An Intermediate Space for Creative Thinking

By clinical standards, research has a long way to go before anyone could propose that instruction in art and music is a key strategy for improving student performance in science and math. But I think the idea of arts education as the nucleus of developing creative thinking has merit.

I am not an expert in the teaching of science, but I have to agree with those who assert that students need some degree of scientific content knowledge before creative thinking in science becomes relevant and meaningful to their development as potential scientists or engineers. As Simonton says (see yesterday's post), creative scientists operate under constraints posed by the prevailing theoretical framework of their domains while artists have more creative freedom. That suggests to me that mastering content knowledge remains critical in math and science and should not be jeopardized. Although creative thinking needs to develop throughout their educational experience, children need to learn the difference between empirical facts and natural laws and their flights of imagination about the seen and unseen components of nature.

That's why it makes sense to me that—at least for the short term—schools should create an intermediate space for developing students' creative thinking skills. In this space, there should be opportunities for unadulterated fancy but also for creative problem-solving that requires them to use what they have learned in math and science.

Because highly effective arts educators offer the most evolved form of instruction in pure creativity and have the greatest freedom to reward originality, I think they should be the lead creators and keepers of that space.

Of course, educators from all disciplines should should take advantage of the space, and they, as well as school leaders and the arts and business communities, should contribute to its development.