COU_1_EN
Title
1.2 Creativity
Keywords
Lateral thinkin, Instinct, Outside the box, Critical aptitude
Author
DEMOSTENE
Languages
English
Objectives/goals
The first part of the course defines creativity as a key competence for lifelong learning that can be trained and developed according to the common 'EntreComp' Competence Framework. The second part of the course describes the creative process and promotes simple practical exercises to increase creativity, initiative and lateral thinking to provide entrepreneurial solutions to current economic and social challenges.
Description
1.2.A Creativity in EntreComp
Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world around us in new and different ways in order to make connections among apparently unrelated phenomena and to generate innovative solutions.
Creativity is the ability to produce new solutions without using a logical process, but establishing distant relationships among facts. Therefore, it is not a logical process.
According to ‘The art of thought’ written by the phycologist G.Wallas, the creative process includes four stages:
1. PREPARATION: data collection and problem definition;
2. INCUBATION: Unconscious Processing;
3. ILLUMINATION: Intuition, creative idea;
4. VERIFICATION: Analysis of the innovative idea
1.2.B. Develop creativity through practical exercises
We find different types of actions that can be used to become more creative and develop lateral thinking. Used in combination, they turn effective by giving you the right tools to face a problem or task.
Paraphrasing questions
The simple example we talk about in the presentation (result of 5+5=10) allows us to reflect on how the way you ask a question determines the type of answers you get. If you don't ask a question in a different way, you don't usually get really interesting answers
Connecting and combining seemingly opposite ideas
The greatest innovations or inventions of all time have always come about by putting together and mixing things that apparently, according to our schemes and canons, cannot stay together. An effective and visual method to stimulate new combinations is undoubtedly the Japanese conceptual art of Chindogu, also known as "Chindogu: The Humorous Art of Stupidity". Basically it is a provocative art, but it opens our minds. It associates things that belong to different worlds that can be practical or simply interesting
Synaptic exercises
"Synaectic" is a term coined by psychologist William J.J. Gordon. In facts, it means being able to find connections and relationships between concepts, objects and ideas that apparently have no connection. This exercise requires a high level of mental activity, and we can perform it every day by choosing concepts ourselves.
KISS – Keep it short and simple
The "keep it simple and simple (or stupid)" (KISS) principle is a design rule that states that systems work better when they have simple rather than complex designs. The KISS is not intended to imply stupidity. Quite the opposite: it is usually associated with intelligent systems that can be misinterpreted as stupid because of their simplicity.
Don't fall in love with ideas
Sometimes the perfect idea is just an illusion that hinder the process of our creative thinking. It is important to have a huge amount of ideas but having the right idea is not a matter of luck or enlightenment. It is a question of commitment and constancy, a question of quality that comes from quantity. It takes a lot in terms of time-consuming and efforts to transform a mediocre ideas into a great idea.
Do something different everyday
Whether we like it or not we are habitual creatures: every day our tendency is to choose what we already know. And even if it may not seem so apparently and you think you are a nonconformism, if you stop to observe your life you will discover that, when there are no prefigured habits, there are some unconscious gestures that we tend to repeat.
Use a card game to unlock your creativity
A card game for creativity born in the Polytechnic University of Milan is called Intùiti. It is a synthesis of design, tarot and Gestalt psychology. Intùiti is composed of 78 cards and 78 tales (one per card) collected in a booklet, available in English. Each card represents a powerful incentive, is designed using Gestalt principles and offers an evocative fairy tale which doesn’t have a written ending. The player decide it. There are no main rules. It's a tool for creative thinking based on visual and imaginary associations, so you just have to shuffle the deck, pick a card, and read the fairy tale…and suggest the end of the story. Intùiti is not an algorithmic function that can ‘make people creative’, or a scientific method able to produce thousands of brilliant ideas. It's an inspirational tool: it's not an answer, but a continuos question.
Contents
Creativity
Creativity in EntreComp
Creativity for lifelong learning
According to the European Commission's Entrepreneurship Competence Framework known as 'EntreComp', creativity is one of the 15 skills that every student can develop to become an entrepreneur.
In EntreComp creativity is presented as one of the key competences in the area called 'Ideas and opportunities', although the creative process involves both the use of resources and the ability to act on ideas to shape and exploit their value.
