What is creativity?

Creativity is the ability to create something that is new and that has value in the context where it is used.

What does creativity mean?

The definition has two parts. First, the result must be original, meaning new to the person or the group. Second, it must work: it must solve the task or give something meaningful. An idea that is unique but useless is usually not counted as creative.

In a school context, this means creativity is not reserved for the arts. You can show it in every subject.

Examples from school

• You solve a maths problem in a different way from the example in the book, and can explain why it works.
• You write a story from an unusual point of view.
• You design your own experiment in science to test a hypothesis.
• You make a poster, a film or a game to show what you have learned.

What is established, and what is disputed?

There is broad agreement that creativity builds on knowledge: you need something to combine. There is also agreement that the environment matters, because time and safety produce more ideas.

It is disputed whether school makes children less creative, and whether creativity can be trained as a general ability or only within a subject. Different studies and different views exist. Read more in Sir Ken Robinson: what did he actually say?.

Further reading

Start with the overview Creativity in school. For younger children, see Play-based learning (in Norwegian). For homework, see Creativity and homework (in Norwegian). Questions and answers: What is creativity in school?.