Teach a child to test and he will succeed for a day. Teach him to think creatively, and he will thrive for a lifetime.

Developing creative thinking in the classroom

Creative Thinking in the ClassroomIn the competitive, technology driven world that, today’s students are preparing to enter, there is one skill that will set them apart.

It isn’t intelligence.

It isn’t even tech savvy.

The most sought-after tool you can put into your students’ toolboxes is creative thinking.

But how does one teach creative thinking? Do you need meditation circles and finger paint? As trainer Joyce Juntune, Ph.D, reveals in her course “Developing Creative Thinking in the Classroom,” it’s something in which even the most no-nonsense educator can excel.

Dr. Juntune is a renowned consultant, trainer, professor, and lecturer with more than 45 years of experience in the field of education. She is an instructional associate professor at Texas A&M University where she teaches graduate-level courses in her expert areas of intelligence, child and adolescent development, educational psychology, giftedness, and creativity.

Teaching creativity: Where do I even start?

More Creative Thinking in the ClassroomCreativity doesn’t have to be intimidating or nebulous. Dr. Juntune breaks down four basic elements for developing creative thinking in the classroom:

  1. Fluency
  2. Flexibility
  3. Originality
  4. Elaboration

Dr. Juntune shares that creativity is more than an elaborately (teacher) decorated classroom. Genuine creativity is realized in the verbal fluency, categorizing flexibility, useful originality and critical elaboration that students learn to use, both within and well beyond the walls of the classroom.

She provides practical, multi-age and multi-ability examples, so you can start teaching these vital elements in your classroom tomorrow.

Why You Would Want a Liberal Arts Major for a Brain Surgeon

Thanks to the internet, what used to be advanced medical knowledge is now only a few clicks away.

So, what truly sets apart a great doctor from a well-googled dropout in a labcoat? The great doctor has the ability to make useful creative connections between a broad base of experiences and subjects. Dr. Juntune says:

“Medical schools have figured out that the best doctors do not come from the biomed majors so they started to open slots to the liberal arts students. Not only do the liberal arts students become great doctors, they test better on the entrance exam. How is that for a surprise? When you study in one little tiny area, you miss out on the connections with everything else.”

As Dr. Juntune illustrates, learning these four basic elements and developing creative thinking in the classroom will give future professionals a competitive advantage that used to come from knowledge alone.

how to teach Creative Thinking in the Classroom

What can you teach today that is going to matter when your students are 30-years-old?

Creative Thinking in the Classroom for studentsDr. Juntune stresses that focusing on this question will change the way you teach and will change the way your students learn.

At 30, most adults have paved plenty of different paths and have started to settle into the place where they want to dedicate their focus and make a life.

When you focus your attention on developing creative thinking in the classroom today, the future opens widely, and the skills you teach flood it with possibilities. Dr. Juntune also writes about having seen testing scores boom when educators stop focusing on- teaching the test, and start targeting creative thinking instead.

Idea generation is the foundation of creative thinking.

Dr. Juntune provides applicable tools that you can use to help students generate new ideas.

Over the course of six modules, Dr. Juntune will share:

  • Lessons from her own background in the field of creativity
  • The importance of nurturing creativity
  • Developing creative thinkers for the future
  • Preparing students to become cutting-edge creative thinkers
  • The differences between fluency and flexibility
  • The basics of mind sketching, and
  • So much more!

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Delivering Quality Training – No Matter Where You Are

Did you know that this course is mobile ready? That means you can complete the course on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, or any other mobile device!

Photos courtesy of Flickr via loran, Paul Inkles, Celestine Chua, & Massimo Barbieri