The Four P’s – Rhodes, 1961
Inspired by Guilford’s writing and the new concept of creativity, Mel Rhodes collected and analyzed the many definitions of creativity. Rhodes (1961) noticed how the definitions of creativity overlapped and were related to each other, explicitly identifying four central ideas, which he coined as the Four P’s of creativity: (a) person, (b) process, (c) press aka environment & (d) products.
When thinking about the creative personality, Rhodes (1961) suggests one considers a person’s personality, intellect, temperament, physique, traits, habits, attitudes, self-concept, value systems, defense mechanisms and behaviours. When assessing students with creative/productive gifted behaviours try to consider all the factors that contribute to students’ creative personalities.
Rhodes (1961) believed the creative process could be taught, which has been expanded on by others. Two programs, Creative Problem Solving (Isaksen & Treffinger, 2004) and Future Problem-Solving Programs (Torrance, 1978) are particularly beneficial for students with creative/productive gifted behaviours. Creative problem solving and future problem solving programs have a significant effect on the development of core creative thinking skills and positive perceptions towards creativity. These frameworks are beneficial for teachers because they can be used to help students implement the creative process within any subject.
Creative Problem Solving
Over the past 50 years creative problem solving has been developed and adapted. There are currently 6 versions of creative problem solving. The current framework includes four main components and eight specific stages. Using both convergent and divergent thinking skills students discuss and analyze the problem at hand. Once students have decided on their problem, they then generate ideas utilizing thinking skills such as fluency, flexibility, and originality. Once students have found the heart of their problem (Treffinger et al., 2003) they then prepare a plan of actions (solutions path) by developing solutions and building acceptance to finally planning an approach to solving the problem (Isaksen & Treffinger, 2004). Teachers can use programs like Destination Imagination for more creative problem solving activities.
For more information visit https://www.destinationimagination.org/
Future Problem Solving
The Future-Problem solving Program, is an interdisciplinary program where students work together to examine and solve future problems (Torrance, 1978). This program mirrors creative problem solving quite closely in the generation of ideas, studying of data, and solving of the specified problem. One difference is the specific focus on problems that students will face in the future such as considering alternative energy sources.
For more information teachers can visit https://www.fpspi.org/
Rhodes (1961) presents press as the relationship between human beings and their environment, sensations, perceptions, and imagination. Examining a creative/productive gifted student’s environment provides more context on who they are. Life experiences, internal and external influences, and the society in which a creative/productive gifted student exists will influence who they are and how they perceive and interact with the world (Rhodes, 1961).
Your classroom environment effects how students think about creativity.
The current public-school environment does not always provide space for creative expression because of inflexible schedules, lack of funding and space, lack of creative growth instruction, and variations in teacher and school administrators’ beliefs on creativity (Chan & Yuen, 2014; Renzulli, 2014).
A study by Ridgley et al. (2019) involving 236 high school students and 13 teachers found that students perceive their creativity differently in school from other environments. In addition, the study results suggests that students don’t feel that the school environment supports their creative potential. Both the school and classroom environments are excellent spaces for potential opportunities to nurture creative individuals.
Ways to encourage creativity in your classroom
- Schedule unstructured time within the week for students to work on personal projects
- Have discussions with students on what creativity means in your classroom
- Brainstorm with students’ alternative ways of presenting class material
- Set up creativity corners in your classroom where students can engage with once they have completed regular classroom work. These can include books on creative minds, small weekly creative activities, and creativity prompts
- Group like-minded students together when doing larger group projects. Encourage students to find alternative ways of presenting and learning. For example: when studying Ancient Egypt, group students with a shared interest in animation, and encourage them to create a short video on mummification instead of creating a poster.
- Consider out-of-school activities such as field trips, guest speakers, mentor programs demonstrations and access to audio visual materials and various technology such as Ted Talks and virtual museums
- Use role play activities
Rhodes believed “products are artifacts of thoughts” (Rhodes, 1961, p.309) and that the idea of an invention may be more creative than an extension of an existing product. The assumption that creativity must include only original ideas or creations has since gained criticism (Corazza, 2016; Kim, 2019). It limits creative potential and focuses solely on a finished product and not the creative process. Kim (2019) states that creative thinking requires existing knowledge and skills. When looking at the creative process, there is no guarantee of success, and often an individual with creative/productive gifted behaviours will spend multiple hours working on a project that may not be successful (Corazza, 2016). Teaching students the creative process may help shift their mindset from product-based thinking to more process-oriented thinking. One way to encourage more process-oriented thinking is teaching effective self assessment.