🌱 Creativity in Every Subject: From Curiosity to Confidence

The classroom was alive with quiet energy. Small groups huddled around tables, pencils tapping, voices low but animated. Each group was working together to make sense of fractions: cutting paper circles, folding strips, and sketching patterns to show what a “part of a whole” really meant.

As the facilitator, I moved from table to table; not to correct, but to listen. My goal wasn’t to deliver answers, but to notice how students were learning to think.

Then I saw it. One group had gone a completely different way. Instead of slicing paper evenly, they were drawing circles that overlapped and connected like petals on a flower. They called them pizza petals, their own way of explaining how fractions worked.

I paused. Their design wasn’t what I had planned, but it made perfect sense. The students were explaining division visually, building patterns, testing ideas, and learning from one another. They weren’t following the method; they were making meaning.

In that moment, the room felt different. The hum of conversation turned into discovery. What began as a math lesson had transformed into something creative: alive with curiosity, laughter, and confidence.

That’s when I realized: creativity doesn’t need an art supply list or a new subject. It’s already there, quietly unfolding every time students are trusted to explore.

🌿 The Rekla Lens: Creativity as a Learning Process

In Finnish classrooms, creativity isn’t a side subject, it’s the heartbeat of learning. Every subject, from math to literature to science, is designed to help students think flexibly, connect ideas, and explore multiple solutions. Creativity isn’t about producing something “pretty”; it’s about learning to see from a new perspective.

Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) carries the same belief. Creativity and Critical Thinking are not treated as bonus skills, it’s a core competency woven through every area of learning. It challenges teachers to shift from delivering content to facilitating exploration.

Both Finland and the CBC remind us that creativity begins with trust. Trust that students can explore without fear of being wrong, and trust that teachers can step back and guide the process instead of directing every detail.

💫 Why It Matters

When curiosity is allowed to lead, students stop seeking the right answer and begin discovering possibilties. That’s where confidence grows.

Research from the OECD (2019) found that students who regularly engage in creative thinking show higher motivation, deeper comprehension, and stronger connections across disciplines. Finnish educators describe this as the cycle of Curiosity → Confidence → Competence — a process that begins not with information, but with imagination.

In CBC classrooms, this shift is transformational. It means we stop asking, “How do I teach creativity?” and start asking, “How can I make space for it?”

When curiosity and reflection become part of the learning environment, creativity stops being an event and it becomes the atmosphere of the classroom.

🎨 What It Looks Like in Practice - Creativity in Every Subject

You don’t need new materials or an art period to teach creatively. You only need to make thinking visible. Try starting small:

• Ask “What if…” questions. Begin lessons with wonder. “What if this math pattern showed up in music?” or “What if our science experiment became a story?” Curiosity opens the door to creativity.

• Use Visible Thinking routines. Strategies like See–Think–Wonder or Compass Points (Needs, Excitements, Suggestions, Worries) help students reflect deeply before concluding.

• Blend subjects. Pair art with math, storytelling with science, or design with social studies. Cross-subject projects show students that learning is interconnected.

• Encourage reflection. Ask, “Where did creativity appear in our work today?” When students name their creative moments, they start to recognize thinking as a skill they own.

These small shifts can transform classroom energy. Students begin to take creative risks, explain their reasoning, and collaborate more meaningfully. And teachers rediscover the spark that brought them to education in the first place that joy of watching curiosity take root.

🌱 Rekla Reflection Question

How might curiosity become your starting point this week? What could happen if creativity wasn’t treated as a subject but as a natural part of every student’s thinking process?

🎥 Watch the full reflection and classroom examples in this week’s video on my YouTube channel:

👉 The Courage to Teach Differently