Body expression (BE) is thought to be the oldest form of communication, with humans using it to create, express, and communicate feelings, emotions, and ideas in a deliberate and aesthetic manner (Aparicio et. al., 2019). A recent study affirms that BE is a reliable method to understand the most natural meaning of a human’s expressiveness, and is it achieved by body awareness, self-knowledge, and educational transformation (Megias, 2020). It also represents the artistic, expressive component of physical activities that employ innovative methodological approaches aimed at promoting autonomous learning and social skills (Redondo, et al.,2019). Through BE, students can acquire attitudes, concepts, as well as procedures that they can apply to their daily physical activity. (Vega-Ramírez et al., 2022).

BE relies on a series of elements as musicality, students’ features, the visual environment (lighting, space) (Sánchez y Ordás, 2011), and together with social encounters and human connections (Leach & Stevens, 2020) are vital in the evolution of creative thinking.

The creative process involved in the artistic and athletic practice of students has recently begun to be studied (Valverde-Esteve, 2020). In terms of creative practitioners of BE were likely to obtain high values in aspects of creativity such as fluency, flexibility, and expressiveness (Iglesias et al., 2014). In this context, BE has begun to be considered a necessary tool in the school curriculum to promote creativity (Megias, 2020).

In terms of gender, some differences were observed in terms of creativity and are most likely influenced by the different opportunities available to men and women and kinds of experiences both genders are likely to have (Baer, 2008). Some studies had found that men prefer sports that are dominated by physical contact and strength while women present more interest and motivation to carry out artistic and language activities (dance, gymnastics, etc.) (Mašanović, 2019).

The current need to provide innovative knowledge in different contexts of action turns creativity into a fundamental component for the broader development of the human personality (Sanchez et al, 2017). Therefore, creativity takes on greater importance during university training, when students prepare for future tasks, they will have to perform as teachers/trainers, and many situations require novel options and solutions. These arguments are in line with the acquisition of key competence for university students, established by the European Higher Education Area (Sanchez et al, 2017). Due to the lack of a correct "true-false" answer and the motivational factor required in creative performance, the evaluation and assessment of creativity posed a significant challenge for specialists (Corbalán et. Al., 2015). The specialists focused on the development of motor creativity through BE (Iglesias et al., 2014) and the development of creative thinking or the creative intelligence was less studied.

The aim of this study was to analyze the role of Body Expression on the development of creative intelligence and the differences between genders by students in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences. We hypothesized that creative intelligence is improved by participating in BE activities.

Sample The sample was made of 49 participants aged 20.48 ± 3.62 years (women and men 21.56 ± 3.02 and 20.55 ± 3.89 years, respectively) from the second year of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences degree, during the academic year 2019–2020. Participants were informed that the collected data was used for research purposes. The informed consent was obtained, following the approval of the ethics committee of the University of Alicante (UA-2020-11-21) and the personal data protection guidelines. Instrument The instrument used was the CREA manual of creative intelligence (Corbalán, et. al., 2015). This is a simple method of assessing creativity based on a person's ability to generate questions. Aside from its accessibility, CREA stands out for its diversity and adaptability to different age groups: children, teenagers, and adults. The sheets CREA A and CREA B were used collectively by writing method for the corresponding age group of our sample (over 17 years old). The authors of the test provided a percentile scale for the Spanish sample in order to categorize the scores in levels of creativity. Procedure The initial CREA test corresponding to sheets A and B was used at the beginning of the course, along with an anonymous socio-demographic questionnaire that collected data on age and gender. Each participant was given a code that was used to link the pre and post-test results. The information came from CREA test guidelines, and the students were told that the test consisted of asking as many questions as possible about an image. The participants had four minutes to complete each sheet, and with the information provided at the start, the total time for the evaluation was ten minutes. The intervention was performed over 21 h of BE lessons for 7 weeks/sessions. Statistical analyses Descriptive statistics (mean and SD) were calculated for all dependent variables. For all statistical tests, a probability level of p<0.05 denoted statistical significance. Statistical analyses were conducted with the SPSS ® (v26.0; IBM®, Armonk, NY, USA).2.4. The percentile score (PS) was determined by using the scale of the Spanish sample provided by the test authors.

In terms of the results obtained from the investigation of creative evolution through BE, there was a general increase in the second evaluation compared to the first, prior to the intervention. It began with a general mean direct score (DS) of 23.12 and an SD of 7.19, and after participating in the BE activity, there was a significant improvement (t = 4.523; p 0.001; ES = 0.4) until reaching a general mean of 26.20 and an SD of 7.51. We observed that all the subjects were initially classified as low (1-25 PS) or medium (26-74 PS) and that only two of them advanced to the high level of creativity (75–99 PS). In the gender comparison, women started with a higher score than men (24.20 mean and 7.804 SD), and although an improvement in their final average could be observed (26.47 mean and 7.990 SD), it was not significant (t = −2.041 p = 0.061 ES = 0.2). Men, on the other hand, in the pre-test achieved a lower mean (22.65 mean and 6.971 SD), but in the post-test was noted a significant increase (t = −4.029 p < 0.001 ES = 0.6) of these values (26.09 mean and 7.412 SD). A slight difference in levels of creativity could be observed in the pre-test, where more than half of the women were in the medium level, while a smaller portion of men reached the same level. The percentages in the post-test were surprisingly balanced between the two genders, indicating a higher improvement in the levels of creativity in men, who even outperformed women in each level. To conclude, the students evolved in terms of creative intelligence while practicing BE. Men have shown a greater capacity for creative growth than women since women presented higher scores initially.

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