What is Creativity and How to Improve Creative Skills

Critical and creative thinking are the two most basic thinking skills. Critical thinking is a matter of thinking clearly and rationally. Creativity consists in coming up with new and relevant ideas. To be a good and effective thinker, both kinds of thinking skills are needed.

For many people, creativity is something reserved for scientists or artists. But this is to ignore the fact that we are faced with countless problems in our daily life, and it is precisely creative thinking that helps us come up with solutions to these problems. We need to make use of our creativity whether we are thinking about how to get more marks or how to make our freinds happier.

Many students also seem to think that creativity is a matter of waiting for inspirations. How inspiring ideas come about is however regarded as a rather mysterious process, and it is just a fact that some students are more creative than others. But it would be a mistake to think that creativity is a passive state of mind. While it is true that there is no special algorithm for creativity, there are thinking skills that can be taught and things one can do to enhance one's creativity.

To come up with something new is to produce something that is distinct and special. In order to be creative we must be ready to deviate from the ordinary and the traditional. This implies a certain courageous exploratory attitude and curiosity in one's character.

But where do new ideas come from? The simple answer is that new ideas are actually old ones rearranged in a new way. This applies to everything under the sun whether making a small toy car or making a big space shuttle. How do we generate new ideas from old ones? Simply speaking, ideas are usually composed of different elements, and we look for new combination of ideas by joining different ideas together, deleting some elements, or replacing some elements by other ones.
As a concrete example, consider the so-called "FASTSKIN" swimsuit that was introduced by the company Speedo around 1996. Main goal in designing a swimsuit for athletes is to reduce the total amount of drag over the surface of the swimsuit. The company's researchers noticed that sharks are able to move very fast in water in part because of V-shaped ridges. Researchers designed swimwear fabric emulating sharkskin that produced less drag and turbulence. At the Sydney Olympics in 2000, 28 of 33 Olympic Gold Medal winners wore this type of swimsuit, testifying to its success.

So the ingredients for creativity depend on the store of ideas that are available for recombination. If you have a limited domain of knowledge, you will have fewer resources to draw from in forming new ideas. This is why curiosity and a knowledge base can significantly enhance one's creativity. This is also why it can be useful to try to solve a problem by consulting other people with different expertise.

WISH YOU ALL MORE CREATIVE SKILLS!!!

-ErNS

Drama Pictures

These are the pictures taken during skit "MERCHANT OF VENICE" performed by VI-S2 students.

Good books

Ruskin Bond divided books into two classes- books for the hour and books for all time. A book for the hour is simply the useful pleasant talk of some person. There is no harm in reading such books, but it is a great mistake to allow such light reading takes the place of the study of true books- books for all time, the classic of literature. These books for all for all time are to be chewed and digested that is read wholly and with diligence and attention.

At the age of 11, we pity ourselves for being ignorant about the presence of these great books in our exotic library.

Undoubtedly, the sight of thick books would strain our eyes and dishearten our reading interest, but our English teacher beheld our enthusiasm with abridged versions of great writers.

Gradually the interest of reading metamorphosed into presenting the stories as skits. When discussed with the teacher, she conducted a skit competition, where in the girls performed “The Merchant of Venice & Twelfth Night” stood first and second in the competition.

Eventually, we developed dialogue writing, dialogue delivery, overcome the stage fear, confidence and above all the zeal to read many such books. Hope one day we carry the original writings; we chew it and digest it to our heart fullest.

Temper Control - A Moral Story

There was once a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a teddy bear toy and a black marker pen as a birthday present. Boy was very happy with the teddy bear and asked his father what he should do with marker pen. His father told him that every time he loses temper, he must make a mark with the marker on the teddy bear.

The first day, boy had made 13 marks on the teddy bear. Over the next few weeks, as he didn’t like to put marks on the teddy, he learned to control his anger. Then the number of marks he made every day came down. Finally the day came when he didn’t lose his temper at all. He happily told his father that he could control his temper, but felt bad since teddy bear became dirty.

