creativity is important in education

Understanding Creativity

• Posted June 25, 2020
• By Emily Boudreau

Understanding the learning that happens with creative work can often be elusive in any K–12 subject. A new study from Harvard Graduate School of Education Associate Professor Karen Brennan , and researchers Paulina Haduong and Emily Veno, compiles case studies, interviews, and assessment artifacts from 80 computer science teachers across the K–12 space. These data shed new light on how teachers tackle this challenge in an emerging subject area.

“A common refrain we were hearing from teachers was, ‘We’re really excited about doing creative work in the classroom but we’re uncertain about how to assess what kids are learning, and that makes it hard for us to do what we want to do,’” Brennan says. “We wanted to learn from teachers who are supporting and assessing creativity in the classroom, and amplify their work, and celebrate it and show what’s possible as a way of helping other teachers.”

Create a culture that values meaningful assessment for learning — not just grades

As many schools and districts decided to suspend letter grades during the pandemic, teachers need to help students find intrinsic motivation. “It’s a great moment to ask, ‘What would assessment look like without a focus on grades and competition?’” says Veno.

Indeed, the practice of fostering a classroom culture that celebrates student voice, creativity, and exploration isn’t limited to computer science. The practice of being a creative agent in the world extends through all subject areas.

The research team suggests the following principles from computer science classrooms may help shape assessment culture across grade levels and subject areas.

Solicit different kinds of feedback

Give students the time and space to receive and incorporate feedback. “One thing that’s been highlighted in assessment work is that it is not about the teacher talking to a student in a vacuum,” says Haduong, noting that hearing from peers and outside audience members can help students find meaning and direction as they move forward with their projects.

• Feedback rubrics help students receive targeted feedback from audience members. Additionally, looking at the rubrics can help the teacher gather data on student work.

Emphasize the process for teachers and students

Finding the appropriate rubric or creating effective project scaffolding is a journey. Indeed, according to Haduong, “we found that many educators had a deep commitment to iteration in their own work.” Successful assessment practices conveyed that spirit to students.

• Keeping design journals can help students see their work as it progresses and provides documentation for teachers on the student’s process.
• Consider the message sent by the form and aesthetics of rubrics. One educator decided to use a handwritten assessment to convey that teachers, too, are working on refining their practice.

Scaffold independence

Students need to be able to take ownership of their learning as virtual learning lessens teacher oversight. Students need to look at their own work critically and know when they’ve done their best. Teachers need to guide students in this process and provide scaffolded opportunities for reflection.

• Have students design their own assessment rubric. Students then develop their own continuum to help independently set expectations for themselves and their work.

Key Takeaways

• Assessment shouldn’t be limited to the grade a student receives at the end of the semester or a final exam. Rather, it should be part of the classroom culture and it should be continuous, with an emphasis on using assessment not for accountability or extrinsic motivation, but to support student learning.
• Teachers can help learners see that learning and teaching are iterative processes by being more transparent about their own efforts to reflect and iterate on their practices.
• Teachers should scaffold opportunities for students to evaluate their own work and develop independence.

Additional Resources

• Creative Computing curriculum and projects
• Karen Brennan on helping kids get “unstuck”
• Usable Knowledge on how assessment can help continue the learning process

Usable Knowledge

Connecting education research to practice — with timely insights for educators, families, and communities

Related Articles

Strategies for Leveling the Educational Playing Field

New research on SAT/ACT test scores reveals stark inequalities in academic achievement based on wealth   

How to Help Kids Become Skilled Citizens

Active citizenship requires a broad set of skills, new study finds

The Problem with Grading

What creativity really is - and why schools need it

Associate Professor of Psychology and Creative Studies, University of British Columbia

Disclosure statement

Liane Gabora's research is supported by a grant (62R06523) from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

University of British Columbia provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.

University of British Columbia provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR.

View all partners

Although educators claim to value creativity , they don’t always prioritize it.

Teachers often have biases against creative students , fearing that creativity in the classroom will be disruptive. They devalue creative personality attributes such as risk taking, impulsivity and independence. They inhibit creativity by focusing on the reproduction of knowledge and obedience in class.

Why the disconnect between educators’ official stance toward creativity, and what actually happens in school?

How can teachers nurture creativity in the classroom in an era of rapid technological change, when human innovation is needed more than ever and children are more distracted and hyper-stimulated ?

These are some of the questions we ask in my research lab at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. We study the creative process , as well as how ideas evolve over time and across societies. I’ve written almost 200 scholarly papers and book chapters on creativity, and lectured on it worldwide. My research involves both computational models and studies with human participants. I also write fiction, compose music for the piano and do freestyle dance.

What is creativity?

Although creativity is often defined in terms of new and useful products, I believe it makes more sense to define it in terms of processes. Specifically, creativity involves cognitive processes that transform one’s understanding of, or relationship to, the world.

There may be adaptive value to the seemingly mixed messages that teachers send about creativity. Creativity is the novelty-generating component of cultural evolution. As in any kind of evolutionary process, novelty must be balanced by preservation.

In biological evolution, the novelty-generating components are genetic mutation and recombination, and the novelty-preserving components include the survival and reproduction of “fit” individuals. In cultural evolution , the novelty-generating component is creativity, and the novelty-preserving components include imitation and other forms of social learning.

It isn’t actually necessary for everyone to be creative for the benefits of creativity to be felt by all. We can reap the rewards of the creative person’s ideas by copying them, buying from them or simply admiring them. Few of us can build a computer or write a symphony, but they are ours to use and enjoy nevertheless.

Inventor or imitator?

There are also drawbacks to creativity . Sure, creative people solve problems, crack jokes, invent stuff; they make the world pretty and interesting and fun. But generating creative ideas is time-consuming. A creative solution to one problem often generates other problems, or has unexpected negative side effects.

Creativity is correlated with rule bending, law breaking, social unrest, aggression, group conflict and dishonesty. Creative people often direct their nurturing energy towards ideas rather than relationships, and may be viewed as aloof, arrogant, competitive, hostile, independent or unfriendly.

Also, if I’m wrapped up in my own creative reverie, I may fail to notice that someone else has already solved the problem I’m working on. In an agent-based computational model of cultural evolution , in which artificial neural network-based agents invent and imitate ideas, the society’s ideas evolve most quickly when there is a good mix of creative “inventors” and conforming “imitators.” Too many creative agents and the collective suffers. They are like holes in the fabric of society, fixated on their own (potentially inferior) ideas, rather than propagating proven effective ideas.

Of course, a computational model of this sort is highly artificial. The results of such simulations must be taken with a grain of salt. However, they suggest an adaptive value to the mixed signals teachers send about creativity. A society thrives when some individuals create and others preserve their best ideas.

This also makes sense given how creative people encode and process information. Creative people tend to encode episodes of experience in much more detail than is actually needed. This has drawbacks: Each episode takes up more memory space and has a richer network of associations. Some of these associations will be spurious. On the bright side, some may lead to new ideas that are useful or aesthetically pleasing.

