In today’s entry to the 23 good reasons for Open Education series, Djaine Damiati, Débora Sebriam and Isabela Campos Menezes give us a historical background to creative thinking and argue that open education gives the right setting for this to happen. Djaine Damiati, Débora Sebriam and Isabela Campos Menezes are researchers at the Universidade Nacional de Brasilia (Brazil). Djaine and Isabela work at the UNESCO Chair in Open Education and Technologies for the Common Good which is part of the Unitwin network UNOE.