Saturday, November 24, 2012

Creativity and Why it Matters

A recent U.S. study, Creativity and Education: Why it Matters, sheds new light on the role of creativity in career success and the growing belief that creativity is not just a personality trait, but a learned skill. A summary of some of the key findings are listed below:

Image credit: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/unleash-creativity-workplace/
  • 85% percent of professionals agree creative thinking is critical for their career success, and 68% of respondents believe creativity is a skill that can be learned.
  • Nearly three-quarters (71%) of poll respondents say creative thinking should be “taught as a class – like math or science.” 
  • Many more believe creativity is important to their career now (78%) than they thought in college (57%).
  • The majority (82%) wish they had more exposure to creative thinking as students.


Check out this infographic on the value of creativity created by Adobe.  Be sure to also check out the recent Adobe press release emphasizing why creativity should be taught as a course in schools.




9 comments:

  1. I totally agree, which is why the work of Creative Oklahoma on our state creativity project is so important. You might check out the new C-School or Creativity School which we just kicked off this year. We ALL have creative capacities, and creativity can be taught!

    http://www.stateofcreativity.com/events/okcf2012/cschool-bootcamp/

    ReplyDelete
  2. i agree that creativity is massively important in school. I do not agree that it should be a separate course. I think it should be an aspect of all courses, playing various size roles in different classes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that creative thinking is important for students. My problem is a lot of students just want the answer so they can move on. I think our education system has done this to them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Creativity can be taught, that I learnt from John Cleese! I think it is a critical thinking skill and needs explicit instruction as well as being integrated into learning. We need to be able to be creative but not all the time; so students need to learn to manage their creativity with knowledge.

    http://tinyurl.com/bmzb8ov

    ReplyDelete
  5. Creativity is taught and part of the standards and benchmarks in Art and Music. Why do we need a seperate course for creativity? I don't know. I would agree with pshircliff that it must be included in all classes. As an Art teacher creativity is studied through Art History, Artist Studies, and Present day artist and methods. This is a kindergarten through 12th grade process. Students are encouraged to think creatively and originally and demonstrate it through their artwork. This can be done in Math, Literature, Science, and all subjects. I remember a Kindergarten student once who asked me why we need the letter 'C' when we have a K and an 'S' in the alphabet and then went on to figure out a new alphabet. That is creative!!! We will have to give more training to teaching professionals on how to foster creativity in their classes. That is where the training to be creative might need to start.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Eric,
    Thanks so much for sharing this survey with us. Within our school, I've had several conversations with my peers regarding creativity and its seemingly diminished importance. It's nice to have some data emphasizing the importance of teaching creativity.

    The study/your blog inspired me to blog about how we can do a better job of teaching creativity http://www.reedgillespie.blogspot.com/2012/11/creativity-and-why-it-matters.html.

    I think there's a lot we can do to teach creativity without creating a class just for that purpose--let's face it, in times of tight budget we're probably not adding any classes anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great link Wes, thanks for sharing.

    Thank you all for the thought-provoking comments. As a principal I am now working to establish a culture where creativity is infused across the curriculum in all courses. However, I am also not opposed to the creation of a separate elective course focusing on creativity in more detail.

    ReplyDelete
  8. And this is where the academic in me has to ask what creative thinking is and how we actually measure this.

    ReplyDelete
  9. As a future educator with a minor in creativity, I really enjoyed seeing the topic of creativity in schools addressed. I have personally seen the benefits of creative thinking in my own life, and plan on teaching my future students to think creatively.

    ReplyDelete