Creativity
Creative Thinking &
Creative Problem-solving
2 Models of Creative Problem Solving
plus
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Additional Creative “Qualities”
Creativity is not:
The domain of a few individuals
 Not known to be linked to specific factors or traits
 Exclusive of many individuals
 Shared by all, varies by many factors
 Exclusively “world-altering”
 Personal vs Cultural creativity
 Importance of distinguishing between these 2
 Need to develop Personal to achieve Cultural
Creativity is:
 Universal
 All people have this capacity, as with intelligence
 Continuous
 Varies by degree, type, as with intelligence
 In Potential (subject to “training”)
 Identifiable via types of “performances”
 Performance competencies can be developed
2-Factor Model
 Novelty: Unique, distinct, “original”
responses to environment, experience,
circumstances
 Usefulness: Serves a purpose; responds to
perceived need; solves identified problem/s
4 Factor Model
 Fluency:
 Frequency of response; actual total number of responses to
a stimulus
 Flexibility:
 Frequency of categories of responses; actual total number of
types of responses
 Originality:
 Statistical infrequency of response for a given individual in a
given group at a given time
 Elaboration:
 Development of responses
 Completion of ideas
 Integration across ideas
 “Marketing” ideas/alternatives
Application of Models
 Working in your group, do the following:
 Identify a situation in a curriculum (content to be
taught/learned) in which you could apply these
models
 Briefly describe the instructional situation:
 Who, what, when, why, how long, what’s expected…
 Plan/state an activity that would develop each
step of the 4 factor model
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
Getting Beyond the Aha!
E. P. Torrance & H. T. Safter (1990)
 What is the “aha”?
 Moments of “insight” “intuition” “revelation”
 Moments of “wholeness” or “oneness” uniting
with everything
 Rational vs Supra-rational view of Creativity
 Non-linear sequence/-ing of creative events
The Incubation Model of Teaching
 Creative “indicators” beyond the “big 4” factors: 13 additional “qualities”
 Highlighting the essence (abstract titles)
 Keeping open (resist premature closure)
 Emotional awareness
 Putting ideas into context
 Combining & synthesizing
 Visualize richly, colorfully
 Using fantasy
 Using movement & sound
 Unusual visual perspective/s
 Internal visualizations
 Extending/breaking through boundaries
 Using humor
 Getting glimpses of infinity
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
3 Additional Issues
 Problem-finding
 Pervasive impediment: Assuming the problem is known,
therefore, focus on finding the solution
 Producing Alternatives
 At all levels of problem-solving, increased fluency supports
the processes; the more alternatives, the greater the
probability of creative solution/s
 Originality: Acceptance of being “different”
 Adequate time
 Play with ambiguity/uncertainty
 Heightened awareness of importance
 Make legitimate
The Incubation Model:
Information Processing Strategies
for Creative Teaching & Learning
 Stage 1: Heightening Anticipation
 Stage 2: Deepening Expectations
 Stage 3: Keeping it Going
The Incubation Model:
Creative Teaching & Learning
 Stage 1: Heightening Anticipation (see p.9)
 Create desire to know
 Heighten anticipation/expectation
 Get attention
 Arouse curiosity
 Tickle imagination
 Give purpose/meaning
The Incubation Model:
Creative Teaching & Learning
 Stage 2: Deepening Expectations (see p.10)
 Digging deeper
 Looking twice
 Listening for smells
 Crossing out mistakes
 Cutting holes so see through
 Cutting corners
 Getting in deep water
 Getting out of locked doors
The Incubation Model:
Creative Teaching & Learning
 Stage 3: Keeping it Going (see pp.11-12)
 Having a ball
 Singing in one’s own key
 Building sand castles
 Plugging in the sun
 Shaking hands with tomorrow
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Highlighting the essence
 Retaining sense of importance
 Staying focused
 Discriminate relevant from irrelevant information
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Elaboration
 Add details
 Develop a plan
 Implement/sell a solution
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Keep Open
 Resistance to premature closure
 Need for & use of time
 Practice with ideas in variety of circumstances w/o
time constraints
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Emotional Awareness
 Acknowledge role/significance of affective
experience/s
 Adds to, not replaces, rational-cognitive
experience/s
 Personal insight/s
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Putting Ideas into Context
 Meaningful synthesis of ideas & experiences
 Personal, individual
 Abstract analysis/synthesis:
 Part-part relationships
 Part-whole relationships
 Generalizations across concepts
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Combine & Synthesize
 Combine types & modes of information
acquisition, processing & retrieval
 “Brain laterality”: Right- vs Left-brained
 Visualize Richly & Colorfully
 Alternative perceptions
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Using Fantasy
 Future possibilities
 Varying point-of-view
 Feeling comfortable with the “unknown”
 Unconstrained by “reality”
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Using Movement & Sound
 Experience via multiple modalities deepens
concept learning
 Kinesthetic & auditory experiences: Natural
modalities for children (& experienced adults)
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Unusual Visual Perspectives
 Ability to “see in different ways” heightens
experiences of innovation & inventiveness
 Internal Visualizations
 “Seeing the insides” of objects, events, people,
experiences can lead to new, deeper insights;
seeing “multiple perspectives”
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Extending/breaking through Boundaries
 Confronting the “what’s given” limitation/bias
 Recognizing that new possibilities always exist
 Acknowledging the potential for & ambiguity of
the “incomplete” idea, object, etc, & continuing
problem-solving work
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Using & Enjoying Humor
 Integrates or synthesizes physiological,
psychological & social processes
 Accepting/understanding perceptual, conceptual
incongruities
 Recognizing unusual, unexpected combinations,
surprises
The Incubation Model of Teaching:
13 Qualities
 Glimpses of Infinity
 Open-ended environment
 Positive focus on the future
 Actively engaging one’s self as part of perceived
future for ideas to transcend the present
 Developing anticipation for an open-ended, multipossibility future
The Incubation Model of Teaching
 Creative “indicators” beyond the “big 4” factors: 13 additional “qualities”
 Highlighting the essence (abstract titles)
 Keeping open (resist premature closure)
 Emotional awareness
 Putting ideas into context
 Combining & synthesizing
 Visualize richly, colorfully
 Using fantasy
 Using movement & sound
 Unusual visual perspective/s
 Internal visualizations
 Extending/breaking through boundaries
 Using humor
 Getting glimpses of infinity