I consider myself creative.
One of the things I’ve really wrestled with over the past couple of years is that I’m in a very dictated job that really doesn’t allow for my definition of creativity. What’s worse is that my schedule has often left me feeling worn out, and that left me with little energy or inspiration to work on my own creative endeavors. I was starting to have a nervous breakdown because I felt like I just wasn’t releasing my creative opportunity.
Except I was. Teachers in need of a different way to present a skill would often ask me to help them brainstorm or just flat out suggest an alternate activity. I was asked to help solve scheduling problems. I wasn’t doing anything concrete, but I was still being creative.
That’s really what creativity is. It’s opening your mind to other possibilities and making them happen. The only proof may be how something happens, but the craft of resolving the problem took a little creativity.
I consider myself a problem-solver, and that by definition means I’m doing something creative.
Games teach problem solving.
No, seriously. Probably 95% of my problem-solving skills came from a life spent playing all variety of games and puzzles.
More research is being conducted every day that shows this phenomenon is true for most of those who engage frequently in games.
What’s really cool is that the engineering sector is saying that a specific game can help kids develop the thinking skills necessary to succeed in engineering.
Where some people see a video game as someone sitting glued to a television for hours on end playing the same game, some of us understand that we’re learning to take risks, think situations through, trying out different combinations to find a solution. Where some people see the MMORPG as a great way to lose a loved one to a virtual world, some of us understand that some level of communications and social development is taking place.
The results are trickling in, and games can actually be beneficial for developing skills that serve adults well in the business world, regardless of the sector.
I am currently a math tutor. I love my job because I get to help children find that they actually can do math.
Part of what we try to teach these students in the center is how to identify situations where math skills are needed, and then to recognize which tools in their math arsenal will help them solve the problem.
I am also a huge fan of pencil puzzle games like this one. I was attempting this one, and quickly realized it’s essentially a variant of the Magic Square. The moment I recognized the problem, it took virtually nothing to solve it. It almost took away a bit of the thrill of solving the puzzle.
While it is a good idea to teach children to think like this, to work to recognize quickly so they can solve and move on, I almost wonder if it takes out some of the fun of exploring the problem. By arming students with the ability to resolve a problem quickly, are we robbing them of the opportunity to explore the problem and perhaps find another, cleaner way to approach the problem?
It has always amazed me how often problem-solving activities are assigned to keep the gifted students quiet while waiting for their classmates to finish their work. This article does a great job of showing what happens when you open those activities to all of your students. This is such a great idea, and it equips all of your students with the ability to look at various problems and solve them.
He has also included some great ideas for other areas where puzzle projects can be used to help enhance lessons.
