One of the central questions that many educators struggle with in any classroom is in regards to teaching creativity. After all, how do you teach innovation?  How do you instruct your students to be innovative?  There’s not really a formula or a step-by-step tutorial that we can give someone that will automatically allow them to create the next Facebook or develop the next iPad.  We know what the components are: creativity, innovative thought, collaboration, critical thinking skills and analysis.  But how do you teach someone to innovate?

For today’s Free Friday, we’ve prepared a new infographic that outlines the process by which innovation naturally occurs.  This happens over considerable amounts of time. However, with this process in mind, you can encourage your students to engage in the very same practices that Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs used. The same ones that helped them create and shape the world that we know today.  This is not a 5-step plan to innovation, nor is it intended to be a way to provide instruction on how to innovate.  Rather, this provides the framework for the innovative process that you can put into place anywhere (classroom, job, or home) and through this you can engage in specific tasks within each area.

Happy Friday! Teaching Innovation, Education Closet