Standards, aims and strategies

most of countries and nations around the world are concerned with research and studies, providing the pre-requisite for different technical and scientific fields. The rationale behind this decision is that it would enable them to reach their real potentials to serve their people and societies, in order to have the best out-comes possible. This way they would be able to save their human resources from being monopolized and used by other countries and nations. Identifying and educating children with special talents and abilities is the touch stone to achieve this goal. Generally speaking, people with better comprehension and understanding of a given field have a better chance at solving the probable problems in that field. Talent is an innate issue which can be detected and grown.

A great number od advanced and advancing countries are paying a great deal of attention to this aspect of education. They are preparing and developing a variety of programs to make this passive potential an active one and benefiting from it. The said countries are trying to enhance creativity in their students in order to have a creative work force in the future. Iran hasn’t been an exception, either. Some attempts have been made in order to identify students with special abilities, however the question arises that weather what is being done for them and to them is sufficient and convenient or not.

Is giving them a higher range of scientific knowledge or faster speed of teaching what they really need?

What has been shown by the studies done in advanced countries and the way that they have under gone guides us to, is that students have to be provided with which enables them to use their innate talents to the highest extent possible. Another way would be helping create situations in which students are motivated to identify and create problems that are understandable, solvable, and providing them with proper qualifications to solve the said problems (e.g. critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving). To achieve these goals societies should equipt their talents with such tools and let them be extraordinary talents and elites on their respective fields.

If done so students with special talents will be able to use research and analysis methods and incorporate them to engage other students in the results of these creative activities, in various forms such as thinking groups, which in turn changes them into real life researchers, who are able to find solutions for problems in different fields. The purpose of this program is to present creativity classes for all grades, based on theoretical techniques, workshops and entertaining creativity-centered programs.

A glance at creativity

In a given educational system creativity can be viewed from two perspectives:

1. A tool at disposal of the system to enhance teaching and understanding by new and creative methods

This viewpoint about creativity has become very popular recently and its results have been used widely by teacher and educators, ranging from physical equipment to fascinating chemistry experiments, to equipment used for teaching mathematic topics.

2. The other perspective views creativity as “an independent skill”.

Independent skill means that this concept exists in every single individual apart from their occupation or the career that may choose in the future. This skill refers to the ability to create ideas and executing them independently. The end goal being if the person is positioned in an executive position, they would be able to incorporate this creativity in their solutions and methods used to deal with problems. And if they are a simple worker, in a small factory, they are, yet again, armed with creativity and are able to put it to use in their work.

Teachers and educators mentioned in the first section, were already armed with such tools before the invention of the new methods.

The new categorization of creativity

All the discussions, methods and techniques of creativity can be categorized in two new groups regarding creativity as an independent skill.

1. Methods that help the emergence and advancement of creativity in a person which are mostly related to students of primary school and middle school.
2. Methods that can help individuals organize their thought in order to use their creativity more efficiently, which mostly regards the high-schoolers and higher education students.

This categorization has been less attended to by those in the field, hence are our primary concerns. The main difference here lies in the activation of creativity and its proper use, but they will be differently defined and valued since they are defined for different age groups.

From Technique to Practice

During years numerous techniques have been coined regarding creativity, from “brain storming”, which is one of the eldest to “Trese” and “Skamper” etc. but what has been of immense interest during the last decades, in advanced countries, is a practical way to change these theories and techniques to practical and operational activities.  In a distinct categorization to reach creativity as an independent skill, student activities are divided into two groups of technique and workshops. These two aren’t separate from one another, they are rather more complementary. Meaning in both exercises and creativity techniques, experiments are incorporated; and in workshops, theoretical discussion are presented.

What all these have in common is that, they all try to achieve a set of skills such as imagination, divergent thinking, thinking out of the box, problem solving, innovation, critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving strategies, inventions, analytical skills… which put together form creativity.

Without the shadow of a doubt the missing link in Iranian students’ education, is the activation and the flourishing of creativity in them so that they can make the best of their knowledge at school; since schools are the best place to attend to such important issues which are, at the moment, viewed as extra-curricular; whereas they are main stream education programs in the world.

Termic classes and workshop modules

Generally categorizing, creativity is 3 dimensional, cognitive, non-cognitive and motivational.

1. Non-cognitive: includes creative features in movement, arts, and abilities which are less often seen in similar individuals. This aspect mainly shows itself while dealing with regular curriculum subjects and topics, after being identified in every student (by the help of counselors and aptitude and attitude tests) has the opportunity to flourish
2. during their course of study at school and later at university.
3. Cognitive: creativity asserts divergent thinking in individuals. A creative individual is able to create more ideas, and is more mentally flexible in the processes of creation of ideas. They would create innovative and one-of-a-kind ideas in this process which will not occur to a regular mind.

Main aspects of divergent thinking:

1. Fluidity: is the ability to meaningfully connect ideas and words which enables individuals to provide different solutions for a single problem. In other words, fluidity depends on the quantity of the answers that an individual can provide to a problem. This view point stands on the grounds that high quantity can result in divergence of quality.
2. Innovation: is the ability to think out of the box. Innovation includes providing answers which are unusual, surprising and smart.
3. Flexibility: is the ability to think in new unconventional ways to find a solution for a problem. Flexible thinking outlines new algorithms for thinking.
4. Amplification: is the ability to pay close attention to details while doing an activity. Amplified thinking attends to all the details required form an outline and doesn’t miss and details.

In creativity courses the following aspect of creativity has been given a great deal of attention:

Motivational aspects which are the inner forces within individuals. it will make individuals proceed and continue, what they enjoy doing, regardless of any out ward prizes.

This aspect is a main concern of creativity workshops as well.