Creativity Handbook says "Educators need to understand creativity in order to embrace it". So what are the activities that help 15-year-olds become more creative?

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According to PISA results "15-year-olds report lower creativity that 10-year-olds"
Isn't it a central component of education to be developed over the life span?
What is your experience like in developing and evaluating abilities of the teens in problem solving, creative writing and interpreting data? What are the characteristics of highly effective approaches in your practice?

@Bilim

You raise an important point about the decline in reported creativity among 15-year-olds compared to 10-year-olds, as highlighted by PISA results. Indeed, fostering creativity should be a central component of education throughout a student's life.

In my experience as a SPED teacher, developing and evaluating the abilities of teens in problem-solving, creative writing, and data interpretation involves a few key strategies. Firstly, encouraging open-ended projects and assignments allows students to explore their ideas and think critically. This not only enhances problem-solving skills but also stimulates creativity and innovation.

For creative writing, I incorporate diverse prompts and encourage students to draw from their personal experiences and interests. Providing constructive feedback and opportunities for peer review also helps them refine their writing skills and develop a unique voice.

When it comes to interpreting data, practical, real-world applications are crucial. I use data sets related to topics that interest students, and we work on projects that require them to analyze and draw conclusions from the data. This not only makes the learning process engaging but also helps them understand the relevance of these skills in everyday life.

Highly effective approaches in my practice include differentiated instruction to cater to diverse learning needs, collaborative group work to foster peer learning and idea exchange, and the use of technology to provide interactive and hands-on learning experiences. Continuous formative assessment helps me tailor my teaching to address students' strengths and areas for improvement, ensuring that each student can develop their problem-solving and creative abilities to the fullest.

Best,
Mr. Bryan

Creativity plays a vital role in education, requiring educators to comprehend its essence to effectively nurture it among students. For 15-year-olds, engaging in activities that encourage thinking outside the box, such as brainstorming sessions, project-based learning, and artistic expression through various mediums, can significantly enhance their creative abilities. Despite PISA findings indicating a decline in creativity levels among 15-year-olds compared to when they were 10, it underscores the need for continuous support and cultivation of creativity throughout the educational journey. From my experience, developing teens' problem-solving, creative writing, and data interpretation skills involves fostering an environment that values exploration, encourages risk-taking, provides constructive feedback, and promotes collaboration, ultimately leading to more innovative and effective learning outcomes.

Interesting to point out that at the threshold of 21C educators were wondering if soft skills can really be assessed. But today PISA test constructs can assess how the idea is 1)generated, 2) evaluated and 3) improved! We now can analyze comparative performance by students around the world, see the correlation between creative thinking and other core literacies.
Modern teaching must be innovative. Assessment should be innovative and game-based. By understanding and embracing new methods we can accomodate different learning preferences, address diverse needs in education to foster creative thinking. Let's empower the students to reach their potential by supporting a joy of learning, always come with creative ideas to test and discuss. Increase their agency.

3.jpg hello Bilim
To nurture creativity in 15-year-olds, educators can engage them in various activities such as exploratory writing, artistic expression, and problem-solving challenges. For instance, in science, presenting them with real-world problems like designing sustainable energy solutions or developing innovative medical devices encourages creative thinking. Likewise, in everyday life, encouraging them to explore different art forms or engage in improvisational activities fosters spontaneity and imaginative thinking. These activities not only stimulate creativity but also cultivate critical thinking and innovation, essential skills for their personal and academic development.!

@Bilim
Hello Bilim,
According to PISA results, 15 year old teens report lower creativity, I personally think it depends upon the Curriculum being followed. Creativity is indeed a significant factor which needs to be developped throughout the educational process. I normally integrate inquiry based learning in my teaching practice, which is an effective tool to develop creative skills of students. In addition projects are given to develop their problem solving skills and creative writing also.

@Housna, I absolutely agree with you, IBL, PBL, aspects of experiential learning, collaborative learning and peer-based feedback other new approaches will contribute substantially, cause EDUCATING is generating and evaluating ideas. It needs creativity. Key transferable skills must be embedded in the curriculum with discipline-specific content.

How can I know that I'm not wrong, if noone questions me?
How can others know that I'm right, if noone elicits ideas from me?
How can I know what I know, if I don't know what I need to know?

Re: [Creativity Handbook says "Educators need to understand creativity in order to embrace it".
Hello Bilim you have raised a very important point of child development. As I teach the students under 15 and up to 15 years I also have observed that when children come to this stage they become more sensitive and emotional they want to discover their creativity in a practical way to approach at gaining some skills. Besides this I also see in my students the style of learning becomes more towards creativity rather cramming.So this stage needs that our children must have some mastery and exposed to experimental and discovery methods.some of the activities that lead them towards creativity may be.
Story writing.
Poetry making
Critical analyst
Discovery of new things at available resources.
Program developer
Artistic activities for fine arts or illustrations.
And so many other activities that extract their creativity.

