Development of Creativity in Children

As a potential talent, creativity demands attention and training. This is because this ability, like all other human abilities, cannot become actualized unless it is developed. Therefore, parents, nursery schools, and schools should provide the context for the growth of creativity in children from the early years of their childhood. Creativity is one of the most supreme and complicated activities of the human mind which should be taken into consideration by the educational system. It depends not only on individual’s intelligence and thoughts but also on their character. Considering the role of the educational system as the instructor and developer of creative and inquisitive human resources, we must ask the important question of to what extent our educational system leads students to this direction. Therefore, we can consider research, alongside teaching, to be one of the most important purposes of education, which demands the attention of authorities. It seems that schools and teachers have a very critical duty in this regard. In addition to promoting research activities, teachers should motivate the students to become involved in research and teach them correct research methods. Accordingly, the present paper examines the different dimensions of creativity, such as the concept of creativity, the process of creative thinking, characteristics of creative individuals, influential factors in creativity, teachers’ role in developing creativity, methods of promoting and developing creativity among students, and the role of research in training creative students. Here, after discussing the ideas of teachers and experts in the field of education with regard to the concept of creativity and the process of creative thinking, the writer tries to provide an answer to the following questions: Is creativity an internal or an external process? Does it require discipline or self-motivation? While referring to various research findings, the writer also explores the personal and psychological features of creative people and highlights their differences from non-creative people. In another part, he reviews the effective factors in creativity as well as the factors that prevent creative thinking. Given the roles of teachers and families in developing creativity, it is also tried to provide an answer to the question of whether the developers of creativity should be creative themselves or not. Finally, reference is made to the various methods that scholars in the field of education propose for establishing and developing creativity and the flourishing of creative talents.