In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in Washington to a Learning and the Brain conference in Boston. Yet researchers are just beginning to determine what makes some students more creative than their peers, and how the classroom environment can nurture or smother that ability. Creativity is considered one of five "minds" or ways of thinking--along with discipline, synthesis, respect, and ethics--that will be essential for young people to succeed in the future. Other emerging research on creativity seems to point to two critical aspects of creativity that can be hard to teach: (1) the willingness to take risks and learn from failure; and (2) the ability to transfer ways of solving problems between seemingly unrelated situations. Educators can help spark creative thinking by exposing students to creative work; providing an atmosphere in which unique and creative work is valued; and encouraging students to be intellectually curious and adventurous. When students know they can explore and take risks safely, they are better able to connect disparate information and develop insights.