I believe that learning and creativity are closely intertwined. In our everyday life, every person probably experiences learning at one point or the other. Learning is integral to life. There are a myriad experiences and activities that are new to each and every person every day. As a child I learnt how to speak a ride bicycle with the help of my friends. It took a while but eventually I was able to balance myself on the two wheels: something I believed impossible. When I finally tested myself on a motorcycle in my teenage years, the only skill I had to grasp was how to manipulate the speed and brake in time. This took a matter of minutes compared to teaching myself to ride a bicycle: which took months. So how did I learn so quickly?
According to an article on Academy of Management Journal, “there is a positive correlation between learning and creativity”. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge – or modification of existing knowledge – and skills. The knowledge I gained while riding a bicycle is similar to the application of skill I used to ride a bicycle. You are probably wondering what am blabbering about. To ride a bicycle, I had to modify my disbelief in the stability of a two wheel vehicle. I had to gain knowledge and skill on how to control my body in order to achieve balance. With that done, I simply applied the same principle while trying to ride a motorcycle. I just as easily made use of the skill to learn how to skate. Now am sure you are wondering whether I veered off topic. The answer is simply, I got creative. The multiple intelligence argues that there is a close relationship between learning and creativity. This intelligence is used to come up with solutions to problems which entails creative and propels learning. The learning process involves various processes which involve creative; intuition, perception, judgment, thinking and sensing.
So what is creativity? According to Psychologist Michael Hogan, creativity is our ability to use knowledge gained to do or create something new. In school for instance, we are in an environment that fosters learning by providing information to inform our knowledge base. Based on this information, students have made creative inventions. For a long time, Yahoo and Google were considered the best social media platforms: until Facebook was invented. It emerged as appealing and user friendly to most users and quickly flourished to what it is today. This is a classic example of creativity. Facebook was believed to have borrowed its roots from an application used within Harvard Campus for social purposes. The founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is said to have learnt how to use the software before he invented his own, Facebook, which dominated globally. The company has grown significantly over the years.
Theories have been advanced on the learning and creativity correlation that can assist in comprehension why people generally get better at doing recurring activities. The unit theory is one such theory that advances this logic. When a person first learns to speak a language in comparison to the same person fluent in the same language, the theory dictates that the effort put forth in learning decreases over time. This is to say, that each time I learn about a language, my efforts at language comprehension become lower and lower while my language speaking skills become better and better. This is similar to my experience in school: learning how to read. At first, I invested a lot of time and mental effort to learn how to write. However, with time, I realized that I could easily write down words dictated by the teacher. As I began to learn French as young adult, the effort I invested to write down the correct spelling was not as extensive as my first experience writing. The unit theory uses the illustration of a learning curve to shed light on this experience.
Figure 1: A simple illustration of learning curve advanced by unit theory
As is represented in the graph, the time taken to complete recurring but increasing activities reduces each time. This can be applied to my personal experience learning to ride a bicycle and graduating to riding a motorcycle; it applies to Mark Zuckerberg development of Facebook into a multibillion dollar company; it applies to my personal efforts learning how to write as a young person and as a young adult. Which therefore begs the question: is this absolute or are there circumstances that play a role to shape that graph?
Each and every person is different and unique in their perception and comprehension of events. Learning activities are an opportunity to learn something new; modify knowledge; learn a new experience. Each and every person however, has a different learning style. It is possible to find several people who prefer one style of learning and another group that prefers a different style of learning. Learning styles influence how a learner comprehends what is learned via experience. In a class for instance, a teacher has to use explanations and illustrations to explain a single concept to students. The assumption is that each and every student absorbs information efficiently by means of different learning methods which must be explored by the teacher. As s young student in science class, I would easily get bored with the teacher’s explanations on scientific concepts in class. I was however quite active during any science experiments and was very adept at learning the same thing the teacher was explaining during this period of time. I would stay behind after class to indulge the teacher into doing more experiments and actually participating in them myself. Fortunately, my teacher was kind enough to acknowledge my passion for practical learning and I would later become his lab assistant. What this experience in school shows, is my learning orientation. I am a practical learner. This is not to disqualify other learning methods as inadequate. I know of fellow classmates at the time that could excel in science just by watching our science teacher conduct the experiments. As such, there are categories, rather, orientation of learning styles.