This guide is intended to inspire more actors across Europe and beyond to get involved, to join a community of participants committed to embedding these competences for life into education, communities, work and enterprise.
Source: The EntreComp conceptual model (Table1)
|
Creativity as a skill
Thanks to the Entrecomp Framework, Creativity is not considered as a rare gift given to lucky students or elected people but it is a competence that can be developed and trained by everyone.
Creativity is the ability to think to a task or a problem in a new or different way, or the ability to use imagination to generate new ideas. It is the ability to solve complex problems or find interesting ways to suggest new solutions.
|
‘The art of thought’
The creative process includes the following four stages
|
Stimulating Creativity
Exercises to stimulate your mind
4 preliminary considerations:
•There are different types of actions that can be used to become more creative and develop lateral thinking
•These exercises bring together ideas that serve very different needs or interests to form a new concept
•These techniques can produce some silly results, but it’s ultimately a helpful way of getting your mind out of a creative rut
•Participants will have to let their minds free to wander and create yet undiscovered ideas
|
Paraphrasing questions, pt.1
Imagine you have to answer this very simple question: “How much is 5+5?”. Of course there is only one unique correct answer: 10!
What if you were asked the same question in a different way such as: “What numbers give 10 as sum?” – How many answers would there be now? Infinite numbers, as well as infinite ways to get to the same answer.
|
Paraphrasing questions, pt.2
Imagine you have ‘lion’ as answers and think to three different questions.
e.g. Which animal is the king of the jungle?
|
Connecting and combining
Chindogu is know as the Japanese art of creating essentially useless inventions that could be used to solve basic everyday problems, but do so in a ridiculous way (i.e. Connecting and combining seemingly opposite ideas).
|
Syneptic exercises
They refers to the ability of being able to find connections and relationships between concepts, objects and ideas that apparently have no connection.
For example:
•What can I do with a paper clip and a spoon?
•What similarities could exist between the Limpopo River in Africa and Lake Baikal in Siberia?
|
The K.I.S.S. principle
The “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” principle in a snapshot:
Source: t2informatik GmbH, Berlin
|
Defining the KISS principle
The Keep It Short and Simple (or stupid) principle is a design rule stating that systems work better when they have simple rather than complex designs. The KISS is not intended to imply stupidity.
Quite the opposite, it is usually associated with intelligent systems that can be misinterpreted as stupid because of their simplicity.
|
Intùiti Cards
It's a tool for creative thinking based on visual and imaginary associations, so you just have to shuffle the deck, pick a card, and read the fairy tale…and suggest the end of the story.
Each card represents a powerful incentive, is designed using Gestalt principles and offers an evocative fairy tale which doesn’t have a written ending.
Learn more about Intùiti
|
Two important reminders
Don’t fall in love with your ideas:
The perfect idea is just an illusion that hinder the process of our creative thinking. The challenge is not generating ideas but the ability to select the best ideas. Having lots of ideas is good if we are able to discard them.
Do something different every day
Doing and creating something new can rekindle life and liveliness allowing us to enrich and evolve. Creating something new in our lives every day is a very simple action. We can start changing chairs, choose a food we have never tasted but also create something with our hands because manual activity helps the mind to the gap between thoughts and reality.
|
Takeaways and conclusions
People often want to find the solution to their problems using creativity as it was a immediate tool or method. But using a given ‘recipe’ is not the right path, you have to work and develop your lateral thinking, your critical aptitude and also the courage to….
|
Bibliography
- Jacopo perfetti, Inventati il lavoro, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2017;
- Valeria Tallarico, Creativity and entrepreneurship: from birth of an idea at the realization of its own enterprise, Manno, 2015;
- Jerome Bruner, A study of Thinking, Transaction Publishers,  1986
- Creative thinking skills: definition and examples, https://en.rockcontent.com/blog/creative-thinking-skills/
- Why creativity is not a talent but an everyday exercise, https://thevision.com/cultura/creativita-talento-esercizio/
- Graham Wallas, Â Richard Smith, The art of thought, Solis Press, Kent, 1926;
- Creativity Skills: Definition Tips and examples, https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/creativity-skills#:~:text=Creativity%20is%20the%20ability%20to,things%20from%20a%20unique%20perspective.Experimenting;
- https://nuovoeutile.it/come-si-esprime-la-creativita-i-modelli-del-processo-creativo/
- https://www.intuiti.it/
Training Fiche PPT:
COU_1.2_EN_1.2creativity(demostene).pptx
Follow Us: 
Consortium Partners
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site and its contents reflects the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Legal description – Creative Commons licensing:
The materials published on the EntreComp project website are classified as Open Educational Resources' (OER) and can be freely (without permission of their creators): downloaded, used, reused, copied, adapted, and shared by users, with information about the source of their origin.
