| |9 MARCH 2022HIGHERReviewed into every part of learning. These are some tried and tested tools: · Allow free flow of creativity by designating and de-signing a space in the classroom for exploration of cre-ativity such as - a thinking chair, synergy region, a drama stage, a drawing table, or ideation corner. You might be surprised by what they come up with.· Begin creativity in the classroom and modeling it in teaching by using mind maps, concept maps, spider dia-grams or inquiry-based learning, which are a flexible and powerful tool for representing information and nurturing creative and critical thinking. · Create a classroom that values recognizes and cel-ebrates learners' creative and innovative contribu-tions. It can be done by designing bulletin boards or brainstorming different ways of solving a problem in a real-world scenario. · Design assignments that consider not just conver-gent thinking, where we look at one concrete solution, but also divergent thinking models by looking at the mul-tiplicity of thoughts. This will help a teacher to see how a learner can use different ways to approach a problem. · Encourage sensible risk-taking, allow for flexibility and create norms that promote creativity. Sir Ken Rob-inson said it best when he said, "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original". The classroom environment must be a place where stu-dents feel safe to share novel ideas and the teachers openly try something new in their lessons. Teachers who can model creative ways of thinking and playfully engage with the content will be able to unleash the creativity that lies dormant in the student. Mathematics ironically is believed to have one con-clusive right answer, but it involves solving problems, in-cluding those which are non-routine, and that, of course, involves thinking creatively. In 2004, a young mathemati-cian, Manjul Bhargava was awarded Field Medal in math-ematics, an equivalent of the Nobel Prize, for his signif-icant contributions to the field. His achievement was to simplify a very complicated mathematical `proof' from the 18th century into a few lines. He was inspired by Ru-bik's Cube and imagined that the numbers that he was working on were applied to the corners of the Rubik's Cube. It was his process of thinking in his own unique way that leads to this breakthrough. Have you ever asked a child to describe her painting or drawing? The description will transport you to a world of imagination that these little children are blessed with. We are all born with a creative instinct and all people have creative potential. Young children naturally engage in play ­ a state when the imagination is used to `try out' situations and possibilities. A cardboard box becomes a car, grass becomes food, twigs become cutlery, a toy comes alive. As children mature their creativity gets sti-fled as an unintended consequence of other pressures. Students can become fearful of making mistakes if they only receive recognition for giving an answer. As they grow the norms and expectations take over creativity. Today, more than ever before, education must enable children to think differently because we are all a part of the global platform. We must all be able to think cre-atively, manage change, and solve complex open-ended problems. It, therefore, goes without saying that train-ing students to be open to tackling problems with novel solutions is the need of the day.Creativity and imagination aren't mystical gifts bestowed to just a few blessed individuals, it's a skill that you can hone and develop
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