What is innovation? The term is as broad as it is exciting. Innovation is the implementation of curiosity and creativity. Doing something new, thinking of some great new ideas, and coming up with better and easier ways to get work done is what innovation sums up to.
Everyone used to write letters in earlier times and communicate with people living afar, but someone was creating something that could connect these people through one device – the telephone. As people were happy and well-connected through innovation, someone thought of making communication better and more efficient and also added tons of new features all in one device – the cellular phone. This is how curiosity to improve something and creativity to think out-of-the-box have led us to the great advancement we live in today.
Children with the best grasping power and creative minds are most suitable for learning about innovation. Let us see why are innovation skills important and how to develop them.
What is Innovation?
Innovation is nothing but utilising creative thought processes to make something new and unique. Everyone is using the different utilities around, but the sound in a curious mind that digs deeper into it and wants to find something more efficient is known as innovation.
Imagine a child playing with Lego and trying to build a tall tower. Every time the tower reaches a certain height, it tumbles down. The child thinks of a way to make the structure stand taller. He came up with the idea that making the base broader would give it a better foundation for a taller structure. This is what innovative thinking is all about.
You might wonder why are innovation skills important for a child. The answer is that a child’s mind is like a clean canvas. It is ready to be painted in all colours. This makes them most receptive to new ideas, knowledge, and practices. A child has a very creative and imaginative mind that helps them perceive things around them through a creative outlook. Thus, if a school understands how to develop innovation skills in a child, they will learn about innovation and practice it better.
Innovation helps us cope with change more efficiently and also makes living more convenient. A few decades ago, did anyone imagine that we could instruct a machine to play music, dim lights, and search songs from a tune? No! That is where innovation has brought us and made our lives so much more convenient.
What is Process Innovation?
Innovation is not something that can be taught, but the approach to being innovative is very much attainable through proper guidance and training. Process innovation is a process of thinking of newer and more efficient ways of doing things. Innovation does not necessarily have to be on something very complex but also on simpler everyday tasks. For example, a child can showcase innovation by coming up with a process to clean their room faster with minimal effort.
The process of innovation has the following steps:
- Identify the root of the problem.
- Come up with solutions that can best resolve the problem.
- Chalk out a plan to implement the solution.
- Testing out the viability and efficiency of the solution.
- Refining it till it reaches its optimum.
How to Develop Innovation Skills?
If you are wondering how to make students innovative and tap into their innovative side, then here are a few fun steps to achieve that.
- Encourage them to question things around them, like how a clock works, why the sky is blue, how the star glows, etc.
- Let them try new things without fearing consequences or failures. Be it anything new – a new story, a new sport, making a new friend. Doing new things promotes curiosity and fights the fear of change. Schools should be a safe space for students to try without fear of mistakes, and that is how to make students innovative.
- Take every problem as a puzzle waiting to be solved. With each resolution, the student will gain a better perspective on the problem and also improve their analytical thinking.
- Play and work in teams so that new ideas are shared among friends and everyone is inspired by one another. More ideas mean better results,and more collaboration means shared efforts.
- Acknowledge and celebrate each idea. When students feel addressed and recognised for their thought process, they are motivated to keep being creative and innovative.
- Give the students challenges and tasks to overcome using their innovative thought processes and problem-solving skills. This promotes out-of-box thinking to come up with efficient solutions.
Innovation is such a necessary attribute to keep advancing towards better and more efficient living. And who is better than children to put their creative minds to use in order to sharpen their innovative skills and potential? With schools promoting innovation skills and nurturing their creative thinking, children can learn all about innovation and learn to implement it in all the right areas of their lives.
Innovating new things through new ideas will help them as well as all others. They can achieve better living and a more efficient way of life. Even after so much advancement in all sectors, there are still endless scopes to explore and improvise. Kangaroo Kids International Preschool is the right choice if you want to unlock your child’s innovative side. Contact us today to learn more about our education approach!
