Module 23: Blog Post 1

- A question I had was about giftedness. A lot of students are not good at taking tests. Is there other ways to assess whether a student is gifted, other than by tests? I know it said teachers and committees could nominate students, but other than testing, how would they identify them?

- Creativity is a way of divergent thinking and the ability to think "outside the box." This ability is being able to analyze a problem and come up with multiple solutions to that problem; this being related to higher-order thinking. Creative thinkers have domain-relevant knowledge, where they know and understand the domain, in order to create advancements in it. This advancement comes with taking risks, not being afraid to be original, and acknowledging your mistakes. Higher-order thinking is similar to this; you must understand and be able to analyze and rationalize the situation to move to a stage high-order thinking, where creativity occurs, creating many possible answers. Creative thinkers go through a series of 4 stages to come up with their discovery: preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Those who think creatively experience things in a different way, creating changes within their culture.

Creativity in the dietetics field is important. When counseling individuals on a variety of diets, it is important to incorporate variety and creativity. Especially when designing diets for individuals, you want to make sure you are using different foods, that offer a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. Something important to remember when creating diets, is to create color. Sometimes you will plan a menu that includes: chicken, cauliflower, and mashed potatoes, which are all white items. Being able to give ideas/recipes while working with a client's needs requires creativity. For example, if you have a patient who is disabled, low socioeconomic status, living by themselves, and on a low-sodium diet. You need to consider all of these factors when creating a menu plan. You need to make sure the meals are easy to make, tasteful, colorful, low-sodium, and reasonably priced for the individual. Having a wide variety of resources on hand for the individual can help aid in creativity. Something to consider having in your office, is many nutritional handouts and recipes the clients can take with them to help incorporate foods that are healthy and essential for their diets. Creativity in the dietetics field extends just beyond counseling; whether you are working in foodservice, the community, or in a hospital, you need to personalize each client's diet using creative ideas.