New study shows that training creativity during primary school years helps children cope with everyday problems
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The development of creativity in the first years of compulsory schooling is essential to train their ability to Problem resolution and their resilience in the face of real-life problems.
This is suggested by two new studies carried out by researchers from Ohio State Universitywho “trained” third, fourth and fifth grade elementary school students with a program similar to that used for army soldiers.
Read also: Let children get bored, it will stimulate creativity and imagination
The change of perspective
The first study had a sample of 32 students divided into two groups, a control group and a group trained in creativity.
Children in the control group were asked to identify their own special characteristic that could help them solve each type of problem; However, the researchers asked the “creative” children to imagine a special friend whom they could ask for help in case of a problem.
This small change of perspective – seek help from a person outside of yourself to solve your problems – allowed children to express much more creative solutions.
When you ask people to change their perspective and imagine receiving advice from a friend, you get much more creative and effective solutions to problems than simply trying to solve the problem yourself, the researchers explain.
Without training on changing perspective, less than half of the students were able to provide a solution to typical age-related problems (a bossy older brother, a disabled sister, an absent father, a distant friend…) and almost no one was able to provide a solution to their problems.
On the contrary, almost all students who imagined the presence of a friend to ask for help (94% of the sample) found creative solutions to both their own problem and the problem given as an example.
In detail, the children “trained” in creativity and perspective change received a score of 6.44 out of 10 for creativity (moderate creativity) compared to the 3.05 (low creativity) that the children in the sample group received on average. .
These results showed how creativity training can increase children’s sense of self-efficacy and the belief that they have some control and power over their lives, the study authors again write.
The narrative creativity course.
The second study involved a sample of 28 students of the same age group with the objective of testing The effects of a five-day narrative creativity program.: In this case, in addition to the change in perspective, half of the students were also trained in other creativity techniques.
If children can’t solve a problem, we train them to step back and think about what they are trying to accomplish, about why the problem occurred, the authors explain.
We suggest you take a step back and ask yourself: why does this matter? We often find that if you think more broadly about what you are trying to achieve and why it is so important, then you can see that there are other ways to achieve what you want.
At the end of the creativity program, as occurred in the first study, the students were presented with some problems specific to their age and one of their personal problems. Furthermore, to test its resistance, the researchers questioned the solution proposed by the students, claiming that it would not work.
Only the students who attended the creativity course demonstrated that they were able to find a second solution to the problem, demonstrating that they had truly developed the capacity for resilience.
With this training, the kids didn’t get upset when they were told their first solution didn’t work. They came up with a second plan that researchers say is a good test of resilience.
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Sources: Journal of Creativity / Ohio State University
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