INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY CONTINUUM
A creative and innovative person:
Generates ideas
Explores Ideas
AWARENESS
LES
Generates ideas
means…
 Identifies and
understands the
demands of a
problem or
question
Generates many ideas in response to
a question.
Demonstrates highly self referential
ideas.
Generates ideas and products that
may be common and predictable,
although creative for their level of
expertise
Demonstrates creativity within the
framework of teacher led projects.
 Generates a large
number of ideas in
response to openended questions
(fluency)
Demonstrates openness and
originality in creating new things
(songs, poems, rhythms, images),
based on both reality and fantasy.
 Generates new and
unusual ideas
(originality)
Generates ideas which are
fantastical without the realization
that ideas are perhaps not concretely
applicable.
 Shifts the direction
of one’s thinking or
one’s point of view
(flexibility)
Elaborates within given structures
(add new animals to the Old
MacDonald song)
Generates egocentric ideas (robot
who gives me Pepsi and pizza
whenever I want it.)
Applies Ideas…
EXPLORATION/
ENGAGEMENT
LES/UES
Overheard saying, “let’s try this.”
Displays a tendency to stick to
doing things based on their first
experience with it
Demonstrates an understanding of
simple metaphor when explained.
Makes unusual associations and
provides a variety of solutions to
problems
UES
Participates in teacher led
generation of ideas.
Asks ‘what if…’ and can come
up with many ‘ideas’ that are
both novel and useful.
Occasionally produces unique
ideas, with guidance/support.
May need help from teacher to
come up with starting point
Openly expresses interest and
wonder at new phenomena and
desires to actively pursue such
interests
Becomes more skilled at
creating new things as motor
skills (drawing) develop
Understands what is required
from a word problem.
UES/MS
Motivates self in selected
topics of interest within the
curriculum
GENERATIVITY
MS
MS/HS
HS
Demonstrates an emerging
understanding of the
usefulness or appropriateness
of ideas.
Uses different modes of
communication to explain new
ideas
Independently generates lists
of ideas as a ‘way of thinking’.
Values the process as a way of
coming up with the best idea.
Begins to understand the
complexity of feasibility in
realizing ideas.
Uses existing ideas to create
new ideas.
Envisions new responses to
varying situations
Thinks of all the possibilities
and diverges to become more
expansive with his/her
thought/ideas that lead to the
creation of original products.
Offers original ideas and
shares or advocates thinking
that deviates from convention
Independently links seemingly
unrelated ideas
Produces unique ideas with
minimal support
Applies existing knowledge to
generate new ideas, products or
processes
Begins to identify
characteristics of ‘quality’ in
art/literature, etc
Identifies universal aesthetic
attributes.
Sees metaphors clearly and
begins to use metaphor in their
own work‘
Evaluates own ideas.
Begins to be aware of
metaphor and similarity or
analogy
Articulates their opinions
about beauty.
Remains self-referential (their
opinion)
INTEGRATION/
SYNTHESIS
Reacts positively to novel
elements in the environment
Realizes usefulness of good
ideas, and clearly articulates
this usefulness to others.
Plays as they did as a child, but
with an understanding of how
this leads to creativity.
Adapts responses to fit the
situation
Seeks out hooks for interest in
topics
Seeks out novelty or generates
topics to learn about
Prompted to spontaneous
exploration by accidental
discovery
Ideas are highly authentic and
valuable.
Independently produces and
develops new ideas, unique
“new to the world”
Demonstrates an increased
level of sophistication and
ability to evaluate and discuss
why one idea has greater merit
than another.
At times, advocates
unconventional or unpopular
positions
Tackles challenging problems
without obvious solutions,
despite potential for failure
Demonstrates a refined sense
of aesthetics that transcends
culture, time, personal
preference.
Applies universal aesthetic
attributes in their own creative
process.
Independently produces
metaphor as a means of
expression. Analogies are rich
and ideas linked are quite
disparate.
Demonstrates an understanding
of ethics, usefulness, and
concrete applicability in idea
generation.