So, there’s a trade-off to peppering the world with creative minds. They may fail to see the forest for the trees but they may produce the next Mona Lisa.

Innovation might keep us afloat

So will society naturally self-organize into creators and conformers? Should we avoid trying to enhance creativity in the classroom?

The answer is: No! The pace of cultural change is accelerating more quickly than ever before. In some biological systems, when the environment is changing quickly, the mutation rate goes up. Similarly, in times of change we need to bump up creativity levels — to generate the innovative ideas that will keep us afloat.

This is particularly important now. In our high-stimulation environment, children spend so much time processing new stimuli that there is less time to “go deep” with the stimuli they’ve already encountered. There is less time for thinking about ideas and situations from different perspectives, such that their ideas become more interconnected and their mental models of understanding become more integrated.

This “going deep” process has been modeled computationally using a program called Deep Dream , a variation on the machine learning technique “Deep Learning” and used to generate images such as the ones in the figure below.

The images show how an input is subjected to different kinds of processing at different levels, in the same way that our minds gain a deeper understanding of something by looking at it from different perspectives. It is this kind of deep processing and the resulting integrated webs of understanding that make the crucial connections that lead to important advances and innovations.

Cultivating creativity in the classroom

So the obvious next question is: How can creativity be cultivated in the classroom? It turns out there are lots of ways ! Here are three key ways in which teachers can begin:

Focus less on the reproduction of information and more on critical thinking and problem solving .

Curate activities that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, such as by painting murals that depict biological food chains, or acting out plays about historical events, or writing poems about the cosmos. After all, the world doesn’t come carved up into different subject areas. Our culture tells us these disciplinary boundaries are real and our thinking becomes trapped in them.

Pose questions and challenges, and follow up with opportunities for solitude and reflection. This provides time and space to foster the forging of new connections that is so vital to creativity.

• Cultural evolution
• Creative pedagody
• Teaching creativity
• Creative thinking
• Back to School 2017

Events and Communications Coordinator

Assistant Editor - 1 year cadetship

Executive Dean, Faculty of Health

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Earth System Science (School of Science)

Sydney Horizon Educators (Identified)

• Become a Member
• Artificial Intelligence
• Computational Thinking
• Digital Citizenship
• Edtech Selection
• Global Collaborations
• STEAM in Education
• Teacher Preparation
• ISTE Certification
• School Partners
• Career Development
• ISTELive 24
• 2024 ASCD Annual Conference
• Solutions Summit
• Leadership Exchange
• 2024 ASCD Leadership Summit
• Edtech Product Database
• Solutions Network
• Sponsorship & Advertising
• Sponsorship & Advertising
• Learning Library

5 Reasons Why It Is More Important Than Ever to Teach Creativity

• Education Leadership

On the laundry list of skills and content areas teachers have to cover, creativity doesn’t traditionally get top billing. It’s usually lumped together with other soft skills like communication and collaboration: Great to have, though not as important as reading or long division.

But research is showing that creativity isn’t just great to have. It’s an essential human skill — perhaps even an evolutionary imperative in our technology-driven world.

“The pace of cultural change is accelerating more quickly than ever before,” says Liane Gabora , associate professor of psychology and creative studies at the University of British Columbia. “In some biological systems, when the environment is changing quickly, the mutation rate goes up. Similarly, in times of change we need to bump up creativity levels — to generate the innovative ideas that will keep us afloat.”

From standardized tests to one-size-fits-all curriculum, public education often leaves little room for creativity, says EdNews Daily founder Robyn D. Shulman . This puts many schools out of sync with both global demand and societal needs, leaving students poorly prepared for future success.

What can education leaders do about it? For starters, they can make teaching creativity a priority. Here are five reasons to encourage teachers to bring more creativity into the classroom:

1. Creativity motivates kids to learn.

Decades of research link creativity with the intrinsic motivation to learn. When students are focused on a creative goal, they become more absorbed in their learning and more driven to acquire the skills they need to accomplish it.

As proof, education leader Ryan Imbriale cites his young daughter, who loves making TikTok videos showcasing her gymnastics skills. “She spends countless hours on her mat, working over and over again to try to get her gymnastics moves correct so she can share her TikTok video of her success,” says the executive director of innovative learning for Baltimore County Public Schools.

Students are most motivated to learn when certain factors are present: They’re able to tie their learning to their personal interests, they have a sense of autonomy and control over their task, and they feel competent in the work they’re doing. Creative projects can easily meet all three conditions.

2. Creativity lights up the brain.

Teachers who frequently assign classwork involving creativity are more likely to observe higher-order cognitive skills — problem solving, critical thinking, making connections between subjects — in their students. And when teachers combine creativity with transformative technology use, they see even better outcomes.

Creative work helps students connect new information to their prior knowledge, says Wanda Terral, director of technology for Lakeland School System outside of Memphis. That makes the learning stickier.

“Unless there’s a place to ‘stick’ the knowledge to what they already know, it’s hard for students to make it a part of themselves moving forward,” she says. “It comes down to time. There’s not enough time to give them the flexibility to find out where the learning fits in their life and in their brain.”

3. Creativity spurs emotional development.

The creative process involves a lot of trial and error. Productive struggle — a gentler term for failure — builds resilience, teaching students to push through difficulty to reach success. That’s fertile soil for emotional growth.

“Allowing students to experience the journey, regardless of the end result, is important,” says Terral, a presenter at  ISTE Creative Constructor Lab .

Creativity gives students the freedom to explore and learn new things from each other, Imbriale adds. As they overcome challenges and bring their creative ideas to fruition, “students begin to see that they have limitless boundaries,” he says. “That, in turn, creates confidence. It helps with self-esteem and emotional development.”

4. Creativity can ignite those hard-to-reach students.

Many educators have at least one story about a student who was struggling until the teacher assigned a creative project. When academically disinclined students are permitted to unleash their creativity or explore a topic of personal interest, the transformation can be startling.

“Some students don’t do well on tests or don’t do well grade-wise, but they’re super-creative kids,” Terral says. “It may be that the structure of school is not good for them. But put that canvas in front of them or give them tools so they can sculpt, and their creativity just oozes out of them.”

5. Creativity is an essential job skill of the future.

Actually, it’s an essential job skill right now.

According to an Adobe study , 85% of college-educated professionals say creative thinking is critical for problem solving in their careers. And an analysis of LinkedIn data found that creativity is the second most in-demand job skill (after cloud computing), topping the list of soft skills companies need most. As automation continues to swallow up routine jobs, those who rely on soft skills like creativity will see the most growth.

“We can’t exist without the creative thinker. It’s the idea generation and the opportunity to collaborate with others that moves work,” Imbriale says.

“It’s one thing to be able to sit in front of computer screen and program something. But it’s another to have the conversations and engage in learning about what somebody wants out of a program to be written in order to be able to deliver on that. That all comes from a creative mindset.”

Nicole Krueger is a freelance writer and journalist with a passion for finding out what makes learners tick.

