The human mind is a unique and intricate vessel which requires training for an active thought process. After a child is born, he/she learns every day from his/her surroundings. With age, you realise that life never ceases to teach us. But this is not enough.
A child should undergo proper manners of developing critical thinking. It inculcates the importance of innovative skills like problem-solving capabilities to help to come up with exclusive new approaches and ideas. These new skills should be taught at the onset of their early age to fuel their social and emotional development. The practice of these activity based skills put the child through different resolutions to help the child gain total confidence.
What are Innovative Skills?
Innovation is the perfect way to explore the best in a child. It starts with curiosity. As a child grows, he/she starts out being naturally curious about the happenings around him/her. Acquiring the right innovative skills can help a child blossom into a confident human being. These are the abilities and knowledge to adapt to new changes along with existing knowledge. When the right amount of training is imparted to the child, the skills of innovation become stronger. This, in turn, allows the child to develop critical thinking allowing him/her to think from diverse perspectives.
Innovative skills work out mostly when they are activity based. Arts and crafts are a great way of pumping up creativity in children. Kids can experiment with different paints to produce something they can call their own. Similarly, music can help them to distinguish between slow and fast. Likewise, dancing skills help them to develop imagination and gross motor skills with each movement. This form of experimental learning is bound to bring out the best development in the child as per their own needs.
Some ways of developing innovative skills include:
- Imagination and Critical Thinking: Thinking is the universal creative process of any human. Through imagination, a child can flex her thinking preferences.
- The Ability of Problem-Solving: Once the thought process is clarified, a child learns to think of ways and ideas to try and solve the problem.
- Design: Once a number of ways crowd the mind, the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) starts. This is where the creativity of resolution lies, and the problem will be solved.
Innovative Learning
Students need innovative learning to succeed in this competitive and complex dynamic world in today’s information age. It is the basis of problem-solving and helps students adapt to the dynamics of the complex world surrounding them.
Innovation is not just about using gadgets and learning fancy concepts of technology. Instead, it is about doing things differently in an innovative way. It requires high-level skills to solve problems and contribute to critical thinking. Therefore, our modern education needs to focus more on relevant skill-building practices in preparation for the challenging future of the new generation.
Importance of innovation in education
The importance of innovation in education can be an abstract concept and can mean different things to different audiences. However, innovation in education has genuine and tangible benefits. Innovation cannot be tested or categorised, but it can be rooted and created in students. Innovation in education encourages students and teachers to use all the tools to research, explore and unravel something new.
21st century learning
Modern-day education and its objectives are not limited to developing basic literacy skills. To be successful in today’s global workforce, students need to have technical literacy and high-quality thinking skills.
Learning and innovative skills are increasingly being recognised as skills that differentiate students ready for the increasingly complex life and work environment in the 21st century. 21st century skills are more important to students. In addition to providing a successful learning framework, these skills help students thrive in the changing world where learning continues. Students need to focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration to prepare for the future.
Preparation of innovative skills
- Support creativity and ingenuity
Creativity is one of the in-demand attributes of today’s workforce. Therefore, we adequately introduce students to new and innovative ways of thinking. Organise more and more activities that require creative thinking.
Teach children the importance of being creative. Encourage out-of-the-box thinking, and appreciate the creative flow of students’ ideas.
- Add an element of creativity to your teaching/communication
Add creative elements (such as visual presentations with graphics, etc.) to your teaching to promote creativity and innovation in communication and practice new teaching styles. Present materials/suggestions in a way that students like and they can build confidence in adopting creative and innovative thinking processes in their daily life.
- Develop skills through activities
Prepare students to encourage new-age skill building for innovation. Develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and imagination and creativity core skills in students through innovative culture and activities to enhance skills in the classroom. Make sure the learning environment is always positive and welcoming for each student.
- Encourage hands-on activities
To nurture innovative thinking, it is important to encourage curious and questioning minds and allow more hands-on activities. Attractive activities such as improving biological puzzles, sowing seeds to understand germination, and understanding chemical composition through experiments help to develop conceptual understanding. Allowing students to draw inquiries and draw conclusions stimulates their creativity.
Why are Innovative Skills Needed at Early Ages?
Innovation is the perfect process to research and explore in the process of uncovering something new. Gradually, it involves a different manner of dealing with problems. This answers the question of its necessity from an early age. Curiosity and creativity pave the way for the betterment of a child’s learning journey. This enables them to connect the dots to understand a situation better. In the process, they turn out to be better problem solvers.
The major drawback of the traditional education system is that we only see skills that are required for academic excellence. But the parents miss out on essential development of thinking and thought process as innovative skills, that motivates children of early ages to be imaginative and inventive. Kids are born with a burst of energy that requires proper channelization. This is where the need for innovative skills arises at an early age.
Once a child starts to interact with their surroundings, the development of motor skills aids them in the capacity to question, deliver and discover. They have a sudden gush of the pursuit of new ideas, and with proper training in innovative skills, they can arrive at an effective decision to solve it. So parents should be trained to synchronise the physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of the child.
How Can 21K Fuel Creativity, Curiosity and Critical Thinking of a Child?
Notified to the best tech-driven schools in India, 21K School offers expert services in online studies where stress is laid on building up innovative skills. It is one of the best personalised and structured schools aiming at academic excellence with the unfurling thought process of each child. Programmes designed exclusively for everyone based on the assessments taken.
Here, the design of online teaching is set out to merge the best of curiosity and innovativeness in every child from a tender age. Their personalised workshops and events provide a platform for students to brainstorm and invest their ideas with originality and presentation skills. A successful combination of all of these aid in developing problem-solving and designing ideas, which are the basics of entrepreneurial skills. In the process, children learn to develop their passion for learning and taking risks from an early age, which they can be able to amplify later in life.