| |
Title
1.2 Creativity
Keywords
Lateral thinkin, Instinct, Outside the box, Critical aptitude
Author
DEMOSTENE
Languages
English
Description
Creativity
Creativity in EntreComp
Creativity for lifelong learning
According to the European Commission's Entrepreneurship Competence Framework known as 'EntreComp', creativity is one of the 15 skills that every student can develop to become an entrepreneur.
In EntreComp creativity is presented as one of the key competences in the area called 'Ideas and opportunities', although the creative process involves both the use of resources and the ability to act on ideas to shape and exploit their value.
This guide is intended to inspire more actors across Europe and beyond to get involved, to join a community of participants committed to embedding these competences for life into education, communities, work and enterprise.
Source: The EntreComp conceptual model (Table1)
Creativity as a skill
Thanks to the Entrecomp Framework, Creativity is not considered as a rare gift given to lucky students or elected people but it is a competence that can be developed and trained by everyone.
Creativity is the ability to think to a task or a problem in a new or different way, or the ability to use imagination to generate new ideas. It is the ability to solve complex problems or find interesting ways to suggest new solutions.
‘The art of thought’
The creative process includes the following four stages
Stimulating Creativity
Exercises to stimulate your mind
4 preliminary considerations:
Paraphrasing questions, pt.1
Imagine you have to answer this very simple question: “How much is 5+5?”. Of course there is only one unique correct answer: 10!
What if you were asked the same question in a different way such as: “What numbers give 10 as sum?” – How many answers would there be now? Infinite numbers, as well as infinite ways to get to the same answer.
Paraphrasing questions, pt.2
Imagine you have ‘lion’ as answers and think to three different questions.
e.g. Which animal is the king of the jungle?
Connecting and combining
Chindogu is know as the Japanese art of creating essentially useless inventions that could be used to solve basic everyday problems, but do so in a ridiculous way (i.e. Connecting and combining seemingly opposite ideas).
Syneptic exercises
They refers to the ability of being able to find connections and relationships between concepts, objects and ideas that apparently have no connection.
For example:
The K.I.S.S. principle
The “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” principle in a snapshot:
Source: t2informatik GmbH, Berlin
Defining the KISS principle
The Keep It Short and Simple (or stupid) principle is a design rule stating that systems work better when they have simple rather than complex designs. The KISS is not intended to imply stupidity.
Quite the opposite, it is usually associated with intelligent systems that can be misinterpreted as stupid because of their simplicity.
Intùiti Cards
It's a tool for creative thinking based on visual and imaginary associations, so you just have to shuffle the deck, pick a card, and read the fairy tale…and suggest the end of the story.
Each card represents a powerful incentive, is designed using Gestalt principles and offers an evocative fairy tale which doesn’t have a written ending.
Learn more about Intùiti
Two important reminders
Don’t fall in love with your ideas:
The perfect idea is just an illusion that hinder the process of our creative thinking. The challenge is not generating ideas but the ability to select the best ideas. Having lots of ideas is good if we are able to discard them.
Do something different every day
Doing and creating something new can rekindle life and liveliness allowing us to enrich and evolve. Creating something new in our lives every day is a very simple action. We can start changing chairs, choose a food we have never tasted but also create something with our hands because manual activity helps the mind to the gap between thoughts and reality.
Takeaways and conclusions
People often want to find the solution to their problems using creativity as it was a immediate tool or method. But using a given ‘recipe’ is not the right path, you have to work and develop your lateral thinking, your critical aptitude and also the courage to….
Training Fiche PPT:
COU_1.2_EN_1.2creativity(demostene).pptx