Fostering creative thinking – Co-constructed insights from neuroscience and education

• Although every creative act contains elements of spontaneity, teachers can play a critical role in fostering creative thinking processes through the use of environment and strategy.
• No single part of our brain is responsible for creativity. Some regions linked to producing divergent associations, of the type needed for creativity, appear usually located in the right hemisphere. However, creativity is a complex thought process that calls on many different brain regions in both hemispheres. Left-brain/right-brain theories of learning are not based on credible science and are unhelpful in understanding creativity, especially when used to categorize individuals.
• Creativity appears to require movement between two different modes of thinking: generative and analytical.
• Cognitive fixation occurs when we become unable to move beyond an idea or set of ideas. It can be thought of as being stuck in analytical mode. However, in normal circumstances, we can monitor and, to some extent, regulate which mode we are using. In this sense, creative thinking appears amenable to metacognition.

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