EPISODE 1: EARLY YEARS

Dr. Land & Dr Jarman NASA Study Reveals Children Are Born Creative Geniuses 

June 12, 2025

 NASA’s Divergent Thinking Creativity Test developed by Dr. Land found that 98% of children start as creative geniuses, but only 2% keep that spark into adulthood.
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Children are born creative geniuses!

That’s exactly what Dr. George Land and Dr. Beth Jarman discovered when they tested 1,600 American children using NASA’s Imaginative Thinking Test.

Their 10-year study revealed a shocking decline in creativity over time:
  • Ages 4-5: 98% scored at genius levels in creativity 
  • Age 10: Only 30% retained their creative genius 
  • Age 15: That number dropped to 12% 
  • Adulthood: < 2% remained creative geniuses 
This study proves that we are all born with extraordinary divergent creative potential—but as time passes, something dims that spark.

Something smothers our ingenuity and creativity as time ticks by ... 

What’s silencing that natural genius?

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"Such an easy, inspiring listen—uplifting tips, practical advice, and so relatable that you feel truly connected."

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98% of kids are creative geniuses

—until school teaches them to think inside the box. 

A NASA-backed study found that 98% of 4-5-year-olds test at genius-level creativity. But by adulthood?

Less than 2% remain. Not because creativity fades, but because we’re taught to stop using it. From an early age, kids are trained to follow rules, find the right answer, and play it safe—while creativity thrives in possibilities, not perfection. 

Schools teach kids to find the right answer—not new ideas.

Over time, creativity gets replaced with memorization, and curiosity turns into compliance.

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The Creativity Crisis

How We’re Unintentionally Holding Our Kids Back

Dr. George Land’s NASA-backed study tested 1,600 children on creative thinking, starting at ages 4-5. The results were mind-blowing—98% of them scored at genius levels in creativity.

But as they grew older, that spark faded fast: by grade school, only 30% remained highly creative, dropping to 12% in high school, and by adulthood? A shocking 2%.

So, what happened? Land’s study suggests that traditional education and societal norms don’t nurture creativity—they smother it. Children are born creative geniuses, full of curiosity and imagination, but something dims that flame over time.

One major reason? The way we teach thinking.

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2 Types of Thinking & Why They Matter

Our brains use two distinct thinking processes, but when kids are forced to use both at the same time, it creates mental friction that diminishes brainpower.

Children are born with an inner flame of curiosity and innovation, but when we force them to use divergent and convergent thinking at the same time, it creates a mental tug-of-war. Their neurons compete instead of collaborate, making it harder for the brain to function at full capacity.

Divergent Thinking:
This fuels creativity, imagination, and innovation. It’s spontaneous and allows endless possibilities to emerge. It’s why kids can turn a cardboard box into a spaceship or see a dragon in the clouds. An inquisitive mind feeds this natural desire to learn, explore, and grow.

Convergent Thinking:
This is focused, logical, and judgment-based thinking—what we use to analyze, test, and make decisions. It’s essential for solving problems and reaching conclusions, but it works best when separated from creative thought.

The real issue? When we ask kids to be creative and critical at the same time, we unknowingly weaken their ability to think powerfully. Dr. George Land explained in his 2011 TEDx Talk that this conflict in thinking doesn’t just slow creativity—it shrinks it over time.

If we want to keep our kids’ creative genius alive, we need to stop un-teaching creativity and start giving them the space to think freely. 

It is time to rethink the way we teach thinking!

The Fearless Creativity Kids Are Born With

Before that spark fades, we need to ask: how do we keep it alive?
"An elementary school teacher was giving a drawing class to a group of six-year-old children. At the back of the classroom sat a little girl who normally didn’t pay much attention in school. In the drawing class she did. For more than twenty minutes, the girl sat with her arms curled around her paper, totally absorbed in what she was doing. The teacher found this fascinating.

Eventually, she asked the girl what she was drawing. Without looking up, the girl said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.”

Surprised, the teacher said, “But nobody knows what God looks like.” The girl said, “They will in a minute.” – Robinson, K. (2009)
Sir Ken Robinson shared this story in his book The Element—and it’s a perfect reminder of how naturally bold and imaginative young children are. That kind of fearless confidence? It lives in every child—until the world starts teaching them to doubt it.

