Teaching innovative and creative techniques to school-going students: This must find a pride of place in education systems

 

Creativity may be defined as the ability of an individual, a group of individuals or a culture to create or recognize new ideas, patterns, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. It takes individuals away from traditional and fossilized patterns of thinking and archaic patterns of thinking (even tried and tested methods) to new and innovative ones. The English word "creativity" which is traced back to the fourteenth century, (though it came to be widely used only in modern times) comes from the old Latin term “creare” (meaning 'to create') and “facere” (meaning 'to make or to produce.”)The entrepreneur G. Shawn Hunter, famed author of the book “Out Think: How Innovative Leaders Drive Exceptional Outcomes”, defines creativity as “the capability or act of conceiving something original or completely unusual.” Arne Dietrich, associate professor of psychology and chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, categorizes creativity into four distinct types: deliberate and emotional, deliberate and cognitive, spontaneous and emotional, and spontaneous and cognitive. Deliberate and cognitive creativity may be manifested by engineers and researchers while performing a job. An example of this type of creativity may be linked to the work carried out by the famed American inventor Thomas Alva Edison. Spontaneous and emotional creativity may show itself during an artistic pursuit or during down time off the clock. Spontaneous and cognitive creativity is related to out of the box thinking. In this type of thinking, the conscious brain stops working on a problem, and the subconscious brain takes over. Spontaneous and emotional creativity is related to artistic output, and is exhibited by artists and musicians. Deliberate and emotional creativity is also often exhibited and demonstrated by artists and musicians.

But just what is innovation?Innovation may be defined as applied creativity, by means of which a new or a novel idea is turned into a practical, tangible or workable solution, process or a product providing benefit to society. According to a definition provided by Hunter, “Innovation is the implementation or creation of something new that has realized value to others.” This is also based on a materialization of knowledge, talents, skills and abilities. Therefore, innovation follows creativity and is a byproduct of it. The Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyidefines innovation and creativity on the basis of individuals’ ability to produce world changing paradigms and ideas, and the good individuals do to society.

How does an individual improve his or her own creative thinking? There are a series of steps that can be laid out at broad level, and this includes, awareness generation both in terms of understanding the quantum of external knowledge available, and the generation of internal self-awareness. i.e. understanding one’s own thought processes, and how the brain processes information. Another critical component of creative thinking techniques particularly for the social sciences is to equip oneself with a world vision, and proactively look for social problems and cultural bottlenecks. Other techniques such as a dimensional analysis or a slice dice analysis can be used to formulate new and meaningful ideas and solutions. Lead and lag areas in any domain can also be identified. Theories such as the theory of cultural lag in Anthropology as proposed by William F. Ogburn can also be vital benchmarks. Dialectical approaches and reflective equilibrium are two other important techniques. Individuals must equip themselves with the ability to understand other people’s and culture’s thought processes and points of view through formal emic and etic studies. These are some pre-existing ideas in various fields of the social sciences, but rather unfortunately, the chasm and the rift between the social sciences and other sciences remains rather wide indeed. Creating and generating awareness on this issue lies at the heart of our strategy, and our long nearly two decades old travails. Thus, random questions must be asked, (even dreaming, structured thinking and cohesive thinking encouraged) one’s own thought processes constantly reexamined and self-provocative questions asked. The end result must be the alteration of one’s own mental state. People must discuss their own ideas with others in the field including with those whose perceptions do not tally or vary widely.

There is also a Japanese business philosophy called Kaizen which seeks continuous improvement of production and business processes. This method has been successfully used at Toyota. Any employee can present an idea to improve the production process, and it will be implemented if found apposite and suitable. All these concepts must be built into the education system and imparted at the appropriate school and college level. There is a lot of work to be done, and we have our task cut out. We also look forward to contributions by other social scientists and scholars. This may not happen until scholars lay themselves at the altar of service to society. Social responsibility must take precedence over academic freedom. This is an essential and fundamental pre-requisite for change. There are also several techniques and methods to improve an individual’s creative thinking. Examples of such techniques are brainstorming, brainwriting, mind mapping, metaphorical thinking, focus group discussions, lateral thinking, the six hats thinking technique, TRIZ for inventive problem solving, Noam Chomsky’s approach to independent thinking, etc.

Innovation must also always be practiced as a mindset, by force of habit and by dint of habit. Education systems must make this happen. We must also have objective based and objective driven innovation as well as issue based and objective driven innovation. We had also proposed “Structured innovative thinking techniques for Social Sciences Research” (SITTSSR) in our paper “Baking innovative and creative thinking techniques into scientific method: Towards innovative and creative techniques as an intrinsic part of scientific method for higher scientific and research output”, published in 2024. In the aforesaid paper, we had stated that there are the four spokes in the wheel to make this happen, and these are 1. Intellectualism (twenty-first century intellectualism) (This is the pillar upon which innovative and creative thought and activism should rest). 2. Innovative and creative thinking techniques as proposed in our papers. 3. Activism as necessary (science and non-science) 4. Structured apperception tests for socio-cultural change and theories of socio-cultural change as proposed and discussed by us over the years. This would constitute an extremely important pillar of socio-cultural change. Of course, our approach is only indicatory; there are many issues and methods that cannot be envisaged by any one scholar or individual; hence, the emphasis on creative and innovative thinking techniques that must be followed in letter and spirit. Other techniques such as slice and dice analysis, paradox identification and resolution and the theory of constraints are also very useful tools we believe to help individuals inculcate innovative and creative thinking besides analytical thinking, and deep-rooted cogitative thought that are so much necessary in today’s world. These will change the way people look at pedagogy and education.