Department of English, College of Education for Humanities, University of Kerbala, Kerbala
Abstract
Researchers usually learn about research methodology, paying little attention to creative thinking. This short essay focuses on academically creative thinking. Creative thinking has been found to have a crucial influence on different academic areas, such as the sciences, technology, economics and education. Creative thinking entails the ability to approach things from innovative and unconventional perspectives, use acquired knowledge in new situations, think in exceptional ways, and employ creative methods for unique creations and overcoming obstacles. It has been found that the process and techniques of creation are essentially the association of unseemingly related elements to form a new and useful combination. Many creative acts are the result of surprising combinations of knowledge from different domains. Reorganization, combination, and different perspectives are a sort of creation that lead to new conclusions.
Introduction
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
(Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”)
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
Frost and Einstein mean exactly what they say. For Frost, the field of knowledge is diverse and grassy and different travelers (researchers) can have different claims. Moreover, taking different and new roads can lead to better and surprising results: “Then took the other, as just as fair, / And having perhaps the better claim,” as Frost put it. While for Einstein, researchers should spend much time thinking on a proper question, a research gap, and a hypothesis. In short, the researchers should travel a new road or direction and spend much time on the theoretical part of their research which is not wholly theirs: the first part is not theirs, while the second part is theirs. The researchers need to build and outline their theoretical framework.
Basic Characteristics of Creative Thinking
Relativity
The innovation, breakthrough, and pioneering of creation are the embodiment of relativistic nature of creation. Creativity is a relative to conventions and traditions, and relative to existing cognitive achievements. Creativity is essentially based on overcoming and breaking through original limitations, overcoming difficulties and obstacles in solving problems, and breaking through ideas, concepts, and consciousness. In terms of content, the discovery of new phenomena and new cognitive ideas is creative.
Creative modes are bridges between known and unknown that require association, imagination, and analogy. Diverged thinking is compared to convergent thinking, different thinking is compared to common thinking, and reverse thinking is compared with positive/forward thinking. Creation is relative to convention, tradition, existing and others. The relativity of creation is the essence of creation, creation has the essence of relativity.
Comprehensiveness
Creative thinking involves the comprehensive application of logical and non-logical thinking, the comprehensive of application of various creative thinking modes and methods. It involves the integration of cognitive creativity, problem solving creativity, and invention creativity, and the organic units of creative thinking, creative personality and creative environment.
Mastering the art of creative thinking involves a multifaceted approach, encompassing divergent thinking, critical observation, open-mindedness, imagination, visualization, curiosity, fluency in idea generation, associative thinking, resilience, perseverance, embracing ambiguity, and effective communication. By honing these skills, individuals can unlock their creative potential, making meaningful contributions to personal and societal growth. Embrace the journey of creative thinking, and watch as innovation becomes a natural part of your endeavors. Creative thinking skills are not just a tool; they are a mindset that can shape a brighter and more innovative future.
Subjectivity
Independence, depth, criticality and openness of thinking are important intellectual qualities related to creativity, which is closely related to individual’s creative and cognitive style and behavioral response mode. Creativity is subjective and based on perceptions and depends on the domain, consensus, judge and method of judgment. It is also bound to a historical context. Consequently, what is novel, has value and is elegant in one context (industrial, cultural, personal, generational) may be commonplace, lack value or be crude (or somewhere in between) in another. Often the creative act and the creator are not easily understood or accepted but theorists have noted that positive valuation within the social group is important for an idea to be accepted as creative. Outputs may be read as creative not through how they appear in the mind, but how they are defined within a culture (or society, or environment).
Curiosity
Researching unfamiliar topics and analyzing unusual systems is a source of delight for most creative people. While undertaking unknown concepts, with the intent to fully understand, can be scary, it’s necessary if you want to learn, what you have set out to learn. This thing has to be self-realizing or self-serving, it cannot be what someone else wants you to learn, or what you think someone else thinks you should know, you have to want to learn it. Because you might reach a learning curve doesn’t mean you should abandon this journey. Conflict or tension is present in almost everything in my opinion. During your process of learning, it’s important to be honest with yourself.
Necessity (Situational/Social Needs, Social or Professional Necessity)
Human creation and invention activities come from the needs of the environment, from the needs of production and life, social practice, and the needs of social practice are the objective conditions for the creation of activities.
Conclusion
Creativity is essential for survival and it is the path to progress and prosperity. Their creativity, innovation, invention and leadership measure the progress and development of nations. Creative thinking is one of the finest and highest skills and abilities that should be acquired by students in all different academic levels. Creative thinking is the kind of thinking that allows researchers to utilize their imagination to generate ideas, hypotheses, and questions, experiment with alternatives, and evaluate their own and their peers’ ideas, final products, and processes. Idea production is a significant aspect of creative thinking and consists of several components, including innovation, identification capacity, concern to complexities, initiative fluency, organizational fluency, and flexibility. The ability to produce unique and useful ideas is assessed by requiring researchers to generate a sequence of responses quickly rather than relying on traditional beliefs. Finally, Academically creative thinking is characterized by relativity, comprehensiveness, subjectivity, curiosity, and social needs.