Figure 2: Kolb's continuum of learning
According to Kolb, learners would move through the different phases of the continuum during their learning process. The concrete experience in learning represents an individual experiencing a new event for the first time. The emphasis of this stage of the learning continuum is the active involvement of a person. Relating this to my personal experience learning to ride a bicycle, it would not have been possible for me to learn by simply watching my friends ride the bicycle: which I believe makes a lot of sense and is therefore valid. The next stage involves reflective observation. At this stage the learner withdraws from the activities to watch others accomplish the same activity. Relating this to my personal experience riding a bicycle, this represented the period of pondering the number of times I got it right. Then I would try to make sense of the experience during the times I got it right: abstract conceptualization. Finally, I would make a decision on what I would try to do the next day to improve the learning experience: this represented the last stage in the continuum, active experimentation. Fundamentally, there are four types of students based on Kolb’s learning styles: accommodators, assimilators, convergers and divergers. Kolb theorized that learners eventually almost always adopted one of the styles. Accommodators (concrete experience/active experimenter) are students or learners who actively experiment as they experience the event for the first time. They are known as proactive learners, like myself, and tend to grasp facts very quickly. They are thus more concerned with the significance of a learning experience: the consequences of an action. Assimilators (abstract conceptualization/reflective observer) are much more organized in their style of learning and pay a lot of attention to accuracy. Fundamentally, they are more concerned with the ‘what’ of the experience. In contrast however, the Convergers (abstract conceptualization/active experimenter) are more concerned with the how of an experience. Therefore, how do I write English letters? How do I hold the pen? How do I ensure I have the best handwriting while writing? Lastly, Divergers (reflective observer/concrete Experience) are more concerned with the ‘why’ of an experience. Why is the letter ‘p’ shaped like an upside-down version of letter ‘b’? Why does a bicycle have only two wheels instead of three?
The influence of nature on the development of learning and creativity in kids has also been explored as interconnected. This basically means that a kid who explores nature is more creative than a kid who is confined in an urban set up. Interactions with nature enhances the child’s learning activity and their creativity. A good example of a learning activity is the activity of play building by children. Children become imaginative and take various roles and sometimes even come up with makeshift objects to represent their reality. Creation of replicas of objects such as aero planes is fun for the learner and inspires their creativity. Nature plays a major role in the learning process by inspiring imagination and creativity. Parents today are worried that their kids are too engrossed in the urban set ups of our society and have become disconnected to nature. Eco pedagogies Biophilia is a lifestyle of living and learning. It is rooted on the basis of normative concepts – identifying oneself as an earthling – and the adoration of life – biophilia. Eco pedagogies Biophilia is a movement that is quickly being adopted by parents as a way of teaching their kids about how to form a connection with nature. This connection to nature is the key to kids’ healthy development. The human body is believed to house latent ability of sense. This latent ability is only awakened by exploration of nature and creativity thereof, resulting from exploration of nature. In Norway for instance, the parents have adopted a free class-room set up in nature. The children are encouraged to pack and venture out with their parents and teachers. I believe this is an exciting way to learn because in the contemporary school set up, the kid is left at the hands of the teacher at a tender age in kindergarten. The child is forced to adapt to relatively poor conditions: one teacher catering for several emotionally needy kids. Unlike this system of teaching, the kids are accompanied by parents and teachers into nature reserves where they are taught activities that are fundamental to life skills and survival skills in nature. These kids show remarkable creativity from the learning they engage in. of course kids are also creative in urban areas. To give you a brief preview of human nature’s ability to bond with nature, take the example of the young teenager (Ben Underwood) who can see through echolocation. Now, I do not mean to sound insensitive, but he can essentially perceive sonar impressions like a bat: this was a habit he developed by creatively clicking: to produce sounds that bounce off objects and provide him with sonar impressions. I believe nature is fundamental to the holistic development of kids in addition to self-esteem and emotional development.
