ABSTRACT
A traditional view of creativity is that some people are more creative than others – they have a particular 'gift' in this area. If creativity involves creating something new and useful, then creative thinking is required when putting elements together to solve a problem, assembling facts into a coherent explanation when peer teaching, or when making links between different areas of content when evaluating a theory. Divergent thinking could play an important role in problem-solving, but this will depend on the nature of the problem. Convergent thinking is involved in problems where the steps required are clear and the learner simply needs to follow them accurately, as may be the case in many maths tasks. Incubation is the idea that creative ideas need a period of latent time – after initially tackling the problem or task – before they are ready. It appears that in order to make creative connections, it can help to take a break from the problem.