• artificial intelligence

• Skip to Nav
• Skip to Main
• Skip to Footer

Sir Ken Robinson: Creativity Is In Everything, Especially Teaching

Please try again

From  Creative Schools by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica, published April 21, 2015, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Ken Robinson , 2015.

Creative Teaching

Let me say a few words about creativity. I’ve written a lot about this theme in other publications. Rather than test your patience here with repetition of those ideas, let me refer you to them if you have a special interest. In Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative , I look in some detail at the nature of creativity and how it relates to the idea of intelligence in the arts, the sciences, and other areas of human achievement. In 1997, I was asked by the U.K. government to convene a national commission to advise on how creativity can be developed throughout the school system from ages five through eighteen. That group brought together scientists, artists, educators, and business leaders in a common mission to explain the nature and critical importance of creativity in education. Our report, All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education , set our detailed proposals for how to make this happen in practice and was addressed to people working at all levels of education, from schools to government.

It’s sometimes said that creativity cannot be defined. I think it can. Here’s my definition, based on the work of the All Our Futures  group: Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value.

There are two other concepts to keep in mind: imagination and innovation. Imagination is the root of creativity. It is the ability to bring to mind things that aren’t present to our senses.

Creativity is putting your imagination to work. It is applied imagination. Innovation is putting new ideas into practice. There are various myths about creativity. One is that only special people are creative, another is that creativity is only about the arts, a third is that creativity cannot be taught, and a fourth is that it’s all to do with uninhibited “self-expression.”

None of these is true. Creativity draws from many powers that we all have by virtue of being human. Creativity is possible in all areas of human life, in science, the arts, mathematics, technology, cuisine, teaching, politics, business, you name it. And like many human capacities, our creative powers can be cultivated and refined. Doing that involves an increasing mastery of skills, knowledge, and ideas.

Creativity is about fresh thinking. It doesn’t have to be new to the whole of humanity— though that’s always a bonus— but certainly to the person whose work it is. Creativity also involves making critical judgments about whether what you’re working on is any good, be it a theorem, a design, or a poem. Creative work often passes through typical phases. Sometimes what you end up with is not what you had in mind when you started. It’s a dynamic process that often involves making new connections, crossing disciplines, and using metaphors and analogies. Being creative is not just about having off-the-wall ideas and letting your imagination run free. It may involve all of that, but it also involves refining, testing, and focusing what you’re doing. It’s about original thinking on the part of the individual, and it’s also about judging critically whether the work in process is taking the right shape and is worthwhile, at least for the person producing it.

Creativity is not the opposite of discipline and control. On the contrary, creativity in any field may involve deep factual knowledge and high levels of practical skill. Cultivating creativity is one of the most interesting challenges for any teacher. It involves understanding the real dynamics of creative work.

Creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started. It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts. It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin. Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline. Many people have been put off by mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers. Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade. The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.

Advertisement

How does a creative learning environment foster student creativity? An examination on multiple explanatory mechanisms

• Open access
• Published: 04 August 2020
• Volume 41 , pages 4667–4676, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Mudan Fan 1 &
• Wenjing Cai   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0000-5851 2 , 3  

21k Accesses

15 Citations

7 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Scholars and educators have acknowledged the importance of the learning environment, especially the creative learning environment, on student creativity. However, the current understanding is far from complete to paint a clear picture of how a creative learning environment can stimulate students’ creative outcomes in the classroom. Drawing on Amabile’s componential theory of creativity, the present research aims to test how a creative learning environment can foster undergraduate creativity through three distinct mechanisms (i.e., learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing). A total of 431 students and their teachers from a Chinese university completed questionnaires. The results generally supported the theoretical model in which a creative learning environment is significantly associated with student creativity by enhancing students’ learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing. Implications for theory and educational practice, limitations of the present study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Similar content being viewed by others

Speaking of Creativity: Frameworks, Models, and Meanings

Anchoring the creative process within a self-regulated learning framework: inspiring assessment methods and future research.

Learning Environments for Academics: Reintroducing Scientists to the Power of Creative Environment

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

Creativity is becoming increasingly important in modern society (Beghetto and Kaufman 2014 ; Richardson and Mishra 2018 ; Yeh et al. 2012 ). Specifically, as students are the key drivers of societal development, universities around the world have been taking on the mission of fostering creative individuals and producing creativity. Accordingly, researchers and educators are attempting to identify predictors that facilitate student creativity, such as teacher behaviors (e.g., encouragement and other teacher behaviors) (Chan and Yuen 2014 ). More recently, researchers have begun investigating the role of the classroom environment (Tsai et al. 2015 ). Notably missing from the literature is a thorough examination of the creative learning environment, despite suggestions by scholars that student creativity can be nurtured by educators who focus greater effort on building a learning environment that highlights the value of creativity (Davies et al. 2013 ; Richardson and Mishra 2018 ). Therefore, a major purpose of this study is to address the connection between a creative learning environment and student creativity by identifying several important intervening mechanisms.

In building a model linking a creative learning environment and creativity, we further draw on the dynamic componential theory of creativity (Amabile and Pratt 2016 ), which suggests that desirable contexts can induce creativity by influencing multiple personal motivations and behaviors. This foundational theory highlights the exploration of personal motivations and social exchanges as mediators in creativity research. Thus, I propose three mediating mechanisms with high potential to help explain the linkage: learning goal orientation , network ties , and knowledge sharing . Specifically, learning goal orientation, referring to students who believe in learning, understanding, and development as ends in themselves (Lerang et al. 2019 ), illustrates students’ internal motivation in seeking knowledge to produce creative outputs (D’Lima et al. 2014 ). As the framework of achievement goal theory highlighting both the personal and contextual aspects of goals, creativity scholars have found that the learning environment in the classroom may form students’ perceived goal orientation, and the goal orientation of students may in turn generate various learning behaviors and outcomes (Peng et al. 2013 ). In line with literature on the significance of student motivation (Meece et al. 2006 ; Schuitema et al. 2014 ), scholars are calling for examining the mediating effect of learning goal orientation in linking the creative learning environment and student creativity.

As students learn in a group and/or classroom, interactions among each other may also be embedded in broader social networks; therefore, the ties among students within social networks can improve the quality of information received (Hommes et al. 2012 ). Network ties represent students’ relations with their teachers and classmates within an academic environment (Chow and Chan 2008 ), which was found not only to be composed of factors in class but also to impact students’ outcomes. Despite the attention given to the acknowledgment that encouraging personal interactions can benefit students more from diverse information exchange in generating creativity (Cheng 2011 ), knowledge on whether network ties can transmit the influence of a creative learning environment on student creativity is still limited.