Speaking of emotions, have you ever looked at a work of art and felt awe to be in its presence? A while back, I was lucky enough to interact with an artist who drew my picture while I was eating an ice cream with my family. When he approached and showed me the picture, I felt the sort of emotion I find challenging to comprehend today. Emotional intelligence possessed by the learner is influenced by the kind of emotions that are felt by the learner most especially through visual perceptions. Emotional intelligence enables one to direct emotions directly to gather more information. Positive thinking influence the learner to think more creatively. When emotions are fostered by experience the learners creative and learning is fostered on empathetic contexts. The learner makes associations with emotions to influence learning and creativity. The simple picture captured the moment in such a way that evoked emotion: and I rarely subscribe to art pieces. We all know emotion is abstract, but this lad made me believe it visible. This was a creative artist revealing the emotion he witnessed on paper. How many times have u seen an artist’s work of art and felt emotionally influenced by their creativity? When was the last time you listened to a song that evoked a deep seated emotion inside you? The human being is an emotional being. Emotion can make us violent, but it can also make us creative. Anyone can feel the emotion in art, but not everyone can bring out the emotion of others in their work of art. What’s the difference? Artists have developed what is known as emotional intelligence. They know how to manipulate emotion in their works of art to trigger specific emotions in the viewer of such works. Likewise, a teacher can use his/her emotional intelligence to influence the direction of thought in their students’ minds. Emotion is a broad sword that cuts both ways: it can influence creativity positively or negatively. Emotion such as fear can paralyze one: to be unable to act.
Creative arts combined with ecological learning provide a great opportunity for learning in the case of students. Ecological learning allows me as a learner to interact more intimately with the world around me and relate the topic of study with my current environment. For instance, a learning activity on insects will be effective if it is conducted outdoors instead of within the confines of classroom walls. Outdoor learning inspires the learner to wonder since unlike in the classroom, the teacher has limited control over the situation. In the contemporary school set up, students are mostly young people. The students I interact with every day are my age mates. We all strive to learn the social systems of meaning in our contemporary societies. None is a better conduit for offering such insight as drama in creative arts. Creative arts drama is a live play by play scenario of the events explored by the author or researcher of the subject and the source of conflict. Drama enhances the learning process by inspiring creativity and imagination on the mind of the audience. Activists have used drama over the years to educate the public on their ideologies. The object here is the creation of meaning in the mind of the student. For instance, information on the value of respect to the elderly in the society is readily available to most young teens and children in the society. However, in order to really connect with a student’s meaning of respect, the two aspects of creative arts and ecology can be applied. The ecological set up serves to relax the student as they engage in team building activities, while the drama in creative arts aim to influence their meaning making while their minds are at rest. The meaning making influenced by drama provides them with information that affords them the ability to make creative decisions in the complex contexts of social interaction. Art is specific for every group of people. Art is creativity which can be expressed through paintings, symbols, words, stories, colors and patterns. Learning can be enhanced by incorporating the use of creative artistic materials.
In conclusion, I believe that learning and creativity in both young people, kids and likewise in adult are aspects of life that develop in tandem. In education, learning is the key to developing a holistic individual who exudes self-confidence, emotional intelligence and maturity. The more we learn the less effort we require to learn similar experience. In term of the ‘big picture,’ the collective effort developed throughout in the pursuit for knowledge can be supplemented by creativity. This is not to say that a creative mind is inadequate. The implications are simply that we live in a changing world and something new is welcome. There are factors that come into play in the exploration of the correlation of learning and creativity. Chiefly among them is emotional quotient: the ability to feel and act on emotion. Emotions can positively influence our creativity or be detrimental to it. Nature exposure in children explores the human nature’s sensory perceptions: a fact that can make anyone do amazing if they awaken even just one of those. Drama also greatly influences learning and creativity by impacting the meaning making process and perception in the minds of the viewer. The audience is able to connect with the author in abstract levels and creatively figure out what he/she is trying to put across.
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