When There is no Correct Answer – A Lesson in Creativity

We conducted a simple exercise with gifted students, attending a school in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, that encourages creativity and excellence (the Rama School). The students were in the third grade (9 years old or so).

Together with Odelia Kohn Oppenheim, we gave each student a page with a triangle.

We offered ‘a point’ to those who completed the picture in a ‘correct manner’.

It took the children less than one minute to complete the drawings. They placed them to the side and started talking with one another. They showed no interest whatsoever in the exercise.

Indeed, most of the pictures were simple houses, with the triangle as the roof. Here is one typical example.

Five minutes later, we gave the students pages with exactly the same triangle. We asked them to complete the picture. No other instructions were given.

This is what happened.

As it turns out, children are like adults. When presented a reward for doing something in the correct fashion, their products are non-creative, mediocre and offhand. Over 80% of the students drew a simple house and used an average of two colors, even though they had a stack of colors on the table at their disposal.

On the other hand, when no reward was offered, and there was no expectation of a correct answer, students were much more motivated. They took the entire five minutes that we allotted them, they used on the average five colors, and none of them drew a simple house.

In which house would you like to live?

Please click to watch the video.

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