Finally, scholars have acknowledged that when students are sharing their knowledge, they tend to utilize the knowledge-based resources in the classroom and after class to facilitate their creative activities (Yeh et al. 2012 ). Since creativity theoretically requires various types of knowledge and information (Amabile 2012 ), previous research has indicated that improving university students’ creativity is based on knowledge-management, which involves the process of converting knowledge and creating new knowledge (Van Den Hooff and De Ridder 2004 ), as well as the process of sharing relevant information, ideas, suggestions, and expertise with others (Bartol and Srivastava 2002 ). However, studies thus far fail to provide a clear picture to evidence whether learning contexts may stimulate students’ creativity via knowledge sharing. Taken together, we propose that learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing can mediate the relationship between student creativity and a creative learning environment. Figure 1 shows the hypothesized model.

The hypothesized model

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

Creative learning environment and student creativity.

Creativity is generally conceptualized as individual’s ability to generate new ideas (e.g., Amabile 1996 ; Liu 2017 ; Tsai et al. 2015 ). For example, Amabile’s ( 2012 ) definition of creativity—i.e., the production of ideas that are both novel and useful—has been widely used in the educational research area. In the current study, we follow this line of literature, and define creativity in learning as the ability to create new robust ideas and novel ways of dealing with a learning problem, which emerge from discussion and interaction between peers (Rodriguez, Zhou, & Carrió, 2017). To cultivate student’s creativity in the context of classroom, scholars suggest to encourage students to ask more questions, to investigate the causes, effects, and consequences of their observations, and to generate more high-quality questions (Barrow, 2010). Accordingly, it is critical to understand how to effectively boost student creativity with regard to the learning context.

There is reasonable evidence from a number of studies indicating that creativity can be stimulated by contextual factors (Kozbelt et al. 2010 ). Among such factors as classroom interaction and teachers’ positive behaviors and attitudes (Beghetto and Kaufman 2014 ), an important characteristic of teachers is strong facilitation skills. That is, teachers, as supportive facilitators, can inspire students to become intellectual risk-takers and creative problem solvers. Consistently, scholars suggest that creative learning is a key element in the creative process (Chappell and Craft 2011 ); thus, students need to be provided creative learning opportunities in the classroom environment (Richardson and Mishra 2018 ). Therefore, school environments that support and actively accelerate students’ creative expression can promote students’ engagement in creative activities (Davies et al. 2013 ; Tsai et al. 2015 ).

Based on the arguments above, the present study proposes a specific learning environment—i.e., a creative learning environment—that may directly boost students’ creativity. A creative learning environment in class is characterized as valuing ideas, indicating that students are not only allowed but also encouraged to take sensible risks and make mistakes during the learning process (Mishra 2018 ); therefore, students are highly supported in reaching their creative potential (Chan and Yuen 2014 ). For example, in a review of a classroom learning environment, researchers found that when studying in a creative learning environment at school, students are likely to continue to develop their skills and professional knowledge, which significantly spurs the development of their creative responses (Davies et al. 2013 ). As a result, students have more creative achievements (Mishra 2018 ). Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

The creative learning environment is positively related to student creativity.

Learning Goal Orientation as a Mediator

Goal orientation is the reason or purpose for a person’s involvement in tasks (VandeWalle et al. 2001 ). Importantly, as a key dimension of individual goal orientation, learning goal orientation has been found to be formed by desirable environments (Schweder et al. 2019 ) and to benefit individuals’ processes of producing creative outcomes (Malmberg 2008 ; VandeWalle et al. 2001 ). For example, scholars empirically illustrated that a learning environment (e.g., a classroom structure characterized as contingency-contract) facilitated students to set more learning goals (Self-Brown and Mathews 2003 ), which then increased individuals’ effort investment towards more achievements(Pintrich 2000 ; Schweder et al. 2019 ). Considering the conceptual and empirical evidence, we propose learning goal orientation as a mediator in the relationship between student creativity and a creative learning environment. Since a creative learning environment is characterized as providing support and resources (Davies et al. 2013 ), individuals are given more opportunities to become interested in and enjoy a learning activity. Thus, when learning in this situation, it is emphasized that students can extend their abilities through greater effort (Richardson and Mishra 2018 ) and can seek out opportunities to practice and improve their skills (Lerang et al. 2019 ), leading to greater achievement.

Creative outputs, theoretically, require abilities and skills to generate novel ideas and solutions (Amabile 1996 ); therefore, learning and developing new knowledge are essential to be creative in class. Consistent with this stream of reasoning, scholars have claimed that an individual’s learning goal orientation can stimulate actions to improve his or her creative competencies (Gong et al. 2009 ). That is, students who have a strong learning goal orientation act more proactively and respond positively to problems and challenges through their knowledge of learning (Chan and Yuen 2014 ). Consequently, these students may experience higher levels of internal motivation to devise creative ideas (Shin et al. 2012 ).

Taken together, we hypothesize the mediating effect of learning goal orientation in the creative learning environment-creativity relationship. Specifically, the space within a classroom that is capable of being used flexibly to promote students’ learning can facilitate the development of learning goal orientation among students, which in turn offers them resources to become creative. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

Learning goal orientation mediates the relationship between a creative learning environment and student creativity.

Network Ties as a Mediator

A glance at the academic and wider educational literature reveals that social capital emphasizes personal interactions in terms of social ties (Dawson 2008 ). Scholars specify that creating a creative learning environment in the classroom can promote interaction among students because they can observe an open mindset and good communication climate (Mishra 2018 ). For instance, researchers in the area of tie strength suggest that strong ties involve higher emotional closeness, whereas weak ties are more likely to be nonredundant connections and, thus, to be associated with nonredundant information (Granovetter 1977 ; Perry-Smith 2006 ). Thus, the space within a classroom that is capable of being used flexibly to promote students’ learning can contribute to building their network ties.

Previous studies have also indicated that students’ social capital is an important asset to promote their creativity (Eid and Al-Jabri 2016 ). Specifically, when students build personal ties within their surroundings (e.g., with classmates), they are more willing to make contact with other students because of their common interests in the classroom (Liu et al. 2017 ), which eventually increases their ability not only to solve problems but also to reformulate problems and solutions creatively. Moreover, it is clear that social network ties facilitate new connections among students and teachers, in that they provide individuals with an alternative way to connect with others who share their interests or relational goals (Ellison et al. 2006 ; Parks and Floyd 1996 ). These new connections may result in an increase in achieving their goal in a creative way (Beghetto 2010 ; Soh 2017 ).

Taken together, the mediator of network ties is proposed in the relationship between creativity and a creative learning environment. Specifically, when the class is characterized as promoting learning in a creative way, students are more likely to build a strong network tie. As a result, they tend to be connecting with others (e.g., classmates, and teachers) who may not only provide useful information or new perspectives but also emotional support (Ellison et al. 2007 ), and then put more efforts into creative activities. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

Network ties mediate the relationship between creative learning environment and student creativity.

Knowledge Sharing as a Mediator

Knowledge sharing is generally defined as activities through which various types of knowledge (e.g., information and skills) are exchanged and disseminated among people, units, communities, and/or organizations (Bukowitz and Williams 1999 ). Previous education literature has significantly highlighted the importance of knowledge sharing in the classroom (Eid and Al-Jabri 2016 ). Specifically, students accumulate their knowledge through integrating information, experience, and theory from their surroundings (Chang and Chuang 2011 ). That is, when students are studying in a learning environment characterized as having supportive relationships between teachers and learners, students are more likely to interact with others in the group and to share knowledge and experiences. As a result, their performance in class is significantly improved (Eid and Al-Jabri 2016 ). We therefore expect a positive effect of a creative learning environment on student knowledge sharing.