Argues/explains feasibility of
ideas in reality.
Takes a sophisticated idea and
breaks it into parts in order to
realize it in the world.
AWARENESS
Explores ideas
means…
 Expands an idea
 Employs emotional
and aesthetic
sensitivity
 Empathizes
(considers the
audience)
 Takes risks and
challenges tradition
 Revises and
reorganizes
 Employs sense of
humour and
playfulness in the
creative process.
 Utilizes
comparison or
analogy to make
new connections

Enjoys ambiguity
and novelty
EXPLORATION/
ENGAGEMENT
LES
LES/UES
UES
UES/MS
Analysis is literal, simplistic, self referential
(tool for creativity, not creativity per se)
Begins to infer from
implication (limited
metaphorical understanding)
Begins to see that analysis is
a tool to help become
creative
Demonstrates a consideration
of multiple perspectives (self
to text, world, other)
Demonstrates an ability to
analyze, often based on predetermined categories
Demonstrates an ability to see
simple relationships
Begins to develop an
awareness to ambiguity, an
ability to infer from
implication, make reasoned
and supported guesses
Begins to consider
perspectives not their own
With direction and assistance,
empathizes with another,
especially when they have a
personal reference to that
experience.
Generates ideas for solutions
to problems and asks
questions in order to create
unusual, unique, or clever
products.
Look at story/picture/poem as a whole,
rather than component parts
Sees relationships between two things that
are near to each other (Hurricane &
tornado)
Demonstrates ability to reorganize (classify,
sort) within limited and familiar contexts
(animals)
Demonstrates curiosity and eagerness to
resolve ambiguity, desire to eliminate
ambiguity
Proposes possibilities no necessarily
connected to context/information
Seeks authority (teacher/adult) as a
resolution to ambiguity
Enjoys humour and play
Engages in discovery,
exploration, and
experimentation to reach
unexpected answers
Identifies more widely with
situations that they might not
have experienced personally.
Identifies the emotional
response that THEY are
having in response to a thing.
Ideas that are synthesized
become more complex and
further apart
Accessing multiple sources
to build a picture
Uses materials or knowledge
or techniques in nontraditional ways
GENERATIVITY
MS
Builds on others ideas
Discusses and revises ideas
through trial and error
Identifies changes in
aesthetic sensitivity over
time. Personal preference
remains dominant.
Demonstrates an ability to
reorganize seemingly
disparate or disconnected
ideas into like categories
Breaks an open ended
problem into component
parts.
Embraces debate to resolve
ambiguity.
Realizes that multiple
sources can help resolve
ambiguity
MS/HS
Identifies own bias, but may
struggle to see perspectives
objectively
Can identify disparate parts –
can pick apart the story for
details
INTEGRATION/
SYNTHESIS
HS
Actively seeks multiple
perspectives, looks at
information non
judgmentally/without bias,
Clarifies relationship between
creations and culture
Sees links between seemingly
unrelated ideas
Is willing to compromise ‘face’
or ‘status’ in order to problem
solve creatively.
Once invested in work, risks and
challenges become intrinsically
motivational to the student
Respect risk taking in others.
Understands that reorganizing
information is an important step
to use the information creatively
Sees mistakes as learning
opportunities
Begins to see complex
relationships, if guided
Generates multiple
perspectives from multiple
sources and from seemingly
disparate domains/areas/ideas
Demonstrates a tendency to shy
away from complexity
Organizes information clearly
and usefully to solve task
Often gives up in the face of
ambiguity
Embraces complexity and
ambiguity: see these as a
manageable challenge.
Combines ideas
Reconsiders some positions
and points of view
Adapts, improves, modifies,
and expands existing
thoughts or ideas to create
products
Feels empowered, not
frustrated, by having freedom
to try something new.
At times, responds to illdefined situations with
spontaneity
Can jump out of comfort
zone in a safe environment
Actively looks for
innovations that might
enhance his/her work
Explores novel topics or
objects independently
Looks and thinks from
multiple perspectives
Begins to take small risks for
things that are important to
them.
