Many people are under the impression that schools somehow kill creativity, no doubt fuelled by the most watched TEDTalk of all time: Sir Ken Robinson’s “Do Schools Kill Creativity?”. However, far from killing creativity, schools in fact provide the knowledge that is essential for creativity to thrive.
Read on to find out more about:
- Why young children are not inherently more creative than adults
- How creativity applies across all subjects
- The role of knowledge in developing creativity
- Practical strategies for developing creative learners
Divergent thinking tests as test of creativity
One of Sir Ken’s key arguments was based on the idea that young children tend to perform much better on divergent thinking tests, where they are asked to come up with multiple suggestions, rather than focusing on one particular solution. A popular example of this is asking people how many uses they can come up with for a paperclip.
However, even if young children tend to perform better on divergent thinking tests (and a recent meta-analysis suggests that this isn’t necessarily the case), this does not mean that they are inherently more creative before school gets hold of them.
In order for something to be creative, it needs to be both new and useful. Young children may come up with surprising and quirky ideas, but many of these are likely impractical in reality; these young children lack the knowledge to be able to effectively evaluate their ideas. So, it is a myth that children are naturally more creative than adults. And a large body of research suggests that school education actually supports not only students’ academic achievement but also their creativity.
Creativity across all subjects
Another misconception about creativity is that it only applies to so-called creative subjects such as Art, Music, Dance and Drama.
But with the definition above—that something must be both new and useful in order to be creative—we can see that creativity can be seen across all subjects.
Picasso’s Guernica is an example of an innovative artwork that shone a light on a horrific bombing during the Spanish Civil War; even now it is a highly effective anti-war symbol.
Within the sciences, Einstein’s theories of relativity were new and useful as they explained phenomena that had confounded classical mechanics.
These are examples of creativity in a wide social context, creative ideas that have an impact across wider society. But creativity is applicable on a smaller scale as well. A student may have to creatively approach constructing their own argument for a history essay or use a variety of different strategies to solve a complex Maths problem. These might not be creative on the grand scale of Picasso or Einstein, but these ideas are new and useful to that student in the context of their education.
Knowledge as the basis for creativity
A good analogy for the importance of knowledge in developing creativity is that of building blocks. Imagine you just had five Lego bricks, all of the same shape and colour—not a lot you can do with them, right?
Then imagine you had lots of different Lego bricks of a variety of different sizes and shapes; now you can produce something much more creative!
“Attempts to teach thinking skills without a strong base of factual knowledge do not promote problem-solving ability or support transfer to new situations.”
However, it’s not just about having knowledge. It’s about being able to connect that knowledge together in different ways. Take the example of the wheeled suitcase. Wheels have been around for thousands of years, and the suitcase came onto the scene in the late 19th century. However, it wasn’t until 1972 that someone had the clever idea to put wheels onto suitcases and create rolling luggage—that’s after we managed to land a man onto the moon!
Practical strategies for the classroom
Creativity relies on knowledge. Which means everything we know from the science of learning about helping students to build a firm knowledge base is just as relevant for fostering creativity as it is for any other aspect of school life. This includes strategies such as Retrieval Practice, Spacing and Interleaving.
We also need to be able to support students to make connections to prior knowledge and apply their knowledge to novel situations. Techniques such as varied practice are invaluable here.
Final Thoughts
Contrary to popular belief, schools do not kill creativity, and this commonly held belief is one which is well worth pushing back against. Knowledge and creativity are inextricably interlinked, and schools are where our young people acquire that knowledge. If we want to improve our students’ creativity, then the best place to start is by assuring they have a strong base of factual knowledge.
