A Special Education professional, behavior coach, writer, freelancer and most importantly a mother making life simple and fab as possible.
Creativity is Beyond Arts
Creativity in the Lenses of a School
Our educational institutions are the proper venues for recognizing and nurturing creative talent. Improvement in creative thinking can only happen if there is deliberate and explicit planning for its development in schools. It cannot be left to chance. Schools should recognize creativity beyond arts and provide appropriate venues for it.
Most people, even those working within schools, are quick to box the idea of creativity on art related school subjects and courses. People have limited it to drawing, writing, sculpture, photography, music, dance. But creativity isn't art. The reverse is also true. In fact, research reveals that creativity has an interdisciplinary nature. Therefore, no single discipline can claim exclusive rights to creativity. Creativity is actually beyond arts and schools must provide appropriate venues for it.
Importance of Creativity
Creativity and innovation are vital characteristics to approach education in general. The planning of the development of creativity, assumes that it cannot be taught like language or arithmetic skills. Schools should recognize creativity beyond arts and provide appropriate venues for it. Creativity is innate and developmental. It is present in every person. However, it needs to be nurtured to help it develop. Other school subjects should be a venue for enhancing the creative process.
It is necessary to set conditions that will enhance and foster creativity. The way by which creativity can be integrated in school curriculum is based on the premise that training, practice and encouragement in using creative thinking skills can increase the degree of creativity manifested by the person. This creativity contributes considerably to acquiring information and educational skills.
What Exactly is Creativity?
On a greater scale, creativity is the mental capacity to generate novel and useful ideas. At its core, creativity is about ideas and how we develop, understand, and communicate them - that is going beyond the arts; in every realm of thinking and work. Schools should recognize creativity beyond arts and therefore, provide appropriate venues for it.
Consider mathematics alone. Creative strides have been made throughout history: calculus, binary logic, analytic geometry and matrix algebra, to name a few creative breakthroughs. Mathematics has been used as a fundamental creative device for propelling innovation forward over the last century.
Often, people give themselves an excuse at never becoming creative. People tend to confine themselves in knowing work around logic, reasoning, and science alone. But reality is, creativity exists in different forms across various areas of work, thinking, and problem-solving. Creativity is not all about expression, or about solely existing in the freeform world of art. Perceiving creativity in that way strips it of its potential. Creativity beyond arts.
Creativity is also about ideas and how we develop, understand, and communicate them. Not just in terms of the arts, but in every realm of thinking and work. Innovation can be incorporated in all facets of the real world and not solely reserved for art-related fields. Schools should recognize creativity beyond arts. They should create and provide appropriate venues for it, opening deeper understanding and appreciation for it. After all, jobs involving creativity can be found everywhere around local businesses and the community at a whole.