.
Children should be given freedom in their creative activities to create Self-confidence among them. Parents and teachers should clarify all doubts and encourage them to think about new subjects. Proper environment for creativity in school should be created, where Students are encouraged to participate in co-curricular activities.
Besides children should also be encouraged to write the answer in their language and taught through different creative methods.
Process of Creativity
Creative work is possible only with the help of these four stages.
The stage of Preparation: This is the first stage of creativity. At this stage, a person facing a problem defines the problem. He collects material about the problem, indulges in imagination and sets about working according to the nature of the problem. If possible he makes changes in the strategy. He doesn’t lose his efforts in achieving the solution to the problem. After having made persistent endeavours, he realizes that the solution to the problem is not possible, a feeling of frustration sets in his mind and he stops working on the problem for some time. It is an inner urge that focuses attention on the problem, organizes the data related to it, and provides relevant ideas for the problem.
The Stage of Incubation– Incubation is the second stage of creativity. At this stage, the person facing the problem does not think about the problem. He engages himself in other activities. At this stage the person concerned does not work on the problem consciously The problem goes from the conscious mind into the unconscious mind. But the individual keeps getting hints regarding solutions to the problem. The ideas regarding the solution to the problem keep surfacing from the unconscious mind to the conscious mind.
In this, the person tests his ideas and gains experience. He organizes and reorganizes his experiences and test as no progress is seen but he pursues to solve the problem.
The Stage of Illumination: At this stage, the individual confronted with the problem suddenly awakens to the solution of the problem (The solution of the problem suddenly dawns on him. The solution can present itself in any form. Most thinkers believe that creative ideas dawn on a person suddenly. Archimedes found a solution to a problem while bathing. After the sudden illumination, the creative thinking does not stop but continues.
The Stage of Verification: This is the final stage of Creative thinking. At thes stage the solution that has suddenly dawned is subjected to verification. An endeavour is made to find out if the solution is right or wrong. If the solution proves wrong or not useful, the process to find the solution restarts. Sometimes changes have to be effected in the solution. The solution is subjected to verification again and again, and when proved right is put to use. The stage described above are not independent of one another.
