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19 - Teaching for Creativity

from PART II - VOICES FROM THE RESEARCH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2016

By
Robert J. Sternberg
Edited by
Ronald A. Beghetto  and
James C. Kaufman
Robert J. Sternberg
Affiliation:
Cornell University
Ronald A. Beghetto
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
James C. Kaufman
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
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Summary

What Is Creativity?

Creativity is a habit (Sternberg, 2006; Tharp, 2005). Habits can be good or bad. My four-year-old daughter Brittany sucks her thumb: That's a bad habit. Creativity, however, is a good habit. The problem is that schools sometimes treat it as a bad habit (Craft, 2005), of the order of sucking one's thumb. And the world of conventional standardized tests we have invented does just that (Sternberg, 1997b; 2010a; Sternberg, Jarvin, & Grigorenko, 2011). If students try being creative on standardized tests, they will get slapped down just as soon as they get their score. That will teach them not to do it again.

Oddly enough, a distinguished psychometric tester, J. P. Guilford, was one of the first to try to incorporate creativity into the school curriculum (Guilford, 1950), but his efforts show little fruit today, although more and more educators recognize the importance of teaching for creativity (Plucker & Beghetto, 2015; Reis & Renzulli, 2014). Disciples of Guilford such as MacKinnon (1962) and Torrance (1962) had little more success, although again, there are signs that their efforts may yet bear fruit.

It may sound paradoxical that creativity – a novel response – is a habit – a routine response. But creative people are creative largely not as a result of any particular inborn trait, but rather through an attitude toward life (Maslow, 1967; Schank, 1988): They habitually respond to problems in fresh and novel ways, rather than allowing themselves to respond mindlessly and automatically (Sternberg, 2010c; 2013b; Sternberg & Lubart, 1992, 1995a, 1995b, 1995c).

Like any habit, creativity can either be encouraged or discouraged. The main things that promote the habit are (1) opportunities to engage in it, (2) encouragement when people avail themselves of these opportunities, and (3) rewards when people respond to such encouragement and think and behave creatively. You need all three. Take away the opportunities, encouragement, or rewards, and you will take away the creativity. In this respect, creativity is no different from any other habit, good or bad.

Type
Chapter
Information
Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom , pp. 355 - 380
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2016

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