Father appreciated son for his temper control and told him to wash the teddy bear and clear all the marks. Son washed the teddy bear repeatedly so that the teddy bear looks nice again and took it to his father.

Father, looking at the son, said “You have done well, my son, but look at the dirty marks still on teddy. Teddy could never be the same. Same way when you say things in anger, they leave a scar on peoples heart just like the marker. It won’t matter how many times you say I AM SORRY, the wound is still there.”

BOY THEN UNDERSTOOD THAT BETTER NOT TO LOSE TEMPER AND REGRET LATER.

-N.T.Ganatma

You Are Creative!
Creativity is not about inventing something totally new, it is about making new – synergistic! – connections. You don't have to be a special kind of person to be creative – everyone can do it. It's not about who you are, it's about what you do. You just need to start looking for multiple solutions rather than settling for just one, and give yourself permission to be playful and inquisitive, flexible and versatile.
Psychologists call the activities associated with idea generation "loose associative thinking" processes. Associative thinking is not linear or sequential. It is jumpy. To invent new connections, the maintenance of uncertainty is important for a time. "Closure is a killer; it strangles associative thinking, in favor of arriving at "an answer". Early in the process, leveraging uncertainty, riding it, and valuing it are critical to developing robust ideas

Learn and Develop Creativity

"The good news is that creativity is a skill and a talent that can be learned and developed through practice. With this skill, you can dramatically accelerate your personal and professional growth. By sharpening your thinking skills and exercising your natural creative powers, you can multiply the value of your efforts and rapidly increase the quantity and quality of your rewards."6

ASBESTOS, its uses and hazards

Asbestos is the name given to a group of minerals . It usually contains lime, magnesia and sometimes iron. It is dug up from great open pits. It is soft, silky fibers. It can be woven like wool and cotton because it is fiber in form. Asbestos can stand up to temperatures of 2,500C. It is mainly used as an industrial fiber.

In ancient temples the wicks of torches were made of asbestos so that they would not burn away as cotton wicks do. In 19th century it became cheap. The things made from asbestos are boilers, building roofing sheets, fire-resistant and protective clothing. Nearly half of the asbestos products are made in United States of America.

Asbestos can be harmful to health. The fine fibers if inhaled can produce a lung condition called ‘Asbestosis’ (which leads to shortness of breath) and can increase the risk of lung cancer. Demands began to be made that it be removed from some public places, notably schools and even that it be banned altogether. Usage of Asbestos in crayons and toys had been already banned to safeguard children.

- N.T.Ganatma

Drawing by Shashank

Drawing by Tejaswi

Bojjana Konda Trip

Sir Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton

The British Physicist and Mathematician Isaac Newton is regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. He was a farmers son, born at Wools Thorpe in Lincolnshire, England, on December 25th 1642. At the age of 18 he went to Cambridge University to study Mathematics.

He saw an apple dropping from a tree and began to wonder why it should fall straight downwards. This led him to create The Theory of Gravitation. His Theory of Gravitation was a particular importance in working out the motion of planets and the orbits of comets. In 1666 he discovered the nature of white light by passing a beam of sunlight through a prism. Newton’s work on light led him to build the first reflecting telescope in 1668. He also invented the calculus.

In 1705 he was elected as the president of The Royal Society, an office he held until his death. He was knighted {Sir} in 1705. He died on March 20th 1727 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

- Ganatma

What is attitude

What is Attitude? (By a simple story)

There was a man who made a living by selling balloons at a fair. He had all colors of balloons including red, yellow, blue and green. Whenever his business was slow, he would release helium –filled ballooned into the air and when the children saw it go up, they all wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon and his sales would go up again. He continued this process all day.

One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket. He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, “If you release a black balloon, would that also fly?” Moved by the boy’s concern, the man replied with empathy, “Son, it is not the color of the balloon; it is what is inside that makes it go up.” The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that count.

The thing inside of us that makes us go up is our Attitude.

- Bhardwaj, VIII Std.