3 Check Your Knowledge: The Creative Process
The Creative Process has 4 stages, as first outlined by Graham Wallas in Art of Thought (1926). The four stages are:
- Preparation
- Incubation
- Illumination
- Verification
Creativity is considered to be the highest-order level of thinking and sits atop Bloom’s Taxonomy, an important learning theory used to demonstrate levels of thinking complexity.
Traditional artists use creativity, but it’s important to note that creativity is used in many different places and applications: budgeting, plumbing, parenting, planning, gardening and landscaping, conversing, and many many other areas.
Creativity involves thinking unconventionally and coming up with divergent ideas–solutions to a problem that has many possible solutions. Convergent thinking, which is applied to a problem with only one correct solution, is more associated with analytical and critical thinking. Creative problems have multiple possible solutions.
