Labyrinth

Photo: leungchopan via Dollarphotoclub

“......Walking substantially enhanced
creativity by two different measures. For
the three alternate uses studies, 81%,
88%, and 100% of participants were
more creative walking than sitting. For
[creating analogies], 100% of those who
walked outside generated at least one
novel high-quality analogy compared
with 50% of those seated inside.......

Walking is an easy-to-implement
strategy to increase appropriate novel
idea generation.[If] there is a premium
on generating new ideas in the workday,
it should be beneficial to incorporate
walks. In addition to providing
performance benefits, it would address
concerns regarding the physiological
effects of inactivity....

While schools are cutting back on
physical education in favor of seated
academics, the neglect of the body in
favor of the mind ignores their tight
interdependence, as demonstrated here”.

Oppezzo, M. et al (2014) Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking. Stanford University, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 40(4), 1142–1152, © 2014 American Psychological Association

If school is going to seriously teach creativity, then it will seriously consider teaching strategies for lateral thinking and the utility of mind wandering. It will consider the Labyrinth.