Education for Creative Potential

One trend in the creativity literature is towards unambiguous expressions of talent. This trend follows from an interest in scientific rigour, but if we are interested in children, it is creative potential that is the primary concern, rather than unambiguous creative performance. Educators and others working with children should define creativity in very literal terms, as thinking or problem solving that involves the construction of new meaning. This in turn relies on personal interpretations, and these are personal and new for the individual, not on any larger scale. This approach is consistent with the educational premise 'to understand is to invent', and it allows educators to target self-expression. The emphasis is thus on the individual, the self. Equally significant for educators is that this view of creativity posits that creativity is widely distributed. A wide distribution is implied because virtually every individual has the mental capacity to construct the personal interpretations that are involved. Creativity is, then, something we can find in every child, not just the gifted or highly intelligent.