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A lot of people may have heard the term "divergent thinking" and not properly understood it. In this guide, we're helping students and teachers to understand what divergent thinking or lateral thinking is, and how it may help you.
Divergent thinking, also known as lateral thinking, is coming up with several, original ideas or solutions to a problem you are attempting to address. Divergent thinking necessitates finding numerous solutions or ways forward through impromptu, free-flowing thought.
While divergent thinking is creative, it is slightly different from creative thinking, which calls for a diverse range of abilities. Designers must have empathy to produce appropriate, natural solutions. Because it generates ideas, that sympathetic part of thinking is sort of divergent thinking, but it is not the essence of divergent thinking.
Students often want to accept their seemingly irreparable academic defects and continue writing at some point during the writing process. They try to convince me like they were once convinced, that they aren't intelligent enough to finish their essay. This is never the case, in fact, the problem lies entirely in the attitude towards learning. When teachers understand and practice effective listening, they are able to avoid imparting the negative attitudes onto their pupils.
The scepticism of my pupils is a reflection of educational history, which subscribes to the idea that natural academic talent is the only factor in predicting academic achievement.
Several options are put out to remedy the difficulty in this kind of creative process. This manner of thinking may enhance problem-solving creativity and ingenuity. You can use this thinking technique at work more effectively if you understand how it functions.
The Role of Divergent Thinking in the Classroom
Students thinking that they are not good enough at the subject that I am teaching or aren’t confident enough to answer questions in class are some of the responses that express a lack of determination for improvement in the classroom.
This is where the role of an educator is really called upon and a great opportunity to explore the realm of divergent thinking as a means of combatting such scenarios arising. One of the issues is that students are frequently instructed that there is just one correct response and one correct path to arrive at that response and that if they choose incorrectly it's game over.
Along with exam nervousness, this pressure paralyzes pupils to the point where they are hesitant to offer any solutions out of concern that they will come across as incompetent. Convergent thinking is the opposite of divergent thinking, and this is when people think there is just one solution, and one way of solving a problem. This can lead to poor academic performance and less-than-perfect results.
Divergent thinking is one technique to relieve the strain of providing the one correct response. Divergent thinking techniques allow for an infinite number of possible interpretations and answers to any given problem. Divergent thinking encourages students to explore and record as many ideas as possible without passing judgment rather than worrying about writing the ideal thesis or correctly solving the solution the first time.
It is time to start asking questions and using reason to focus on the greatest options only after exploring every alternative. If you can get your students on board with the idea and begin implementing divergent thinking practices with them in the classroom then you can expect to see great improvements in their work throughout the academic calendar.
There is no doubting the importance of divergent thinking. Whether you are the student or the teacher, the case for divergent thinking is laid out perfectly by Elif Akcali:
How People Can Teach Divergent Thinking
While this sounds like a simple concept, divergent thinking goes beyond coddling students who don’t like being wrong. Statistically, students who are encouraged to use divergent thinking methods demonstrate greater confidence, improved mood, stronger academic ability, and a penchant for entrepreneurship. It is easier to teach these ways of thinking and approaching problems in a one-to-one environment, but the best teachers and tutors are able to share divergent thinking techniques with the whole class.
The effect of divergent thinking also reads on a standardised scale. Since 1930, average IQ scores across the globe have consistently increased. In recent years, studies on divergent thinking have shown that talented adolescents who are capable of this kind of thinking tend to achieve more than those who stick with convergent thinking.
One explanation links this improvement to upgrades in human “mental artillery:” the ability to classify, to use logic on abstractions, and to take the hypothetical seriously. In other words, the ability to produce and analyse hypotheticals, and to use divergent thinking, has helped people become better thinkers.
So, how do we teach divergent thinking?
- Encourage Questions. Instead of evaluating ideas as good or bad, distil the strongest solutions by asking questions about their effectiveness, their relevance to the problem, and their shortcomings.
- Reframe Failure. Treat failure as the middle of a healthy process, rather than the catastrophic end. As Robinson said, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”
- Collaborate. Let students build off each other, combine their ideas, and foster a creative community.
- Think Strange. This exercise is popular amongst interviewers. Take an everyday object like a stapler or a paperclip, and ask students to think of as many unconventional uses for that object as possible. Go for quantity: nothing is too strange!
- Start at the End. Instead of asking students to brainstorm solutions, ask them to formulate a problem. This can be framed however you’d like—by location, demographic, subject, etc.—but work towards issues that are clear, concise and purposeful.
What it Means to be a Divergent Thinker
Divergent thinkers will consider all potential solutions to a problem, increasing the possibility of discovering one that properly solves a specific issue. Divergent thinking is an unstructured, free-form approach to problem-solving in which participants generate a large number of creative ideas or solutions to an urgent problem. Independent, inquisitive, and risk-takers are frequently diverse thinkers.
The applications are plentiful, and it also enables management to modify their strategies and procedures in response to complicated problems, supporting proactive progress as opposed to constrictive reactive thinking. As well as helping within a school environment, being able to think in this way will set you up for the world of work, and set you up with an attitude that finds solutions to problems.
It will certainly help you to generate numerous ideas quickly and on the spur of the moment, find several solutions to an issue, Invent concepts that most people might not Develop and refine their concepts, Utilise criticism to enhance concepts and methods, and collaborate with others to address specialised problems
Teams are urged to think creatively and beyond the box by rejecting the first suggestion. As they exchange ideas and work together to achieve a common objective, this promotes collaboration and raises morale.
Teach the Practice of Divergent Thinking to Other Students
Implementing divergent thinking practices with your students could have a great impact on their performance in the classroom, attitude towards learning and impression on you as an educator.
Remember that private tutoring services will give you complete freedom in how you go about conducting your sessions. You could choose to introduce the concept of divergent thinking to your students and demonstrate how they can apply this model of thinking incrementally between each of your sessions.
Not only will this help them to improve their grades at school but it will also lead to them valuing you as an educator even more. This will be reflected in the review section of your Superprof tutoring account.
Going the extra mile for your students is something that never goes unnoticed. Many tutors will be quick to sit back and hand out notes for their students to revise.
If you want to make a meaningful and lasting impact on your students' thinking, then you should experiment with new ideas to supplement the learning experience. Divergent thinking can be invaluable learning that your students take from your tutoring sessions and apply not just in their other subjects but in countless other walks of life.
If a student is struggling with something in their education, convergent thinking is not likely to provide the answers. Teaching divergent thinking could be your best possible course of action.
If you're interested in conducting your own tutoring sessions, go to the Superprof website. Making your own profile on the platform shouldn't take too long. List your education, work history, and the subject or subjects for which you are seeking tutoring. Prospective customers should get in touch with you as soon as you are set up.
Tutoring might be a wonderful career choice for you if you have the required time, skills, and desire to teach a subject that has to be addressed. No matter how busy you are, you can always squeeze some tutoring into your weekly schedule. Its exceptional flexibility makes it simple to integrate into your schedule however many classes you are able to enrol in. Get started with Superprof today!
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