Creative Teaching Resources

Creative teaching techniques are important to incorporate into the lesson delivering process because this is how the students will develop their problem-solving skills in new ways. Teachers can choose from a variety of creative teaching resources to stimulate the thinking strategies of their students. This is a very important part of teaching besides making the students absorb the curriculum contents. 

The benefits of using creative teaching resources

As the professional environment is constantly evolving, students must learn techniques and strategies to respond better in their respective fields of study. Using creative teaching resources has the following benefits: 

• Students show more engagement in classroom and do not get distracted from the curriculum content
• Improvement in problem solving skills and reflective strategies are observed among the students 
• Increases the confidence of students in applying and thinking of new ideas which is very important for research 
• Theory and practice are integrated in their thinking patterns 
• Encourages team building and hence, healthy exchange of ideas 
• When discussion is conducted with an open mind, students can challenge assumptions 
• Modern startups and entrepreneurial businesses require employees to come up with creative ideas and repetitive work is becoming obsolete. Some students may have an innately creative approach but others have to develop this quality by exercising those parts of their mind

Types of creative teaching resources

Depending on the kind of subject being taught and the age group of the students, any of the following types of creative teaching resources can be used: 

• Teaching concepts of maths through a playground trail
• Design challenge boxes centred around scientific concepts by the Creative Teaching Press
• Lessons to teach digital design that includes the curriculum’s contents 
• Get inspired by TED Ed lessons like this one, which demonstrates concepts of particle physics through objects at the beach
• Giving creative assessments like this
• Brainstorming tools that students can use in groups online  
• Use the Mycoted.com Creativity enhancing tools
• Tools to create ideas in the classroom

How to choose the best creative teaching resources for your classroom

Each subject requires a different kind of approach when solving problems or coming up with new ideas to expand the knowledge on the subject. For example, a psychology class would not require physical objects for demonstration but a rather engaging brainstorming session to check if students can apply the ideas taught in class.

• A psychology class could be taught very well by roleplaying and actual simulations of situations with patients in order to exercise the problem solving skills of students
• If a teacher wants to test the knowledge of students, they can present certain assumptions regarding the solution of a problem and then find out if the assumptions are true. Applied and Pure sciences classes are good for these exercises 
• For an architecture class, pass around a sheet of paper onto which students keep adding ideas to design something as a problem’s solution 
• For any kind of problem diagnosis (this applies to medicine or engineering, both), the fishbone method can be used to identify the major and minor causes   
• For business classes, exercises can be conducted to imagine the lives of different customer groups to identify their needs 
• Another kind of brainstorming idea for a marketing or business management class could be to think about a product or service with the SCAMPER technique (Substitute: What can you substitute in this product or service? Combine: can you think of any new things to add for a combination? Adapt: Think of things to adapt as a solution Modify/minify/magnify: Adding and subtracting some things to modify the object of study. Put to other uses: How can you put the product or service to different uses? Eliminate: What can you eliminate completely? Rearrange: What can be rearranged in some way?)

Incorporating creative teaching resources into your lesson plans

It all depends on the teacher’s creativity and how they apply their creative approach to the lesson. There are many ways to teach your lesson in a creative way that involves the whole classroom: 

• Storyboarding technique can be used with post-it notes and stickers on a softboard. This is perfect for a history lesson in which students can dd their comments and analyses under each frame (post it note) 
• Enterprise challenge to make students come up with ideas to respond to the needs of the changing market. Teachers can create a simulation of the scenario in the class
• The How-How method can be applied to a project management class curriculum in order to respond to a hiccup in the workflow 

Engaging students with creative teaching resources

The best way to engage the whole classroom is to find activities that would ensure participation from everyone and not just the loud students teaching the rest. Even group work can eventually end up in isolating some of the kids who might not be expressing themselves well. A big whiteboard or soft board with everyone’s ideas visible clearly can be extremely helpful.