Based on the previous research findings, we further expect that knowledge sharing can stimulate student creativity in class. Specifically, the shared knowledge can improve individuals’ capabilities of forming new knowledge, refining old knowledge, as well as synthesizing more knowledge in the future (Yeh et al. 2012 ). As researchers have suggested, the more knowledge is shared, the more nonoverlapping information emerges from other students within the group (Chow and Chan 2008 ; Eid and Al-Jabri 2016 ; Richter et al. 2012 ). In this situation, students can receive the benefits of collective wisdom, which provides information contributing to their explicit knowledge and subsequently enhancing their creativity (Yeh et al. 2012 ). Therefore, knowledge sharing can leverage students’ engagement in creative activities.

Taken together, we argue that when students are learning in a conducive environment characterized as highlighting creative learning, they have more willingness to share their knowledge with their classmates; therefore, they have more opportunities to access to diverse knowledge and information, which trigger their creative ideas to solve problems. Thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

Knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between a creative learning environment and student creativity.

Sample and Procedure

The participants in the current research were 431 undergraduates in their third year of studies and their teachers from a university in the central region of P.R. China. Before submitting our questionnaires to the undergraduate students, one of the authors asked the dean of the university about whether creativity is encouraged in the classroom. We received the information that creativity was present throughout the courses in all projects and work carried out in School of Business, especially in the two departments—i.e., department of tourism management and department of business administration. Students in the two majors were educated to pursue creative, problem-solving and flexible capabilities that today’s employers demand. Specifically, educators have practically highlighted, and scholars have theoretically found that creativity is significantly required for students both in tourism management and business administration majors (e.g., Blau et al. 2019 ; Liu 2017 ).

Next, the teachers of undergraduate students in the two departments also sent us the confirmation that they not only paid attention to help students develop creative problem-solving skills, but also encouraged students in the class to be creative in learning. Afterwards, teachers were asked to help collect data. Specifically, questionnaires were sent to 440 undergraduate students during their classes, and they were asked to complete the survey. The participants were completely unaware of the goals and aims of the research, and they did not have any prior training in creativity. The teacher in the class announced that all the questionnaires were confidential and would be used only for research. None of the items on the scale had correct answers; the students were to answer each item according to their own perceptions. Subsequently, the teacher received all the questionnaires; and then the teacher rated each student’s creativity. Finally, the teacher sent all the questionnaires to one of the authors directly.

After deleting nine incomplete questionnaires, we received 431 validate responses from undergraduate students (98% response rate). In total, 69.7% of the students were female; 41.8% of the students majored in tourism management, and 58.2% majored in business administration.

Measurements

In order to obtain reliable information from the respondents, existing measures with established validity and reliability from previous literature were selected to operationalize all constructs in our study. In addition, all the scales were widely used in education and creativity research fields. All the variables are assessed with a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = totally disagree; 5 = totally agree). We used the back-translation procedure (Brislin 1986 ) to translate the English version into a Chinese version. The specific measurements of these constructs’ reliability and convergent validity can be found in Appendix Table 1 .

Creative Learning Environment

The creative learning environment was adapted from Richardson and Mishra ( 2018 ) and measured using 14 items to portray students’ perceptions of the creative learning environment in the class. An example of items is “Multiple ways of knowing and learning are encouraged in class”. The scale had a reliability of 0.91.

Learning Goal Orientation

Following previous studies (Lerang et al. 2019 ), the scale with four items adapted (Skaalvik 1997 ) was used to assess students’ learning orientation in the current study (χ 2 / df  = 3.35/2; TLI = 0.98; CFI = 0.99; RMSEA = 0.04). An example of items is “In class I want to learn something new”. The scale had a reliability of 0.90.

Knowledge Sharing

A 3-item scale (Yeh et al. 2012 ) was used to measure knowledge sharing. “In my class I know who I can contact for specific questions,” is an example of a question from this measure. The scale had a reliability of 0.88.

Creativity-Enhancing Network Activities

Reflecting students’ creativity-enhancing network activities with their classmates, network ties were assessed using a three-item scale (Chow and Chan 2008 ). An example of items is “In general, I have a very good relationship with my classmates”. The scale had a reliability of 0.92.

Student Creativity

The teacher was asked to rate student creativity with a 4-item creativity scale (Farmer et al. 2003 ). An example of items is “This student seeks new ideas and ways to solve problems”. The scale had a reliability of 0.86.

Control Variables

Following previous studies (e.g., Peng et al. 2013 ; Schweder et al. 2019 ), we controlled for students’ age (in years) since past research has indicated that individual learning may vary across student ages. Moreover, because these participants (i.e., students) are from different research backgrounds, we controlled their major (1 = tourism management; 2 = business administration).

Analytical Strategy

We first conducted preliminary analyses to establish the factors’ discriminant validity in the current study. Furthermore, we tested our hypotheses using a PROCESS program developed by Preacher et al. ( 2007 ) in SPSS because it facilitates path analysis-based moderation analyses as well as their combination as a “conditional process model” by using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Specifically, we, in the first step, test the mediation effects through applying OLS regression analyses in the PROCESS program to generate the direct and indirect effects. In the next step, as several methodologists have recently recommended using a bootstrap approach to obtain confidence intervals (CIs), we tested the mediation hypothesis through a bootstrapping procedure with 10,000 samples. Since this research aims to unfold the different mechanisms in the creative learning environment-creativity association, in the following analyses, we controlled for other mediators, testing a specific mediator to further validate the mediating effects.

Preliminary Analyses

Before testing hypotheses, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine discriminate validity using AMOS 21.0. The results are shown in Appendix Table 2 . We evaluated the fit of our models based on five primary fit indices, as suggested by Hu.

Bentler (1999): the χ 2 test of model fit, the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) with its respective confidence intervals, the comparative fit index (CFI), and the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI). The results show that the hypothesized five-factor model provided a better fit to the data ( χ 2 [198] = 323.82, CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.04) than other alternative models (Hu and Bentler 1999 ): a three-factor model combining network ties and knowledge sharing ( χ 2 [236] = 1748.77, CFI = 0.84, TLI = 0.81, RMSEA = 0.12), a two-factor model combining learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing ( χ 2 [238] = 1931.58, CFI = 0.82, TLI = 0.79, RMSEA = 0.13), and a one-factor model combining all the variables ( χ 2 [241] = 2444.94, CFI = 0.77, TLI = 0.73, RMSEA = 0.15).

Appendix Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, and Cronbach’s alphas for all the variables.

Hypotheses Testing

To test the hypotheses, we employed an SPSS macro program (Hayes 2012 ) to estimate the mediation effects. Specifically, we used Model 4 in PROCESS, which generates direct and indirect effects in mediation, where total effects, direct effects and indirect effects are estimated by means of OLS regression analyses. Appendix Table 4 shows the results.

