“I can’t teach anyone anything. I can only make them think.” – Socrates
– Specific thought processes, which improve the ability to be creative.
– Being in an optimal state of mind for generating new ideas.
– To think deliberately in ways that improve the likelihood of new thoughts occurring.
These are some of the definitions of Creative Thinking.
So why does a student need creative thinking? In simple terms, we need creative thinkers to solve problems. People with new ideas, people with better ideas, people who can think outside the box take the lead in the present world.
New ideas don’t just happen by chance but by a conscious effort put in by the people from an early age. How can creative thinking be made a part of child’s education? As the scope of creative thinking is not limited to any specific subject, teachers of any subject can help students think creatively in their own subject. Let us look at a few ways of incorporating creative thinking into the student’s system.
Mathematics
In mathematics, Number Systems become a very important part of the curriculum. The current Arabic number system is a result of evolution across centuries.
One way to initiate creative thinking on this topic could be to challenge the students to design a new number system. While giving this task, also introduce them to the Roman Number System (I, V, X, L, C etc), Binary Number System (0, 1), etc.
The article has been contributed by Butterfly Fields, a company working in the domain of innovative teaching-learning techniques. To know more about the work the company does, visit www.butterflyfields.com or call 040 2771 1020.