The accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful... There is never one right answer. To be creative requires divergent thinking (generating many unique ideas) and then convergent thinking (combining those ideas into the best result).
(WPR program: Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman.)
Instead of answering a child's question ask, "Why do you think it was? What reasons do you think...?" Asking them to come up with different explanations and then to pick the best one. And that right there is a microcosm of the creative process. It's thinking divergently, coming up with as many different ideas and approaches to a problem as you can; and then the convergent step: picking the best thing and then proceeding with it. If you track that, that applies for whether you're going to start a business, write a novel, come up with a new public policy.
More here: read or listen.
Center for Creative Learning
Hi Jackie--Didn't know how else to reach you, but you were one of the winners of the PICKLE JUICE arc's on my blog! This post lays it out for the winners:
ReplyDeletehttp://matthewcordell.blogspot.com/2011/02/pickle-contest-winners-revealed.html