The present paper deals with teacher education and more specifically courses in learning theories. The aim of the paper is to shed light on how to organize learning theory courses so that they contribute to teacher students’ creative abilities, for example to contribute with new and valuable solutions to problems (Runco & Jaeger, 2012) related to students’ learning, for example to how to optimize the learning environment for a diverse group of learners.

In our courses of learning theories at the university the students are acquainted with a diverse range of learning theories, spanning from “classical” theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism and socio cultural theory (Säljö, 2015) to more specific theories dealing with delimited phenomena such as motivation (Wery & Thomson, 2013). as well as empirical studies of learning in various contexts (Hattie & Yates, 2014). Thus, there are a diversity of theoretical constructs how to understand the phenomena of learning, that the students become acquainted with.

Some researchers propose that creativity is related to the ability to change perspective when looking at a situation (Yang and Hung, 2021). This is of interest in our learning theory courses because the students are trained to analyze learning situations with help of different learning theories, working as theoretical glasses, each with a certain perspective in focus. Therefor it is possible to argue that being acquainted with several learning theories could help develop teacher students’ creativity.

On the other hand, it is possible to argue that the diversity of learning theories could be confusing to the student, which could counteract their development of creativity. According to Säljö (2009), the knowledge base on learning has gradually become more and more diverse and complex over time, providing different perspectives how to understand learning. However, Alexander, Schallert and Reynolds (2009) argue that the multitude of vantage points are incommensurate in some cases which could present barriers for progress of our understanding of learning. It is here of interest if such inconsistencies also may hamper the ability for students to use the theories to shift perspective to generate creative solutions to learning problems. In a previous study of musical creativity, Hagerman (2016) found that imposing limitations on a problem could actually open doors for creativity rather than close them, for example deciding to explore several possibilities within one particular style, rather than mixing several styles and exploring fewer possibilities in each style. An analogue to this when working with learning theories could be to decide to explore one learning theory in depth rather than working with several theories with a more shallow understanding.

Here lies an interesting question of how to balance diverse and specialized knowledge in a university course of learning theories. On one hand, there exist many different learning theories, and if the students learn all of these theories one could argue that they will be well equipped to change perspective and generate creative solutions to learning problems in their teaching. On the other hand, since it takes time to learn each theory, it might be necessary to delimit a course to some of the theories. In a handbook of university pedagogy Elmgren and Henriksson (2016), discuss the difference between deep and shallow learning strategies and in particular address the problems associated with shallow learning strategies. Confronted with a diversity of learning theory, some students could possible resort to shallow strategies. By that reason, it is of interest how to organize a course resting on a large knowledge base so that the students benefit from the diverse content of learning theories.

The research method used for this paper is self-study, which “focuses on one’s own practice as teacher educator” (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2015, p. 522). In such a method the research interest departs from experiences in teacher education practice. In this case, the research focuses on how student’s learning of multiple learning theories may help develop their creativity. According to Vanassche and Kelchtermans (2015) there is a possibility to use wide range of empirical methods from the qualitative paradigm in a self-study, such as observations, autobiographical reflections, results from student assignments, course evaluations as well as interviews with colleagues and students. The present paper rests on critical reflection on experiences from a Swedish university while teaching in undergraduate courses on learning theories in teacher’s programs during a two-year period (2020-2022). The data in the present self-study comes from personal documentation of teaching practice, collegial discussions and student evaluations. An advantage of working with self-study is the possibility to shed light on tacit teacher practice to contribute to new questions for the research community (Holmberg, 2019). However, it is also important to point out the need to work with a relevant theoretic approach during analytical work so that the result is trustworthy and accessible for an audience in a research community (Vanassche & Kelchtermans, 2015). In my case, the theoretic approach is to focus the question around concepts of creativity (Runco & Jaeger, 2012; Yang and Hung, 2021).

The point of the departure for this paper was that knowledge of learning theories (in plural) could strengthen students’ ability to change perspective, which is an important aspect of creativity. If teacher students are equipped with theoretical tools to change perspective when analyzing learning processes, it is possible for them to think around a problem in order to contribute to new and valuable solutions in learning situations, for example how to adept teaching to specific learning needs in a particular context. To put it metaphorically, knowledge of several learning theories allows the students to think outside the box of a particular learning theory. However, a possible problem that could occur when students are dealing with a diversity of learning theories during a course with a limited time frame is that they resort to shallow learning strategies instead of deeper processing of the course content (Elmgren and Henriksson, 2016). By this reason, I have experimented with different ways how to encourage deep learning strategies during our seminars so that the students learn how to handle the wide diversity of learning theories. One way I have worked with this in my courses is to present an authentic learning situation that the students analyze with the learning theories, but I have encouraged different student groups to specialize in different learning theories. Then I give them the task to make presentations for each other so that they can compare how the same learning situation can be analyzed from different perspectives. That way, each students get an overview of the diversity of learning theories but at the same time develop deeper knowledge of some theories. In this way, they can also experience that it is possible to change perspective by switching between theories, which is something that helps develop the creativity of the students.

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