ABSTRACT
Instruction to guide students of any age in learning and applying the mental operations that support creativity and innovation involves three important goals: competence, confidence, and commitment. Operations involve the degree to which one can choose, apply, and manage specific tools for creative work. These include tools for generating options, focusing options, and making decisions, as well as structured methods for finding, defining; and solving problems. The operations component also involves thinking about our own thinking, or the use of metacognitive skills. These skills include understanding the language and vocabulary that accompanies methods and tools, monitoring our own creative efforts, and communicating our thinking to others. The foundation for creativity instruction involves learning and using a number of basic tools for generating or focusing options and for process management.
