Issues of Creativity Enhancement: Critical Analysis

To initiate any scientific investigation, a researcher needs to collect factual information. Based on that factual knowledge; the researcher can understand where there is a gap in knowledge. This process gives birth to the problem, which needs to be solved. A problem is engendered on the ground of the existing gap in knowledge about the concept or contradiction in existing concepts. It leads to several investigations for a better understanding of the concept. The roots of the word 'problem’ lie in the Greek language, where term stands for any proposed or constructed question or a matter state, which needs to be examined in any given situation.

According to Kerlinger, a problem is defined as 'an interrogative sentence or statement that asks what relation exists between two or more variables. The answer to the question will provide what is having sought in the research.” So “a problem represents the information acquired by a researcher and seeks solutions for it.' It means that the problem is any complicated situation; we need to search for a solution for it. Identification of particular research problem requires a sense of consciousness, mindfulness, and awareness about the ongoing phenomenon. Research process initiated with the identification of the problem is considered to be a building block of research. It is most challenging to frame a research problem because there are no precise rules, steps, and principles. With the assistance of previous or ongoing knowledge sources, minute observations, naturally occurring phenomena, and careful examination of the environment and its changes give a base for the identity of a research problem.

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Previous investigations act as a pioneer work for the formulation of a high-quality research problem successfully. They act as a decent resource of secondary data, which can be used in systematic analytical researches. The results and consequences in the previous investigation give a platform of understanding about the concept, which gives birth to the null or alternative hypothesis. However, in the case of exploratory research work, there is no hypothesis before starting the research investigation. There are various sources from where the previous investigation can be referred (such as books, articles, Journals, internet study material, word of mouth, seminar or conferences, magazines, a cult belief and many more). As the present topic lies in 'educational psychology' the investigator tried to overview the nature and trend of research conducted in the past several decades, which have been covered in the second chapter.

In the modern era, Creativity is one concept, which everyone wants to achieve, but it is not an ability that one can acquire. It is an individual inculcated ability, which needs a precise source to trigger. Earlier, level of intelligence or IQ (intelligence quotient) score were considered a representative of the level of success (Strenze, 2007) but in the present day, that is not enough. Being creative is the immediate call of the hour. Creativity is a cognitive process, a mental activity that is an insight of an individual. It is a novel idea, which has been produced by an individual for solving any problem in a novel way. Enhancing creativity or creativity level in the individual (Stein, 1974) can be achieved by various techniques.

The perfect time of application of these techniques is right from the school, where the child comes to learn new things, and they create the building block of individual learning world. Erikson (1959) & Piaget (1983) suggested that the delicate phase of child development is between 11 years to 14 years. During this phase, we should focus on creativity enhancement. Early intervention of enhancing Creativity at this sensitive period of development is more effective and beneficial than a later stage. It is due to the reason the children have just started approaching puberty or just entered in adolescence, and they are still naïve and ready to learn anything that comes in their way. According to Rothenberg (2016), young kids are often unprompted, free and creative; they do not produce unique and valuable products. Meaningful Creativity initiates in adolescence due to the development of the abstract thinking capacity in addition to the creative Janusian, homo-spatial and separation & connection articulation processes (Rothenberg, 2015). These processes develop initially in adolescence due to the practical or efficient shaping and adaptive fixation as modes of dealing and experiencing with adolescent’s development. It is the perfect age for initiating the concept of being creative in adolescences.

Hence in the present research work, the selected age group of investigation is in between 12 to 16 years as it is an appropriate age group to provide interventions for the enhancement of Creativity.

Creativity enhancement is a call for the hour. Educators and counsellors should work on identification, escalate, and support numerous styles of Creativity for the enhancement of the students and client creative productivity. There are no shortcuts on the road of creativity development. In teaching, creative thinking skills play a vital role at both ends; teacher (technique provider) and learner (technique getter). Creativity thinking skills tend to develop new insight, a fresh perspective and a new way to approach a problem or things. Many methods have been designed to enhance the creativity level of the individual or to assist individuals in generating original ideas, for both the individual level and the group processing level. Individuals can use purposive strategies for channeling their thoughts in a productive new direction.

