Nurturing Creativity

Dr. Rakesh Bharti

“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination”. Albert Einstein
Why did the Creator create this Universe with a bewildering variety of people? The Creator must have had some designs in creating a variety of people, each one exhibiting differential traits and capabilities. Perhaps the Creator did not wish to be a factory manager to manufacture uniform set of human beings. Even though everyone is endowed with sense organs and nervous system, they tend to differ from one another in their use. The Creator ought to be happy over the variety of His creations. Variety is the spice of life. Novelty always adds zest and it has an edge over dull uniformity.
The word Creativity, in itself, is meaningful. What is Novel, Unique, Unconventional, Original may be considered Creative. Creativity is not to be confused with talent, skill, or intelligence. Creativity is not about doing something better than others, it is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining. It is different from imitative behaviour. We are not sure how and from where we get a brain-wave of creativity. One thing that characterizes creative person is his/her fertile imagination. We often extol an eminent scientist or economist or writer as someone endowed with fertile imagination. Imagination lies behind Invention, which is product of Creative thinking.
Human mind is unfathomable. It is a reservoir of creative ideas and thinking is the mainspring of creativity. Whenever we encounter a problem that defies solution we begin to think of alternatives. At times we need to take untrodden paths to find a solution. Here Guilford speaks of two kinds of thinking, namely Convergent thinking and Divergent thinking. Convergent thinking encourages conformity and acceptance of status quo. On the other hand divergent thinking liberates an individual from conventional mode to a creative mode. Teachers should encourage pupils to venture out and take divergent pathways to solution. They should not swear by textbook content alone. In fact all discoveries owe their birth to those thinkers who had the courage to take risks and think on uncommon lines.
Under what conditions would creativity emerge? It is difficult to give a categorical answer.  The seeds of creativity live in everyone. A liberal, progressive outlook at home plus a decent education plus talent may sharply increase the chances of one’s creative pursuits. Compared to non-creatives, the creatives tended to come from relatively better off, well-to-do families and most of their parents had artistic interests. Our environment shapes though it does not determine our creativity in various ways. A punitive environment can instill in us much fearfulness and blockage.
The essential pre-requisites of Creativity are Freedom and Spontaneity. By its very nature creativity cannot thrive in an atmosphere of regimentation. Many a budding scholar and scientist might be smothered by cold and conventional school practices. The urge to be creative emerges from within and therefore, it is essentially spontaneous. Teachers can at best, provide the necessary stimuli such as challenging books, good laboratory, meaningful projects and timely guidance. But, pupils must avail of these facilities. An unwilling learner cannot be compelled to be enterprising and creative.
It must also be realized that creativity cannot be subjected to a rigid time-schedule. It takes its own time. The individual needs time for relaxation. It is not at the highest pitch of alertness, illumination occurs. Biographies of scientists reveal evidences of their innovations, occurring in their dreams and reveries. Pupils need time for assimilation of facts as well as for reconstructing them in novel ways.
Teachers should appreciate the earnest efforts put in by pupils regardless of their final achievement. An idea, in its incubation stage, does not necessarily develop in an orderly fashion. An idea passes through fuzzy stages before it becomes clear, comparable to the process of adjusting microscope to bring an object into sharp focus. Creativity takes its own time. Creativity is an energy. It is a precious energy, and it is something to be protected. One cannot fix a deadline for creative output. If too many standards such as neatness, orderliness and so on are insisted upon at the start, it is quite possible for pupils to shrink back and abandon their pursuits. We need patience and await the appropriate time for the fruition of ideas.
Above all we need to have a skeptical frame of mind to raise even silly questions to obtain some creative ideas. Teachers who respect children’s ideas help them learn to think and solve problems for themselves. Children who feel free to make mistakes and to explore and experiment will also feel free to invent, create, and find new ways to do things. Grant the lasting gift of freedom to children-to make mistakes and learning from doing.
The side benefit is that fostering creativity in our classrooms makes teaching more rewarding and fun and gives children a zest for imagining and learning to last a lifetime.
(The author is a Lecturer in Education)

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