Regarding testing H1, in Model 1, the creative learning environment was positively associated with student creativity ( β  = 0.79, p < 0.001), supporting H1. Regarding testing H2, H3 and H4, in Model 2, the creative learning environment was positively associated with learning goal orientation ( β  = 0.45, p < 0.001) after controlling network ties and knowledge sharing. In Model 3, the creative learning environment was positively associated with network ties ( β  = 0.33, p < 0.001) after controlling learning goal orientation and knowledge sharing. In Model 4, creative learning environment was positively associated with knowledge sharing ( β  = 0.14, p < 0.05) after controlling learning goal orientation and network ties. Moreover, when the independent variable (i.e., creative learning environment) and the three mediators (i.e., learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing) were entered in the regression model (i.e., Model 5), the independent variable (learning goal orientation, β  = 0.25, p < 0.001; network ties, β  = 0.033, p < 0.001; knowledge sharing, β  = 0.14, p < 0.001) and the mediators were positively related to student creativity. That is, the relationship between the creative learning environment and creativity was partially mediated by the three mediators.

To further examine the mediating effects, we conducted a bias-corrected bootstrap (10,000 resamples) analysis. The results (in Appendix Table 5 ) showed that the indirect effect of the creative learning environment on creativity through learning goal orientation was 0.11 (95% CI = 0.064, 0.163), supporting H2; through network ties was 0.11 (95% CI = 0.056, 0.170), supporting H3; and through knowledge sharing was 0.02 (95% CI = 0.001, 0.049), supporting H4.

Aiming at opening the black box of how a creative learning environment can contribute to student creativity, the current study proposes and tests a mediation model that examines the relationship between a creative learning environment and student creativity through multiple intervening mechanisms. The results show that a creative learning environment is positively related to student creativity through improving students’ learning goal orientation, knowledge sharing, and network ties concurrently.

Theoretical Implications

The main aim of the present study was to investigate how a creative learning environment can foster student creativity in class through multiple intervening mechanisms. There are several implications of this study that will enrich the current literature. First, this study fills the gap regarding the potential influence of a creative learning environment on creativity. Although previous studies have conceptually suggested that a learning environment that promotes creative activities in class boosts students’ academic outcomes (Davies et al. 2013 ; Richardson and Mishra 2018 ), there is less empirical evidence to establish the benefits for creativity. Thus, this study answers scholars’ call to “provide clear evidence of the effectiveness of creative learning environments” (Davies et al. 2013 , p.89) by theorizing about the positive influences of a creative learning environment on undergraduate students’ creativity.

Moreover, this study represents one of the first attempts to simultaneously examine distinct mechanisms from a different perspective to explain how a creative learning environment elicits student creativity. Specifically, drawing on the dynamic componential model, the findings extend the current understanding of learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing as distinct mediators. In recent years, scholars have increasingly argued that identifying multiple mechanisms can comprehensively reveal the effectiveness of contextual predictors for creativity (Amabile and Pratt 2016 ). Nevertheless, few studies have either explored the possibilities of various mediators simultaneously or focused on undergraduate students’ creativity. This study deepens our understanding of the processes involved in generating student creativity in which a creative learning environment can increase students’ learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing concurrently to further boost their creativity.

Educational Implications

According to the findings, creating a learning environment should consider creative aspects to effectively enhance student creativity in class. Specifically, teachers can encourage students to learn and think creatively (e.g., taking risks, building free and open communication channels, supporting creative ideas, and allowing more freedom and choice while students complete their assignments). Moreover, as students’ learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing are key mediators for transferring the benefits of a creative learning environment, teachers should place value on the understanding of concepts and emphasize student effort over course grades (Lerang et al. 2019 ). In doing so, teachers can build students’ learning goal orientations more in the direction of creative achievement. Regarding the development of students’ network ties, they can be provided with training programs to develop their abilities to manage individual social connections and those of others, thus enabling them to study effectively while developing collaboration skills in class. Finally, teachers can consistently highlight the importance of exchanging and sharing new knowledge, which can help students acquire novel information to enhance their learning processes and effectiveness in a creative manner.

Limitations

There are several limitations in this research. First, the cross-sectional research design cannot entirely rule out the problem of causality (e.g., student creativity may facilitate the process of building a creative learning environment in class). Thus, future research can employ more sophisticated testing to determine the direction of causality. Second, as the findings indicated the partial mediation effects, studies in the future can include other mediators (e.g., collective learning behaviors) that may comprehensively explain the effectiveness of a creative learning environment on student creativity. Finally, regarding the sample of undergraduate students in China in the present study, further research with other samples (e.g., postgraduate students) can extend the generalizability of the findings.

As providing education on creativity is a major challenge and a high priority for future course design for students, determining how to boost student creativity has been the subject of scholars’ attention. This study proposes and examines whether and how multiple mechanisms can mediate the effect of a creative learning environment on undergraduate creativity. The research findings indicate that a creative learning environment can significantly enhance students’ learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing, which in turn facilitate their creativity. The direct implication is that researchers and educators should be more concerned about building creative learning environments and helping students in their development of a learning goal orientation, network ties, and knowledge sharing.

Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity and innovation in organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Amabile, T. M. (2012). Componential theory of creativity. Harvard Business School, 12 (96), 1–10.

Google Scholar  

Amabile, T. M., & Pratt, M. G. (2016). The dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation in organizations: Making progress, making meaning. Research in Organizational Behavior, 36 , 157–183.

Article   Google Scholar  

Bartol, K. M., & Srivastava, A. (2002). Encouraging knowledge sharing: The role of organizational reward systems. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, 9 (1), 64–76.

Beghetto, R. A. (2010). Creativity in the classroom. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (447–463). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufman, J. C. (2014). Classroom contexts for creativity. High Ability Studies, 25 (1), 53–69.

Blau, G., Williams, W., Jarrell, S., & Nash, D. (2019). Exploring common correlates of business undergraduate satisfaction with their degree program versus expected employment. The Journal of Education for Business, 94 (1), 31–39.

Brislin, R. W. (1986). The wording and translation of research instruments. In W. J. Lonner & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Field methods in cross-cultural research (pp. 137–164). Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.

Bukowitz, W. R., & Williams, R. L. (1999). The knowledge management fieldbook . Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial times/prentice hall.

Chan, S., & Yuen, M. (2014). Personal and environmental factors affecting teachers’ creativity-fostering practices in Hong Kong. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 12 , 69–77.

Chang, H. H., & Chuang, S.-S. (2011). Social capital and individual motivations on knowledge sharing: Participant involvement as a moderator. Information & Management, 48 (1), 9–18.

Chappell, K., & Craft, A. (2011). Creative learning conversations: Producing living dialogic spaces. Educational Research, 53 (3), 363–385.

Cheng, V. M. (2011). Infusing creativity into eastern classrooms: Evaluations from student perspectives. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 6 (1), 67–87.

