The Space In Between

I recently read The Whole Brain by Daniel Pink. In his book, Pink discusses the role of creativity in the work place and suggests corporations today need creative problem solving expertise on the payroll. He shares stories from large companies that are hiring individuals with MFAs to sit on product development teams and problem-solving committees.

So what are we doing with our children to encourage creativity? I would like to think every child has the opportunity to enjoy the traditional classes considered creative: art classes that include drawing, painting and three-dimensional work; music; and dance. These classes provide acceptable environments for exploration and individual expression (usually).

But what about in math class or language arts? How much individual freedom do we provide our students? And do we encourage them to think creatively?

There has been a push for critical thinking in education, but what about creative thinking? How do you teach creativity? How do we help children to see that there may be an answer to a problem "in between" the two obvious solutions?

I was in my thirties before I started stretching my mind and considering other possibilities in addition to the obvious choices. Having my own children helped a lot. They can be very creative with solutions if you listen. For example, when deciding whether or not to attend a specific function there are the obvious choices--go or don't go. But is there something in between? Could I go for just part of the event? Could someone go for me and report back? It opened a wide range of possibilities when I started to consider the "gray" area between the common black and white solutions we are given in most circumstances.

As we move into a decade where we are searching for many answers to some pretty big problems, the creative solutions that will be required have to come from somewhere. I suggest we look to our children and I suggest we look to our schools to create environments where creative thinking is valued and encouraged.

"The significat problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking with which we created them."

-Albert Einstein (attributed)

Use the comment field to share examples of creative problem-solving or unusual solutions.