Fostering Creative Problem Solving

Have you ever had an idea that you were convinced would change the world?  I think we have all had this moment where we think, “This is fantastic!  Everyone else will think so, too.”

In a pretty famous study, kindergarten students are asked to identify as many uses of a paper clip as they could.  It found, “... kindergarten children measured 98% of them at genius level in divergent thinking.”  Some of those uses were practical while others wandered into very imaginative.  The general conclusion from this study was that kindergarten students are less hindered by “what is” or “what has always been” and are therefore free to imagine more.

Sadly, the study went on to find, “Five years later, when they were aged 8 to 10 years, those at genius level had dropped to 50%. After another five years, the number of divergent thinking geniuses had fallen further still.”

This is where creativity bumps against critical thinking.  I believe this is one of the most critical puzzles in education, especially in elementary classrooms.  How do we continue to cultivate the spirit and innovation of our students while balancing the critical thinking skills to evaluate and improve ideas without abandoning them as impossible?

My son is fascinated with math.  This weekend he asked me to give him two double digit numbers to add.  I assumed he had been introduced to this concept in school and he was eager to practice.  After giving him the numbers of 24 and 36, he produced this document:

I have to admit, I didn’t understand what he was doing on this page.  What I did see was that he found the correct answer.  Again, I assumed his teacher had shown him a strategy to solve these problems that I had not seen before.  At parent-teacher conferences this week, I showed the paper to his teacher.  I learned three things.  The first was that they had not yet begun to add two double-digit numbers in their first-grade class, so this was something he wanted to explore on his own.  The second was that she was also unfamiliar with the process Simon had gone through.  It appeared to her that he was using several of the other strategies they had used already used with single and single/double digit addition.  The last thing I learned was that this was not the first time he had tried a strategy on his own to solve a problem.  I was incredibly thankful to his teacher who not only encouraged him to use his alternate strategy, but fostered a classroom culture where he felt that it was ok to do so.

I don’t have the tested and magic solution to this question.  What I do have so far is anecdotal evidence to support a theory.  I believe we often prize a correct process to finding an answer as much as we prize the correct answer itself.  As such, students feel there is a single track to follow on the way to success.  I know I conveyed as much to my students on occasion when I was uncertain that what they were doing would lead to a successful outcome.  Man, the things I wish I knew then…

Another practice I see often is when brainstorming leads to the elimination of “impossible” ideas.  Imagine a classroom full of students trying to find a solution to a problem.  Step one is almost always time for students to think about the problem and generate a list of possible solutions.  Step two is often a culling of that list of those that seem possible from those that seem impossible.  What is our criteria for the impossible?  Only our limited experiences and knowledge.  

So here is my theory.  I think we would better suited to allow students to pursue any one of those initial brainstorming options that seem most interesting to him/her.  Allowing the student to go down the road of the solution they are most passionate about will undoubtedly give them the chance to evaluate, reflect, tweak, and ultimately decide whether their solution will actually solve the problem.  As teachers, it becomes our responsibility to foster the creative solution, but also to provide the critical thinking tools to identify and overcome obstacles.  Then the student can decide whether the solution warrants further study and may, eventually, actually change the world.

What should it mean to be creative in our classrooms?

If you have read more than one of my previous blog posts, first, thank you.  Second, you may have noticed that my focus has been to break down each of the four “Cs” in a way that might help us connect it to our classrooms.  This blog will be about creativity, which I believe is the most misunderstood of all the 4Cs.  So often I hear the word “creativity” used to describe students and adults who engage in artistic endeavors.  Of course, this is one definition.  But it is so limited.  In an effort to better understand the confusion, I went to look at a few of the definitions for creativity:

• Google’s pop-up definition:  
• the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.
• Dictionary.com definition:
• the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination
• Webster’s Dictionary definition:
• the ability to make new things or think of new ideas

Oh, Google, I love you.  But in your effort to be helpful, your additional information in the definition created a limitation and a distraction from one of the most important components.  Notice in the other two definitions, highlighted is the idea of creating new ideas or new things and absent is the highlight of artwork.

EdLeader21, drawing from the P21 definition, includes the following basic domains for creativity:  Think Creatively, Work Creatively with Others, Demonstrate Courage to Explore, and Implement Innovations.  Further guidance shows even more emphasis on the connection between creativity and critical thinking.  

• Takes an original, unique, and imaginative approach to idea generation; offers ideas that are broad in their diversity.
• Sorts, arranges, categorizes, and prioritizes ideas in ways that turn options into creatively productive outcomes.
• Uses convergent thinking skills and/or design thinking strategies as appropriate to develop creative ideas into tangible solutions or contributions.

A few years ago I converted my classroom to a project-based classroom.  As a quick recap, in a project-based classroom students are presented with a problem and are asked to create a solution.  Through the process, information is discovered by the students or content is presented by the teacher as needed.  I believed this was a much more authentic style of teaching and learning.  However, my students did not appreciate it in the beginning.  I heard the statement, “I don’t understand.  Just tell me what you want me to do,” on a nearly daily basis.  I believed I was freeing them to do what they wanted.  I didn’t have a template for the “right” answer and my logic was that there were now 100 different solutions to the problem presented.  This should be easier and/or more fun.

This was not how my students saw this.  Because I hadn’t spent enough time helping them develop their ability to engage in creative thought, they felt lost and reverted back to the comfort of seeking the one right answer.  This video by Fable Vision is a great illustration of the difference between following directions and engaging in creative thought.

In our classrooms, we need to start by giving our students permission to explore new ideas.  Yes, there is a destination, or learning target, in mind.  However, there are so many pathways to that learning target.  But we cannot stop there.  We must also intentionally develop the skill of creativity in our students.  But how?

Let’s start with our feedback and formative assessment strategies.  If we continually engage in a conversation with our students as they work through problems and solutions, we will slowly remove the idea that there is one right answer.  Instead of a single opportunity to stamp a student product with a final grade, build in a feedback loop of present, reflect, and adjust.  By the end of the process, the grading process is a much more manageable task because you already know exactly what each student created and what they were thinking along the way.

As teachers and school leaders, this clarification of the creativity component of the 4Cs starts with us.  We must strive to understand, model, and focus on the creative thought of our own process.  Then we can model and focus on the creative thought of our students.