Chow, W. S., & Chan, L. S. (2008). Social network, social trust and shared goals in organizational knowledge sharing. Information & Management, 45 (7), 458–465.

D’Lima, G. M., Winsler, A., & Kitsantas, A. (2014). Ethnic and gender differences in first-year college students’ goal orientation, self-efficacy, and extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. The Journal of Educational Research, 107 (5), 341–356.

Davies, D., Jindal-Snape, D., Collier, C., Digby, R., Hay, P., & Howe, A. (2013). Creative learning environments in education—A systematic literature review. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 8 , 80–91.

Dawson, S. (2008). A study of the relationship between student social networks and sense of community. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 11 (3), 224–238.

Eid, M. I., & Al-Jabri, I. M. (2016). Social networking, knowledge sharing, and student learning: The case of university students. Computers & Education, 99 , 14–27.

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11 (2), 415–441.

Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12 (4), 1143–1168.

Farmer, S. M., Tierney, P., & Kung-Mcintyre, K. (2003). Employee creativity in Taiwan: An application of role identity theory. Academy of Management Journal, 46 (5), 618–630.

Gong, Y., Huang, J.-C., & Farh, J.-L. (2009). Employee learning orientation, transformational leadership, and employee creativity: The mediating role of employee creative self-efficacy. Academy of Management Journal, 52 (4), 765–778.

Granovetter, M. S. (1977). The strength of weak ties Social networks (pp. 347-367): Elsevier.

Hayes, A. F. (2012). PROCESS: A versatile computational tool for observed variable mediation, moderation, and conditional process modeling . Kansas: University of Kansas.

Hommes, J., Rienties, B., de Grave, W., Bos, G., Schuwirth, L., & Scherpbier, A. (2012). Visualising the invisible: A network approach to reveal the informal social side of student learning. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 17 (5), 743–757.

Article   PubMed   PubMed Central   Google Scholar  

Hu, L. t., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6 (1), 1–55.

Kozbelt, A., Beghetto, R. A., & Runco, M. A. (2010). Theories of creativity. The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity, 2 , 20–47.

Lerang, M. S., Ertesvåg, S. K., & Havik, T. (2019). Perceived classroom interaction, goal orientation and their association with social and academic learning outcomes. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 63 (6), 913–934.

Liu, C. H. S. (2017). Remodelling progress in tourism and hospitality students’ creativity through social capital and transformational leadership. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 21 , 69–82.

Liu, S., Zhu, M., Yu, D. J., Rasin, A., & Young, S. D. (2017). Using real-time social media technologies to monitor levels of perceived stress and emotional state in college students: A web-based questionnaire study. JMIR Mental Health, 4 (1), e2.

Malmberg, L.-E. (2008). Student teachers' achievement goal orientations during teacher studies: Antecedents, correlates and outcomes. Learning and Instruction, 18 (5), 438–452.

Meece, J. L., Anderman, E. M., & Anderman, L. H. (2006). Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement. Annual Review of Psychology, 57 , 487–503.

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Mishra, B. (2018). The organizational learning inventory: An assessment guide for understanding your institution’s learning capabilities. The Learning Organization, 25 (6), 455–456.

Parks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 1 (4), JCMC144.

Peng, S.-L., Cherng, B.-L., Chen, H.-C., & Lin, Y.-Y. (2013). A model of contextual and personal motivations in creativity: How do the classroom goal structures influence creativity via self-determination motivations? Thinking Skills and Creativity, 10 , 50–67.

Perry-Smith, J. E. (2006). Social yet creative: The role of social relationships in facilitating individual creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 49 (1), 85–101.

Pintrich, P. R. (2000). Multiple goals, multiple pathways: The role of goal orientation in learning and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92 (3), 544–555.

Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes, A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42 (1), 185–227.

Richardson, C., & Mishra, P. (2018). Learning environments that support student creativity: Developing the SCALE. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 27 , 45–54.

Richter, A. W., Hirst, G., Van Knippenberg, D., & Baer, M. (2012). Creative self-efficacy and individual creativity in team contexts: Cross-level interactions with team informational resources. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97 (6), 1282–1290.

Schuitema, J., Peetsma, T., & van der Veen, I. (2014). Enhancing student motivation: A longitudinal intervention study based on future time perspective theory. The Journal of Educational Research, 107 (6), 467–481.

Schweder, S., Raufelder, D., Kulakow, S., & Wulff, T. (2019). How the learning context affects adolescents’ goal orientation, effort, and learning strategies. The Journal of Educational Research, 112 (5), 604–614.

Self-Brown, S. R., & Mathews, S. (2003). Effects of classroom structure on student achievement goal orientation. The Journal of Educational Research, 97 (2), 106–112.

Shin, S. J., Kim, T.-Y., Lee, J.-Y., & Bian, L. (2012). Cognitive team diversity and individual team member creativity: A cross-level interaction. Academy of Management Journal, 55 (1), 197–212.

Skaalvik, E. M. (1997). Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89 (1), 71–81.

Soh, K. (2017). Fostering student creativity through teacher behaviors. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 23 , 58–66.

Tsai, C.-Y., Horng, J.-S., Liu, C.-H., Hu, D.-C., & Chung, Y.-C. (2015). Awakening student creativity: Empirical evidence in a learning environment context. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 17 , 28–38.

Van den Hooff, B., & De Ridder, J. A. (2004). Knowledge sharing in context: The influence of organizational commitment, communication climate and CMC use on knowledge sharing. Journal of Knowledge Management, 8 (6), 117–130.

VandeWalle, D., Cron, W. L., & Slocum Jr., J. W. (2001). The role of goal orientation following performance feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86 (4), 629–640.

Yeh, Y.-C., Yeh, Y.-L., & Chen, Y.-H. (2012). From knowledge sharing to knowledge creation: A blended knowledge-management model for improving university students’ creativity. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 7 (3), 245–257.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number WK2160000013).

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Education, Weinan Normal University, Weinan, People’s Republic of China

School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, People’s Republic of China

Wenjing Cai

Department of Management and Organization, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wenjing Cai .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Fan, M., Cai, W. How does a creative learning environment foster student creativity? An examination on multiple explanatory mechanisms. Curr Psychol 41 , 4667–4676 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00974-z

Download citation

Published : 04 August 2020

Issue Date : July 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-00974-z

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Creative learning environment
• Learning goal orientation
• Network ties, knowledge sharing
• Student creativity
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

• Creativity Collaboratives
• Get Involved

The powerful impact of creativity in the classroom

Creativity exchange catches up with researchers teresa cremin and kerry chappell.

What do we know about creative pedagogies and what evidence is there of their impact on students?

These were the two questions that researchers Teresa Cremin and Kerry Chappell set out to answer in their recent research - Creative Pedagogies: a systematic review.

The researchers identified seven different kinds of pedagogies which focus on teaching for creativity.

