CREATIVITY IN ACADEMICS - PART 1

 CREATIVITY IN ACADEMICS -PART 1

This week we will be looking at something different. This is a concept that has not been so much talked about. We will look at what it means to be creative and how through creativity, one can better one's odds in academics.

Creativity in relation with Academia are two correlatable concepts. Creativity as have been defined by several authors, can be said to literally mean "create", "creation"  or "creative force" and "power to create new works". It is the ability to make or bring something new into existence. This "new" could either be in the aspect of solving a problem, finding a method, etc. The concept "Creativity" is of value to every discipline. It cuts across the Academia, business system, finance system and so many others. One thing also about Creativity is this, it is never afraid of trying something new hence its ability to bring newer results every time given the chance. Creativity has been said to mean innovations. A process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements and disharmonies as well as identifying, searching for solutions, making guesses or formulation of hypotheses, and possibly modifying and restating them, and experimenting to find results and finally communicating the results.(Penick 1992).

{You can go over this definition again.} It cuts across every aspect of what Creativity entails.

Despite how important Creativity is in order to foster good academic achievements, it is poorly understood even in our schools today. We are all expected to possess abilities to recognize, memorize and be able to produce those information same way it is given to us. But this is often times not the case with the students. A school is made up of different individuals with different capabilities and these should be clearly understood. Many times the difference between a poor performance and good performance is Ability. The Ability of A to do is different from B; A's approach could be totally different from B but if B's does not tally with custom and tradition, it is regarded as low-class; and this in the long run affects such individuals.

Academic Creativity is a way of thinking about, learning and producing information in subjects taught in schools in such a way that it is specific to different individuals and brings a special excitement along with it. 

You ever wonder why growing up, children tend to be excited once they discover new things; for instance they build new toy cars, houses,etc. The joy they experience at that moment. This is the excitement that comes with creativity; that comes when we build our own paths and not follow strictly what is the norm.

Look carefully at the illustrations below:

1. In what year did Nigeria become amalgamated? (The answer 1914, requires recognizing and memorizing information.)

2. How are the Northern and Southern states both similar and different? (The answer requires more than memorization and understanding; it requires students to think about what they know.)

3. Suppose Nigeria had not been amalgamated. How would our lives and history have been different? (The answer requires many creative thinking skills including imagining, experimenting, discovering, elaborating, testing solutions, and communicating discoveries.) Creative thinking enhances fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. It is a natural and healthy  human process as opposed to learning by Authority. 

Creativity is fundamental to self - reliance. The more self - reliant a person becomes, the better the quality of his or her life, family, community and society at large. Being creative enables us to get the most out of life experiences and resources. 

Inasmuch as, we see its usefulness, its however delicate i.e. it is dependent on so many factors and these in the long run can exert positive or negative effects on Creativity. One of such factors is the environment. The environment where a child finds himself or herself could foster or inhibit creativity. Though an individual may have the innate or genetic ability for creativity, yet parents and teachers have roles to play to enhance and foster these creative traits.  Others which include, family support, availability of learning materials and social pressures have also been postulated. It is clear that if teaching, assessment and social environment support creative thinking, the innate tendency is continued, but if not, reverse is the case.

TO BE CONTINUED...

THE MEN THAT LEAD

Building manhood...