A Creative Mind is a Bright Mind: The Relationship Between Creativity and Learning

Students in elementary school, middle school, high school, and even college are forced to take fine arts classes as part of their curriculum. There are music classes, art classes, and theater classes. Some students love it; others hate it. But why is it required? What do students gain from creative courses?

Creativity is about change. It is the act of changing a current item, event, or other thing through ideas and innovative designs and products. Furthermore, a person who is creative cannot simply have good ideas. They have to be able to elaborate on those ideas, better them, and reject them if necessary. In a way, creativity is a form of critical thinking. Using past knowledge, someone is able to develop these new ideas and put them to use.

The creative process is actually very similar to the engineering process or the scientific method. There are four main steps to the creative process, preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. In the preparation step, there is a search for problems or needs that have to be met. This is also where a lot of the research to solve these problems is done. In the next step, incubation, the information from preparation is being processed and thought about. This step is mostly sub-conscious and happens naturally, without planning for it. Sometime after all the information is processed, ideas start flowing and solutions come out. This is the illumination step. Think of it as the light bulb moment in cartoons. Finally, verification takes place. Ideas are tested to see if they actually solve the problem. They are also refined or even discarded. From this step, it is common to jump back to the preparation, incubation, or illumination steps.

In the world of neuroscience, it was thought that creativity only used the right side of the brain. Now, research suggests that multiple parts from both sides of the brain are activated when a person is being creative. Depending on which stage of the creative process a person is at, different networks are used. For example, the default network that communicates between deep into the prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe to the parietal cortex is used when imagination is happening. This is when there is brainstorming and daydreaming. The execute control network is used in tasks like drawing and designing. It works between the prefrontal cortex and the posterior lobe. Another network that is being used is the salience network. It deals with environmental stimuli and the switching between the other two networks mentioned above. It connects he dorsal anterior cortices to the anterior insular.

In learning, creativity helps cognition. Because multiple parts of the brain are used, network connections are being strengthen. There is also an opportunity for new neural pathways to form. As previously said, the brain work it takes to be creative is similar to critical thinking. It exercises the brain in a similar way and improves critical thinking skills. Generally, students that are more creative are more engaged in class and with their curriculum. They are more intrinsically motivated and take in new knowledge and experiences in a way that betters their learning experience.

Students who expand their creativity through fine arts classes and other activities see benefits in all other classes and in their education as a whole.

By Sarahi