Creativity

Ours is a profession dependent on our creativity to find solutions and form new ideas. It is interesting then, that creativity is not encouraged in our education.

I did not have any musical experiences in high school, I did not participate in drama, I did not take art past 9th grade. In college I took music appreciation - I did not appreciate it. For most of my life, I have been turned off by the thought of going to an opera, a symphony, a dance show, an art museum,or a play. My appreciation for the performing and visual arts has been pretty non-existent.

Upon self reflection, I would have to say my level of creativity is rather low as well. I tend to grind through all of the possibilities of a problem one by one analytically rather than search creatively - rather than think outside the box.

Over the past several months Aaron Wenger and I have been talking about the importance of creativity in engineering education. He has been trying to convince me that by creating in the arts a student learns the creativity necessary to be a creative engineer. At one point I said - "yeah, good idea, we could get engineering students to do the lighting or sound effects for a play". He said "no you idiot, that is not creative -- we need to get engineering students performing in a play or writing a play".

He is starting to win me over. I've read a lot lately about the brain and how people learn. The connections between creativity in problem solving and creativity in the arts exist.

Tonight and last night, I watched my daughter and two nieces peform in a dance show. The creativity they display is amazing. While watching, I wonder about the connections and how we could make those connections for engineering students.

Incidentally, the Reif Center was near full each night. Many community members were in attendance (not just parents and grandparents of performers). Guess how many engineers or engineering students I saw?

TBL: Appreciation for the arts is important - we should all do it. Participation in the arts would be even more powerful. For the first time in my life, I am wondering how I should try.