Creativity is somewhat subjective, generally considered to be an inherent trait and most often associated with “soft” school subjects like music and art classes. Either you have creativity or you don’t, right? But is that really true? Can children in particular be taught how to be more creative and can that happen in science class? I think so and here’s why.
Learning styles of memory Creativity
In the public school environment, creative answers and solutions are often not appreciated. And it’s no wonder with all the bureaucracy and national requirements teachers face these days. They are more concerned with getting their children to pass standard tests than with encouraging them to think of new ways to tackle old problems. Fortunately, as a homeschool teacher, you can overcome those barriers to creativity.
The biggest obstacle to promoting creativity in the classroom is rote learning: asking your children to simply memorize facts out of context. There is nothing creative about that kind of learning and, in fact, it can be detrimental in the way that it discourages children from thinking outside the box or making decisions on their own.
Let’s see an example. If you’re teaching astronomy this semester, you might be studying the planets in our solar system, which, of course, revolve around our sun. That’s a fact, but rather boring. Your kids may be memorizing the names and orders of all those planets, again a given, but not one that kids would be excited about. And learning those random facts does not result in good retention because they are not associated with things within the child’s environment.
Exploration promotes creativity
No matter what subject you are teaching in the classroom, you can engage in creative learning by helping them explore new knowledge while allowing mistakes to be made. Kids are much more likely to get creative when presented with “what if” questions with no obvious answers.
In the example above about teaching astronomy, an easy way to get creative is to ask students to create a model of the solar system while talking about color choices based on what each planet’s atmosphere is like. As you do, have your kids explore why or why not humans might one day live on other planets. Ask them about the elements needed to support life and discuss which planets are most likely to contain those elements. There was a recent scientific discovery of a new planet in the Alpha Centauri system close to ours, which is very similar in size to Earth. Exploring science news like this opens the door to creative exploration.
When it comes to teaching science, experimentation should be an important aspect of the curriculum. And there are few things better for promoting creativity than the ability to formulate hypotheses and then conduct experiments to find out if they are compatible or if they are false. The less knowledge a child has at her disposal, the more likely those hypotheses are outlandish, but that’s okay. She can hone her knowledge based on facts about the natural world as she progresses through the basics of science. Therefore, making mistakes is itself an integral part of creativity because it leads to the exploration of how to do it right next time.
Giving children the answers to each problem and asking them to memorize those facts is one way to teach science, but a more effective way that also promotes creativity is by allowing them to explore knowledge. Help them get excited about the wonders of the natural world and they are sure to come up with all kinds of fantastic new ideas. Creativity can be taught as long as the homeschool classroom encourages it.