Main Content
Session Information
27 SES 01 B, Learning and Creativity
Paper Session
Contribution
Creativity is considered to be an educational goal (Serve, 2000) and it is a widespread consensus that creativity is an important facet of human personality which should be fostered. It can be defined as ability to solve problems in an unusual but inventive and efficient way (Drevdahl, 1956) and, therefore, it is a meaningful prerequisite for learning processes (Runco, 2004). Even though creativity is named as an instructional goal in curricula for different subjects and different type of schools, there is still a research gap on investigating creativity and its predictors on a longitudinal database.
Theoretically, it is assumed that there are multiple determinants on creativity: In addition to (unstable and stable) individual factors like motivation, intelligence or traits (e.g. openness, unconventionality, perseverance or curiosity) it depends on domain specific skills. Beyond these individual factors, external conditions can strongly determine whether somebody acts creatively or not (Cropley, 1991; Urban, 1993).
Several empirical results reveal creativity development from first to second grade to be unequal and unstable (rtt ≈ .10). Further analyses show major differences in the creativity development between classes and showed class affiliation to be an explaining variable for individual’s creativity (Freund & Holling, 2008; Theurer, Berner, & Lipowsky, 2012). Investigating creativity with regard to mean development, it could often be shown how children’s creativity drops when entering school. After a slow recover during elementary school, creativity typically decreases again before or when entering adolescence (for a review see Feldman, 1999; Urban, 2004). Results like these might indicate an influence of classroom characteristics on individual creativity development.
In an educational setting, characteristics on class level (e.g. acceptance of unconventionality, enhancing imaginativeness or trustful relationships towards classmates and teachers) are considered to compose a creativity-supportive climate and therefore might affect creativity development (Cropley, 1991). So far, there is only little empirical evidence for these theoretical assumptions. Neither this alleged dimensionality of creativity supportive classroom climate nor its posited effect on creativity development has been investigated sufficiently.
Research Questions
The study aims at explaining children’s creativity development throughout elementary school. Using data from a student survey it is analyzed which external conditions within the classroom contribute to it. Hence, the following questions are to be answered:
- How does creativity develop during elementary school?
- Does students’ perception of creativity-supportive classroom climate affect their creativity development?
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Cropley, A. J. (1991). Unterricht ohne Schablone: Wege zur Kreativität. [Class Without Former Plate: Tracks Toward Creativity.] München: Ehrenwirth. Drevdahl, J. E. (1956). Factors of importance for creativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology, (12), 21–26. Feldman, H. (1999). The development of creativity. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.), Handbook of Creativity (pp. 169–152). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Freund, P. A., & Holling, H. (2008). Creativity in the classroom: A multilevel analysis investigating the impact of creativity and reasoning ability on scholastic achievement. Creativity Research Journal, 20(3), 309–318. Lipowsky, F., Faust, G. & Kastens, C. (2013). Persönlichkeits- und Lernentwicklung an staatlichen und privaten Grundschulen. Ergebnisse der PERLE-Studie zu den ersten beiden Schuljahren. [Personality and learning development in public and private elementary schools. Results of the first two years of the PERLE-study.] Münster: Waxmann. Runco, M. A. (2004). Creativity. Annual Review of Psychology, (55), 657–687. Serve, H. J. (2000). Fundamente (grund‐)schulpädagogischer Kreativitätsförderung. [Basements of Fostering Creativity in (Elementary) School.] In H. J. Serve (Ed.), Kreativitätsförderung [Fostering Creativity] (pp. 10–26). Baltmannsweiler: Schneider‐Verl. Hohengehren. Theurer, C., Berner, N., & Lipowsky, F. (2012). Die Entwicklung der Kreativität im Grundschulalter: Zur Messung der Kreativität im PERLE-Projekt. [Creativity Development During Elementary School: On the Measurement of Creativity Within the PERLE-Project.] Journal for Educational Research Online, 4(2), 174–190. Urban, K. K. (1993). Neuere Entwicklungen in der Kreativitätsforschung. [Recent Trends in Creativity Research.] Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht, 40, 161–181. Urban, K. K. (Ed.) (2004). Kreativität: Herausforderung für Schule, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. [Creativity: Challenges for Schools, Science, and Society.] Münster: LIT. Urban, K. K. & Jellen, H. G. (1996). Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production (TCT-DP). Lisse, Netherlands: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Programm by Network
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
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Network 32. Organizational Education
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