Creativity and Learning

This is a simple puzzle doing rounds on my Facebook timeline for almost a year now. Where adults fail to solve the puzzle, kindergarteners solve it in less than 10 seconds. The solution is simple, if you look at the numbers, upside down from right to left, you realize that it is a just series of numbers from 86 to 91.

This puzzle is a very good example of how we lose our divergent thinking as we grow up. Divergent thinking which is a very important component of creativity is a way of thinking beyond the normal or the standards. Sir Ken Robinson in his TED talk titled – ‘Do schools kill creativity?’, quoted a research which suggested that as we grow up we fall into the trap of standardization and lose our creative thinking.

Tim Brown in his talk on ‘Creativity and play’, talks about how divergent thinking is an essential element of creativity. He points out that as grown-ups we are fearful of sharing our ideas for the fear of embarrassment, children on the other hand present their ideas proudly to others, with no fear of sounding stupid.

Creativity for me is an essential component in learning new things, understanding new concepts and accepting and arguing new ideas/ideologies. When we lose our creativity we just become absorbers of knowledge. Researchers has for decades talked about the highest form of learning which happens when we understand, synthesize, evaluate and create our knowledge.

For me creativity is the strongest tool for mindful learning.

Work is more joyful, learning a more powerful experience if we train ourselves to be like kids- liberated from fears of judgment and embarrassment.