Brainstorming is the most used method that can be used at any point of time, even though other techniques can be used in producing insight of novel ideas in an individual, such as Synectics or SCAMPER or Torrance Incubation Model, which consist of a lot of other techniques. Those can be either used individually or together, for production of a fresh perspective in an individual. To figure out which is the best strategy, or a combination of those strategies is a task that an individual has to learn during the process of development. The teacher plays a critical role in the development of the individual. The teacher has the nation's future in his/her hands, and they deal with the youth of the nation. Therefore, they have a responsibility of building strong pillars for better development. The selection of the right techniques and introducing those techniques at the right time for the development of the individual has to be decided by the school staff.

Through studies one thing is clear that Creative drama training (Berretta and Privette, 1990; Garaigordobil , 2006; Ma, 2006; Karakelle, 2006; Sak and Oz, 2009; Garaigordobil and Berrueco 2011; Hoffmann and Russ, 2016; Momeni, Khaki, and Amini, 2017) and divergent thinking techniques such as brainstorming (Al-Bwli, 2006; Al-qarni, 2011; Al-Khatib 2012) and SCAMPER (Moreno, Yang, Hernandezand, and Wood, 2014; Khawaldeh1, and Ali,2016; Ozyaprak, 2016) have shown positive impact on the development of various aspects of Creativity. However, they all lack in development of a fixed module for the enhancement of various aspect of Creativity.

Through the above review, it is clear that Creativity has the potential to flourish, but we have to use appropriate kind of creativity techniques in any given situation. Brainstorming and SCAMPER were two very effective techniques in which experimenter had little control over the direction of the creative thinking process. Creativity dramatic allows an individual to play in groups and enhance their thought process.

Therefore, there is a requirement of identification of fixed module or steps, which can be followed for achievement creativity enhancement goal.

Whenever we talk about the concept of creativity enhancement in educational level, one concept, which comes in everyone's mind, is the relationship of Creativity with academic achievement. So, there is a requirement for understanding the relationship between Creativity and academic achievement. Academic achievement is how effectively student at any level can perform at their academic level. Creativity can be considered as being one of the critical elements that require special attention when we talk in terms of academic achievement.

Academic achievement and creativity is one of the most controversial relationships. Researchers are still not able to prove high Creativity influences academic achievement. The two aspects got attention during earlier studies of Getzels and Jackson (1962), they were counted as a pioneer of highlighting the role that Creativity plays in academic achievement.

Since then, various studies have been conducted to explore this relationship. The studies have shown connection (Ai, 1999; Trivedi & Bhargava, 2010; Pishghadam, Khodadady & Zabihi, 2011), no relation (Naderi, Abdullah, Aizan, Sharir, & Kumar (2009); Olatoya, Akintunde & Ogunsanya (2010) and low correlation (Rindermann and Neubauer, 2004) between Creativity and academic achievement.

Therefore, this relationship desires attention for a better understanding of the concept.

Creativity and intelligence are considered to be the basic need of an individual for survival in a progressive society. Nearly all the discoveries and intervention are the result of highly intelligent or creative people. The relationship between the level of Creativity and intelligence has always drawn the attention of researchers for many years. These shared relationships have been discussed, hypothesized, theorized and have been a matter of research ever since the psychological sciences came into existence. Kim (2005), did a meta-analysis to understand this relationship between Creativity and intelligence. In her analysis, she used 21 studies out of which 45,880 participants were selected. She found out that the shared relationship between them is not stable. Researchers like Getzel & Jackason (1962); Dellas & Marie (1971); Nakano, Wechsler, Campos, & Milian (2015) believe that there is a secure connection between these variables. Whereas some studies have shown that the relationship between Creativity and intelligence is not clear at all. (Cropley & Maslany, 1969; Furnham, Bateya, Anand & Manfield, 2008; Gino & Ariely, 2012).

Therefore, there is a requirement of research work in this area for the clear and better understanding of the relationship between Creativity and intelligence. Thus, the following objectives were postulated.