Dear Mariam, thank you. I absolutely agree with you, that's the problem indeed. Let' embrace together fantastic activities for the teens here.

@Mariam said in Creativity Handbook says "Educators need to understand creativity in order to embrace it". So what are the activities that help 15-year-olds become more creative?:

Poetry making

When it comes to poetry making I love the activity where I ask participants to create a Cinquain poem. Cinquains are easy and fun to write. However, this method helps:
to analyze complex information and extract the main points from it;
to develop speech skills and articulate thoughts clearly;
to formulate thoughts and draw conclusions;
to foster creative and cticital thinking.

Cinquain is a short poem (only 5 lines) that does not have a rhyme, but is written according to the following rules:

Line 1 – one noun expressing the main theme of the syncwine.

Line 2 – two adjectives expressing the main idea.

Line 3 – three verbs describing actions within the topic.

Line 4 – a phrase that carries a certain meaning.

Line 5 – conclusion in the form of a noun (association with the first word)

And of course, I find it fun to try writing poems with the help of AR - I mentioned one platform in the post about teaching digital tools where I created a song about the E-Teach forum

@Bilim
Yes, I agree with it that students over15 are more creative than students of 10. As I teach students of grade ten. They are at the stage of 15 years age or some over 15. So it is my observation that my students who are 15 years old or over 15 are very creative. They create their own ideas. Similarly I teach some students of lower classes who are below 15 and some students who are below 10. So the students who are below 10 are not creative, some of them may be creative to some extent but they are not fully creative. And you are right that they can be somehow creative by cinquains poems as they are easy to understand according to their mental level. Here I give an example of cinquains poem which students of 10 or below 10 can understand easily and create their idea about it to some extent. The poem runs thus:
Flowers
Colourful, fragrant
Swaying, growing, blooming
Make me feel happy
Blossoms
From this poem little students of 10 years old and below 10 can create their idea about flowers easily. They can say that flowers ar colourful. Flowers give fragrance.
Flowers grow. Flowers bloom etc.
So I agree with you that this approach is applicable to students of 10 and below 10 for creativity.

@Mariam
Yes ma'am, you are right. I teach students of grade ten who at the stage of 15 years and some over 15 years. It is my abservation that these students are more creative than the students of below 15. You are also right that they are more sensitive. They create their own ideas. But ma'am Billin is right that students of 10 years and below 10 can be made creative through cinquains poems because these poems are easy to understand according to their mental level. Here I suggest a cinquains poem which runs thus:
Cats
Curious, playful
Sneaking, pouncing, sleeping
Always fun to cuddle
Feline.
From this poem students of 10 or below 10 can create their idea about cats easily. So according to Billin this approach is good for students of 10 and below 10 to make them creative.

@Ana_moderator that's really sounds great I will try it in my classroom .thank you ma'am Ana for guidance.

Dear Bryan,

I cannot stop admiring your professionalism and complete dedication to loving and true caring of your students. I admire your fantastic posts, true devotion to your job, careful attitude to every of us here in this forum, to every educational topic.

Thank you for sharing with in-depth thoughts regarding all three points raised by me. In the era of life-long learning Critical thinking and productivity as central components 0f education are continuums of progress throughout the life cycle. General sad trend is that the basics of STEM knowledge and creativity cultivated at early age weaken gradually by the time they grow.
Is it due to age peculiarities or pedagogics of secondary level?

@Antonia, absolutely! Learning losses during COVID and its drastic consequences prove that educational imbalance/disequilibrium is a global challenge that emphasize the role and immediate implementation SDG4.

Thank so much for your feedback!

@Bousl, credit must be given to you for using spontaneity and imaginative thinking really no routine thinking, no ready made goods and services, in other words "no fish to eat, but to fish to eat" and notably all of a sudden being able to apply what you already know IMAGINATIVELY (as creative as possible) in a completely new context. Improvise, capture the flow.
Hope forum colleagues are familiar with the concept of Hungarian psychologist who describes flow those moments when one is completely absorbed in a challenging but doable task.

According to him, guru of creative thinking “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”

This is the motto of modern teachers especially in the time the creativity of teenagers decrease and too much gadget (ready product, applications, delivery) dependence.

@Bilim Hello!!
Hope you will be doing well. Actually the creativity begins from within.So it's not a medicine through which we can voost up the creativity on the students.Being a good facilitator educator you.donot have need.to train or impose things but you have to only give a hont to students of all ages and thus they will get rid of spoon feeding because we dont have to train them how to eat fish.but we have to train.them how to fish.
Don't tell the "students that A"" for Apple but train them that which words start with the A"in this way.too many 'A sounding words will come in their mind and they will start using by their own.
So let the students think at.their own.
Many.other activities like this can.improve the critical thinking.
And other digital advancement like.the use.of computer AI , Chatgpt WhatsApp grpups.of academy side.and many more can.be helpfull for thestudents.