Reviving the Missing Innovators in Children | EduCeleb
Contributor
16th February 2018
Shreyansh Shrivastava identifies how teachers can help develop the innovators among the school children they teach through particular strategies.
Innovation is the application of the better solutions and ideas that can be implemented to meet the new emerging requirements. The burden of the curriculum has shifted the focus of the children in achieving the academic miles. The present aptitude of the children decides the future course of action. To become an innovator of tomorrow, the seeds of innovation need to be sown in the present.
The aptitude of the children is subjected to the environment around them. The two environments that the students are mostly exposed are home and school. Both parents and teachers play a vital role in determining the fundamental nature of a child. The children need attention from the parents, and the parents can gift the ability to innovate to their child by understanding the process of imbibing such qualities. Also, the teachers are equipped with many resources by which they can build an aptitude for innovation among the children.
The teachers must understand the techniques involved in teaching the children how to innovate. The one of a kind is Systematic Inventive Thinking which is a method by which the mind of the people is expanded by detaching them from the pattern of thinking conventionally. In simple words, the children should be forced to come out of the comfort zone whereby they can think in multiple dimensions and can develop the habit to think innovatively. With this practice, the children will not just come up with the innovative ideas but will also convert them into the actions. The habit thus formed also help the students to conceptualize the different ideas being in their respective colleges where the actual practical problems associated with the future course of the profession will emerge.
Now the question is, How to make the students think innovatively? There are some practices by which the teachers and students can teach their students to think innovatively in an interesting manner-
Sometimes, the children do activities that are small but innovative to their own level. But, we fail to appreciate the efforts put up by that child. The children being emotionally closed to their parents expects the attention of their parents. Appreciation from their parents encourages the children to believe in the efforts they put up and help to develop the interest in carrying forward the same habit. Even this attitude should be adopted by the teachers who are the building force behind a student.
An open mind is needed to think creatively and innovatively. To develop an open mind of the children, their tutors must have the open-mindedness. The thinking process of the teachers and parents make a profound impact on the thinking of a child. The students start to think in the direction in which their parents and teachers think. Therefore, to develop the open-mindedness in the children, the teachers and parents should first establish the open-minded approach. The closed mind restricts the vast opportunities available all around and hinders the process to think innovatively.
Innovation is a way of doing the same things differently. The children can be introduced to the habit of doing their daily activities in different ways. Like- dressing up in the morning, writing a piece of writing differently, playing a particular game in a different way, arranging the things in their room in a new way and decorating the room of a home in a creative way. There are so much to learn from the things around us if handled in a right manner.
Skills play an essential part in going in the direction of innovation. Identifying the right skills in the child is an indispensable part of the process of innovative teaching. The new techniques of innovation can only be developed when the adequate skill set is there in the child. The level of skills may differ in various activities, and the challenge against the teachers and parents is to identify the talent that is innate in the child. The skills possessed by the children then can be fostered by the imbibing the ability to learn new competencies and adapting to the changing needs where innovation plays an important role.
There is a broad connection of Innovation with the problem solving, but both are entirely different with each other. The problem solving involves reacting to a particular situation while the innovation consists of finding the new ways to the problems. Though, we can say that the problem-solving skill is vital to becoming an innovator and is an integral part of the innovation. In problem-solving, the existing problem is solved with the existing solution while in innovation, the current problem is solved with new solutions. The children must not be restricted to become a problem solver, but should also become an innovator. The tutors can start with making the children solve the problem and then make them find the innovative ways to solve the problems.
The most important thing that a tutor need to take care is to treat every child equally irrespective of the grades, background and other things. The worrisome research shows that there is a huge gap in the ability to innovate among the rich and the poor. Some students need special attention by the teachers so that they can also rise. It is advisable for the teachers and the parents to include innovation and creativity to the basket of skills they imbibe to their children.
Shreyansh Shrivastava is a Content Writer for Collegesearch. A writer by day and reader by night, he holds a keen interest when it comes to writing on education. He also writes on subjects ranging from National and International Issues to National Security, Economy and more.