Giving Compass' Take:

• The author suggests five ways that educators can encourage more students to maintain or increase their natural creativity. 

• Why is it more difficult to coax out creativity? Why do educators need to be strategic about this with some students?

• Read about how teachers are fostering makerspaces for students. 

A recent fascinating study addressed this timeless question and reveals that people are born creative. NASA scientists designed specialized tests to assess ability to come up with new and original ideas. Of the 1,600 4-5 year-olds that took the test, 98% of them scored at “genius” levels on imagination.

How To Nurture Creative Mindsets in Your Classroom
Fostering “genius” creative abilities is not about inflating your students’ egos into thinking they are more gifted or better than others. Instead, here are five ways you can help students maintain (and increase) their natural creativity.

  1. Foster a Question-Friendly Environment: Help students develop the habit of asking “why” questions about information, ideas, and beliefs normally taken for granted.
  2. Practice Generating More Ideas: The more ideas we come up with, the more original the ideas generated will be. The more ideas we come up with, the greater our chances of producing a work of success.
  3. Encourage New Skills:  In order to foster new ideas and a unique perspective, encourage them to learn a variety of skills and subjects. The more unrelated the field, the better.
  4. Model Creativity in the Classroom: To help students unleash more creativity, lead by example, and openly share your original ideas with the class.
  5. Use the Jigsaw Classroom Method: When assigning classroom activities, allow students to do some work on their own.

Read the full article about youth development at Getting Smart.