The real challenge is making sure that spark stays alive as they grow.

Takeaways From This Episode

How to Nurture Divergent Thinking:

Encourage Work Based on Real Experiences & Observations
Once they observe (look and learn), they will remember the experiences the most! Offer them to roll their sleeves and do the doing, embracing hands-on learning. 

Encourage Imagination, Not Imitation
Imagination is the unique ability that makes us human, apart from animals who can merely imitate. Offer children plenty of opportunities to imagine things and practice being creative.

Offer a Child to Pay Careful Attention to Their Senses
Ask them awareness questions about what we are touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting. The more senses the children utilize, the richer the experience. 

Motivate a Child with Open Questions
An open question has more than one answer, and such thinking generates new possibilities. Allow children to express themselves.

Encourage Hands-on Experimentation as Learning
Don’t do it for them! Instead of showing how something is done, ask them to try other ways to see if it will work. Children gain confidence when they learn from hands-on experience. We do not want to smother their innate desire to figure things out.

Be an Observer, Not a Critic
Listen to your child, do not judge, criticize, or point to mistakes. The Montessori method has a built-in control of error that allows a child to self-correct if needed without an adult’s intervention or deprecation.

Offer Freedom of Movement & Freedom of Choice
Provide freedom of movement and freedom of choice encourages children to be decision-makers. Offer them an option in the material and the workspace: do they want to do it on the floor mat or the table?m Do they want to stay inside or bring the lesson outdoors?

Present Plenty of Opportunities for Practice
With practice, they improve their techniques, making the hard stuff easy to prevent discouragement or loss of interest. Make sure that the learning is challenging (not boring) and straightforward enough to avoid total frustration.

Encourage Creative Problem-Solving Skills
Encourage children to come up with many different solutions to a problem. This thinking opens the mind in various directions and tests the brain’s ability to shift perspective on existing information.

Other Culprits of a Decline in Divergent Thinking Capabilities
What other possible reasons do you think are responsible for the huge drop in divergent thinking ability as we grow older? When people’s underlying capabilities are not being challenged, when we are locked into jobs, titles, or situations that are boring, and the lack of opportunities for creative expression may be largely responsible for the plummet in divergent thinking as we mature.

However, does this excuse us when we teach in ways that are entangled with extrinsic motivation, rewarding copying, and mimicking rather than showing little ones the strategies that highly creative people use when they think?

Why Listeners Keep Tuning In

Love this! Thank you for this episode Anya! l appreciate the tips for how to encourage creativity. I love the idea of using hands-on learning and experimentation, imagination, senses, asking open-ended questions, observing, offering freedom in choices, having them practice, problem-solve, and letting them fail!

Kayla Linares

Exactly What Homeschooling
Parents Need! This podcast is a breath of fresh air! Anya's passion is contagious. If you're looking for clarity, confidence, and connection in your homeschooling journey-this is the podcast for you!

Anastasia Larsson

Wow, this is amazing! I loved hearing this — it’s so true. Creativity really does get snuffed out as we grow older unless we actively work to preserve, protect, nourish, and let it flourish.

Melanie Beers-Quinn

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Thanks for tuning in and I will see you next week!

RESEARCH & SOURCES MENTIONED

Dr. George Land’s 2011 TedX Talk: In his talk "The Failure Of Success", Dr. George Land gives us a brief history of human innovation and talks about the importance of creativity.

Land, G., & Jarman, B. (1992). Breakpoint and beyond: Mastering the future today. HarperBusiness. 

Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson | TED

Robert McGarvey “Creative Thinking” USAIR, June 1990, p. 36

TwentyOneToys: Study Shows We are Born Creative Geniuses but the "Education" System Dumbs Us Down

Meet Anya

Winner of the 2025 Global Women Changing the World in Education Award and named the #1 Key Early Learning Influencer in North America, Anya Garcia helps you parent with purpose and live with intention.


After walking away from a high-powered legal career, she entered her true calling—shining the light on the early years, a period rich with potential, transformation, and often-overlooked power.

Blending neuroscience, evolutionary insight, and practical strategies, Anya helps children thrive and adults evolve. You will find mindset-shifting tools and science-backed insights to inspire lasting change. 

This Show is where mindset meets motherhood, education meets empowerment, and transformation begins now—one child, one parent at a time.

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