Creative thinking is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, etc. It is a way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh/novel perspective. In involves divergent thinking that focuses on exploration of ideas and generating many possibilities. It is referred to as “thinking outside of the box.” Researchers, poets, designers, film makers always think in a creative way

The four stages in creative thinking are- 

(i) Preparation – This involves formulating the problem and gathering information about it. Many tentative solutions are tried out and discarded. No progress seems to be made by the person.

(ii) Incubation – If the person does not get the required results, he/she may focus on things unrelated to that problem. The period helps to work out the problem without consciously thinking about it. Incubation period appears to be non-fruitful.

(iii) Illumination – After incubation, suddenly the correct solution appears to the person, due to which he/she experiences excitement. It seems that a solution has fallen into place.

(iv) Verification – The new solution may need to be evaluated a number of times. In most cases, minor changes will be required but sometimes it may demand a major overhaul of the entire process.

For e.g., A teacher asks the students to think of unusual uses for a bottle.

• The students will begin brainstorming. 
• The students will come up with many uses for e.g., to store liquids, to hold plants, etc. But these are not unusual uses. They will give up and focus on something else. 
• The students will suddenly find novel uses for the bottle e.g., in juggling etc. 
• The students will verify these solutions with their teacher.