LIFE SKILLS
NOTES ON CREATIVITY
Module III
,The need for Creativity in the 21st Century
The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and
character traits that are believed to be critically important to success in today’s world,
particularly in academic programmes and contemporary careers and workplaces.
Key Subjects and 21st century themes
Mastery of key subjects and 21st century themes is now considered essential to student
success. Key subjects include English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts,
mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, government and civics. In addition,
an understanding of academic content at much higher levels by bringing in
interdisciplinary themes such as Global Awareness, Financial, Economic, Business and
Entrepreneurial Literacy, Civic Literacy, Health Literacy, and Environmental Literacy has
also gained ground.
Learning and Innovation Skills
Learning and innovation skills are what separate students who are prepared for
increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world and those who are not.
They include: Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving,
Communication, and Collaboration.
Information, Media and Technology Skills
Today, we live in a technology and media-driven environment, marked by access to an
abundance of information, rapid changes in technology tools and the ability to collaborate
and make individual contributions to an unprecedented scale. Effective citizens and
workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills, such as:
Information Literacy, Media Literacy, and ICT (Information, Communications and
Technology) Literacy.
Life and Career Skills
Today’s students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and
emotional competencies to navigate complex life and work environments. The essential
Life and Career Skills include: Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self-Direction,
, Social and Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, and Leadership and
Responsibility.
CREATIVITY
Creativity may be defined as the ability to produce original, appropriate, and valuable
ideas and/or solutions to problems. Most experts agree that genuine creativity “is an
accomplishment born of intensive study, long reflection, persistence and interest”
There are basically four stages in the creative problem-solving process:
1. Preparation – searching for information that may help solve the problem
2. Incubation – letting the problem ‘sit’ while the relevant information is digested
3. Illumination – being suddenly struck by the right solution
4. Translation – transforming the insight into useful action
Convergent and Divergent Thinking
Divergent thinking is the ability to produce multiple ideas, answers, or solutions to a
problem for which there is no agreed on solution. More broadly, divergent thinking is
novel, or original, and involves the synthesis of an unusual association of ideas; it is
flexible, switching quickly and smoothly from one stream of thought or set of ideas to
another; and it requires fluency, or the ability to formulate an abundance of ideas. In
contrast to divergent thinking, convergent thinking is the type of mental activity measured
by IQ and achievement tests; it consists of solving precisely defined, logical problems for
which there is a known correct answer.
However, divergent and convergent thinking are not always separate phenomena. Both
are required for most cognitive tasks. For example, in order to be creative, a person must
develop divergent thinking, but convergent thinking is required to discriminate between
good and bad ideas. Similarly, solving precisely defined problems can involve divergent
thinking, as one tries to think of possible solutions.
Characteristics of Creative People
(1) Expertise – expertise in a specific area of endeavour is built up over years of
disciplined practice. Although expertise alone does not produce creativity,
NOTES ON CREATIVITY
Module III
,The need for Creativity in the 21st Century
The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and
character traits that are believed to be critically important to success in today’s world,
particularly in academic programmes and contemporary careers and workplaces.
Key Subjects and 21st century themes
Mastery of key subjects and 21st century themes is now considered essential to student
success. Key subjects include English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts,
mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, government and civics. In addition,
an understanding of academic content at much higher levels by bringing in
interdisciplinary themes such as Global Awareness, Financial, Economic, Business and
Entrepreneurial Literacy, Civic Literacy, Health Literacy, and Environmental Literacy has
also gained ground.
Learning and Innovation Skills
Learning and innovation skills are what separate students who are prepared for
increasingly complex life and work environments in today’s world and those who are not.
They include: Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving,
Communication, and Collaboration.
Information, Media and Technology Skills
Today, we live in a technology and media-driven environment, marked by access to an
abundance of information, rapid changes in technology tools and the ability to collaborate
and make individual contributions to an unprecedented scale. Effective citizens and
workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills, such as:
Information Literacy, Media Literacy, and ICT (Information, Communications and
Technology) Literacy.
Life and Career Skills
Today’s students need to develop thinking skills, content knowledge, and social and
emotional competencies to navigate complex life and work environments. The essential
Life and Career Skills include: Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self-Direction,
, Social and Cross-Cultural Skills, Productivity and Accountability, and Leadership and
Responsibility.
CREATIVITY
Creativity may be defined as the ability to produce original, appropriate, and valuable
ideas and/or solutions to problems. Most experts agree that genuine creativity “is an
accomplishment born of intensive study, long reflection, persistence and interest”
There are basically four stages in the creative problem-solving process:
1. Preparation – searching for information that may help solve the problem
2. Incubation – letting the problem ‘sit’ while the relevant information is digested
3. Illumination – being suddenly struck by the right solution
4. Translation – transforming the insight into useful action
Convergent and Divergent Thinking
Divergent thinking is the ability to produce multiple ideas, answers, or solutions to a
problem for which there is no agreed on solution. More broadly, divergent thinking is
novel, or original, and involves the synthesis of an unusual association of ideas; it is
flexible, switching quickly and smoothly from one stream of thought or set of ideas to
another; and it requires fluency, or the ability to formulate an abundance of ideas. In
contrast to divergent thinking, convergent thinking is the type of mental activity measured
by IQ and achievement tests; it consists of solving precisely defined, logical problems for
which there is a known correct answer.
However, divergent and convergent thinking are not always separate phenomena. Both
are required for most cognitive tasks. For example, in order to be creative, a person must
develop divergent thinking, but convergent thinking is required to discriminate between
good and bad ideas. Similarly, solving precisely defined problems can involve divergent
thinking, as one tries to think of possible solutions.
Characteristics of Creative People
(1) Expertise – expertise in a specific area of endeavour is built up over years of
disciplined practice. Although expertise alone does not produce creativity,