Lets discovery, exploration, and
spontaneity take him/her in new
directions
Can quickly and calmly change
focus and goals as the situation
demands
Looks and thinks from multiple
perspectives, seeking unusual
views of and idea or object
Revisits ideas, objects, or
situations to get more
information or meaning
Makes connections between
ideas or experiences that were
previously unconnected.
Generates multiple possibilities
as a result of inference
Tolerates a higher level of
comfort with ambiguity.
Realizes that a ‘problem’ can
be an opportunity to improve
the overall human condition.
Problems exits even in ‘good’
or ‘ideal’ solutions.
Recognizes the value of
humour and play in the
creative process.
Responds to open-ended or illdefined situations with
spontaneity and ingenuity that
leads to the discovery and
exploration of new idea
Visualizes the connection
between seemingly unrelated
ideas and independently
produces solutions that are
fresh, unique, original, and
well-developed
Comfortable with keeping
meaning open
Balances several options at
once
AWARENESS
LES
Applies ideas
means…





Applies an idea in
the real world
(influences the
world)
Realizes a plan
Evaluates the
impact and
effects of an idea
in practice
Supports and
seeks innovation
Persists in vision
or commitment to
idea
Describes when asked personal feelings and
preferences.
Creates games, rules, characters.
Attention to a single problem is short lived
Intuitively follows gut instincts, without
understanding what motivates them.
EXPLORATION/
ENGAGEMENT
LES/UES
Self-evaluates with prompts.
Identifies emotional
connections, with prompts.
(How did you feel when…
Why?)
Expresses what creation is
and what it does
UES
Recognizes creativity as a
quality in a person.
Demonstrates frustration
when faced with obstacles
Creates something that
doesn’t currently exist
UES/MS
Begins to understand
creativity as a process that
can improve their work.
GENERATIVITY
MS
MS/HS
INTEGRATION/
SYNTHESIS
HS
Experiments with the creative
process.
Applies the creative process
independently in a variety of
situations.
Sees self as creative, aware of
strengths, passions,
convictions.
Identifies qualities of creative
people in others.
Demonstrates intense
concentration, without fully
realizing their state of mind.
Identifies their strengths and
limitations as a ‘creator’.
Seeks resources to mitigate
limitations.
Creates original works as a
means of personal or group
expression
Identifies their personal
requirements for achieving ‘the
zone’.
Understands how to be creative
within set frameworks or
structures
Knows when they are “in the
zone”, and how to get there and
stay there even in the face of
adversity.
Won’t let first roadblock
stand in their way
Identifies an obstacles, but
will need help to overcome
May be discouraged by
multiple obstacles
Anticipates obstacles.
Demonstrates a developing
ability to plan for dealing with
obstacles. (with assistance)
Works hard and/or intensely
concentrates on a
task/topic/subject of interest
Experiments with humor with
some success.
Stick-with-it-ness is limited to
weeks
Anticipates and plans for
obstacles.
Willing to make errors
Identifies the problems in a
proposed solution.
Uses models and simulations to
explore complex systems and
issues
Continues to tackle problems
over long periods of time
(weeks or months)
Goes with a gut feeling,
without necessarily being able
to articulate why they are on
that path
Takes on taks that involve
novelty and trial and error
Identify trends and forecast
possibilities
“Reads” a situation/person
Discerns appropriate forms of
humor when asked.
Discusses why humor might be
successful or not.
Demonstrates confidence and
courage to explore a gut
feeling, even if it turns out to
not work
Motivated to bring order to
disorder
Constructs systems to represent
thinking and feeling
Applies originality,
concentration, commitment to
completion, and persistence to
develop unique and cogent
products
Stimulates an emotional
response with their own
creative work.
Evaluates situations (cultural,
situational) and employs humor
and play appropriately.
Synthesizes divergent
perspectives into original
thought
Resolves ambiguity
Defends two courses of actions
that would influence the
outcome of an event and what
impact the decision would have
made