Children's Divergent & Convergent Thinking...Which is the Right Way to Think?

Children are so intelligent, in their own thoughtful ways! Homeschooling my own kiddos and providing psychotherapy to kiddos for years has opened my eyes to a revolutionary way of thinking...or is it? 

Divergent Thinking

At our enrichment on Tuesday, I showed the children a short introductory video describing Jasper Johns and his contemporary art works. I provided the kids with foam letters with sticky backs, a card stock sheet, acrylic paints and brushes. I didn't give them exact instructions simply because I love how kids view and interpret art and they blew me away with their beautiful works! Divergent thinking can manifest itself in many ways, that's because with divergent thinking, there are many ways to find a solution after a stimulus. During our Tuesday enrichment, the stimulus was the Jasper Johns video and the solutions...you should've seen the solutions these precious little brains created! Divergent thinking at its best or was it?!?

Convergent Thinking 

 

If I take the same Jasper Johns art enrichment example, and divergent thinking is when a whole bunch of potential solutions result from a measly stimulus (aka the video) then convergent thinking is just the opposite. Convergent thinking is basically deductive reasoning.    A child would manifest convergent thinking by becoming a little detective! They'd find all the clues, facts, and observe as much as possible to find a solution (or various solutions). In our example, the kiddos who used convergent thinking may have walked over to the table to investigate the art supplies and already start to create solutions before watching the video. See,  their stimulus was the table full of art supplies and their observations. Their conclusions were their final art project...no video needed. 

The Right way...

So, what's the right way for your child to think? Why not allow your child to think divergently and convergently?! See, convergent thinking and divergent thinking go hand and hand but children will often gravitate to one way or the other.  

Why is this important?! 

Once you know which way of thinking your child prefers, you can tailor harder, unwanted, or uninteresting lessons to their thought process to make them more interesting and appealing! Why not have a Sherlock Holmes scavenger hunt to learn multiplication for your little convergent thinker or a multiplication baking project for your little divergent thinker?