Defining and Measuring Creativity

Creativity refers to the process of being imaginative and innovative. A creative
person is able to link existing information with new information in productive
ways. Students who are creative may often be referred to as being
gifted and talented. Charles F. Wetherall has listed many characteristics of
gifted, talented, or creative students. Creative students, for example, have a
keen sense of observation and a desire to improve their abilities, produce a
variety of possible solutions to problems, are curious and original, have the
characteristic of persistence, are comfortable with ambiguity, are able to
work independently, are able to analyze and synthesize information, demonstrate
compulsivity and an urgency to complete a task or execute an
idea, and have multiple latent abilities. Thus, when one’s existing knowledge
and information combine in a unique way, a creative product or idea is
formed.
Many others have sought to describe creativity. Characteristics of creative
persons and creativity, according to Gary A. Davis and Sylvia Rimm, include
valuing creative thinking, appreciating novel and far-fetched ideas, being
open-minded and receptive to zany ideas, and being mentally set to produce
creative ideas. Robert Sternberg describes creative people as those who have
the ability and willingness to go beyond the ordinary limitations of themselves
and their environment and to think and act in unconventional and
perhaps dreamlike ways. Further, he states that creative people go beyond
the unwritten canons of society, have aesthetic taste, and are inquisitive and
intuitive. Major contributions have been made to many fields of endeavor as
a result of creative enterprise.

Creativity has been studied through research that sought to examine personality
and family issues related to creativity, the ecology of creativity, musical
creativity, and creative ability in women. Research by Robert Albert that
examined relationships between creativity, identity formation, and career
choice led him to make six suggestions for parents and teachers to help students
achieve maximally. This information would be beneficial both to students
who are gifted and to those who are not. His suggestions include helping
students experience emotions such as anger, joy, fear, and passion;
teaching involvement rather than techniques to students; seeking to discover what people can do; allowing students to experience some novelty and
flexibility; encouraging the students to ask the questions “What do I think?”
“How do I think?” “What can I do?” and “How do I feel about it now that I
have tried?”; and enhancing learning by being actively engaged with and
taking chances with one another.