• Generating and exploring ideas. A focus on the generation and exploration of ideas is a key characteristic. This can be encouraged by creating a climate of openness with teachers accepting young people’s ideas and giving them opportunities to explore ideas in a stimulating environment.
• Encouraging autonomy and agency. Teaching that appeals to students’ interests and offers them opportunities to initiate activities is important.
• Playfulness. Purposeful play would seem to be a key element of creativity.
• Problem-solving. Creativity involves coming up with novel or different ideas and a good way of engaging students is the use of real-world problems.
• Risk-taking. Learning by making mistakes and taking risks is central to the creative process. Such experimentation helps to build resilience.
• Co-constructing and collaborating. Being creative typically involves working with others, students and students and students with teachers.
• Teacher creativity. Teachers are powerful role models; when they demonstrate their own interests in creative processes this can be helpful.

Creative pedagogies in the classroom

We asked Teresa Cremin and Kerry Chappell to explain how their theory works in practice:

• Despite the challenges of working in a prescribed and assessment driven culture, the seven core characteristics of creative practice are possible to integrate into classroom practice from the early years right through to the end of formal schooling.
• The ways teachers choose to develop these will depend upon the age phase they teach, the subject focus and their current practice and assurance as creative practitioners.
• Over time, if a higher profile is given to creative pedagogies and school communities can support each other to nurture them, this is likely to result in the subtle re-shaping of the curriculum, which will become more- co-owned, shaped and co-constructed by the learners and their creative teachers.

Generating and exploring ideas

The characteristic most frequently evidenced in the review was generating and exploring ideas . Perhaps this is not surprising as making and investigating ideas is often associated with an ethos of openness in which strong teacher-student relationships exist alongside a balance of freedom and structure. Teachers can seek to build such relationships through engaging authentically in the classroom as learners, offering their own personal take on the subject matter and being open about their hesitancies, misunderstandings and mistakes.

Co-constructing and collaborating

The second most frequent characteristic of creative pedagogies was co-constructing and collaborating . Teachers can begin to shift from setting and assessing predominantly individual work to offering increased opportunities for group work and creative collaboration. They can also afford more time and space for learners to engage playfully with one another and the available resources such that they can come to solve problems and generate their own. This will enable the young people to develop their agency and autonomy as they shape new and possible solutions and may be linked to real world concerns. Teachers who set such open-ended tasks to groups and offer strong support in secure environments of respect and inclusion, will be enabling students to experiment, explore and take risks , another characteristic of creative pedagogies.

Valuing a creative teaching practice

Creative teachers not only recognise, value and exercise their own creativity, but also seek to promote creativity in others, including their peers. They draw on their own passions and creativity as they develop their practice, pioneering new ways forwards in lessons, investing time in discussion with other teachers and sharing their pleasure in creative processes with the young people. The interplay between teachers and children participating in playful learning contexts and exploring possibilities together has considerable potential.

It is clear these characteristics do not operate in isolation, they interact with and on each other and are perhaps best planned for in a coherent manner, such that the children’s autonomy is fostered through a playful, collaborative, open and creative approach to teaching and learning.

Teresa Cremin and Kerry Chappell suggest that more research is needed into just how these pedagogies impact on pupils, something which the new Creativity Collaboratives will hope to provide. Meanwhile you can start your own exploration by trying this idea.

Teresa Cremin is Professor of Education at The Open University.

Kerry Chappell is Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Exeter.

The paper is available to request for free here: http://oro.open.ac.uk/66250/

Takeaway idea

Choose one of the seven pedagogies you are familiar with.

Brainstorm all of the techniques you could use to make yourself even more effective as a teacher when using this pedagogy. Then share your suggestions with another colleague.

Research into Practice

Sign up for updates from Creativity Exchange

Why is Creativity Important in Education?

At its core, creativity is the expression of our most essential human qualities: our curiosity, our inventiveness, and our desire to explore the unknown. As we navigate an increasingly complex and changing world, promoting creativity in education is more important than ever before.

Prisma is the world’s most engaging virtual school that combines a fun, real-world curriculum with powerful mentorship from experienced coaches and a supportive peer community

The Importance of Creativity

We are all creative people, whether you think of yourself as creative or not. It takes creative thinking to paint a picture, but it also takes creative thinking to figure out the right formula to use in a spreadsheet, to invent a twist on a chocolate chip cookie recipe, or to plan a birthday party. But some people are more practiced and comfortable in the creative process than others.

At its core, creativity is the expression of our most essential human qualities: our curiosity, our inventiveness, and our desire to explore the unknown. Using creativity, we are able to push the boundaries of what is possible, imagine new worlds, and find solutions to the most pressing problems facing our society.

In a world where automation looms to take over all but the most innovative tasks—ones that truly require unique thinking—how can we make sure the next generation is capable of creatively solving these problems? We founded Prisma precisely because we were concerned traditional forms of education weren’t up to the challenge of creating future innovators.

In this post, we will explore the importance of creativity in the education system, the role of creativity in students' emotional development, and the ways in which it can be taught .

Creativity in Education

Despite the vital role creativity plays in our lives, it is often undervalued and neglected in our educational system. We are taught to memorize facts and figures, follow rules and procedures, and conform to the expectations of others. This approach may produce technically proficient students, but it fails to cultivate the spirit of creativity at the heart of true innovation.

In a rapidly evolving world with increasing automation, the ability to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to problems is critical. This is particularly true in education, where fostering creativity can help students develop important critical thinking skills, as well as prepare them for the 21st-century workforce.

Creativity=Critical Thinking

“There’s no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would forever be repeating the same patterns.” -Edward de Bono

What does creativity have to do with critical thinking ? At its core, creativity is about problem-solving . This is a skill becoming increasingly important right now as the world rapidly changes. To keep up with these changes, young people need to be able to come up with creative ways to solve problems, and be able to adapt to new situations quickly.

At Prisma, learners engage in a workshop called Collaborative Problem-Solving twice per week. These workshops might involve a critical thinking simulation, like when learners had to choose which businesses to invest in, Shark Tank style; or a science simulation where they had to figure out how to power a city using a combination of resources. In real life, much of creative problem solving happens in teams, yet in many traditional schools, kids are asked to solve problems on their own.

To build the form of creativity that leads to innovative thinking, learners need complex, interesting problems to solve. Education needs to figure out ways to design these kinds of authentic problems to prepare learners to succeed.

Creativity & Social Emotional Skills

“The most regretful people on Earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave it neither power nor time.” -Mary Oliver

One of the benefits of creativity is the role it can play in the development of emotional intelligence . As mentioned above, creativity is an essential part of what it means to be human. It feels good to make something and be proud of it! When learners are given the opportunity for creative expression, it can help them develop their self-esteem and build confidence .

Prisma learners complete a creative project every 6 weeks based on our interdisciplinary learning themes , and present their final projects during a celebratory “Expo Day.” LaShonda S., a Prisma parent, described how making a creative project for the first time impacted her son this way: “His sense of pride and accomplishment has gone through the roof. He has told all of our family and friends about his podcast.”

Building students’ creativity isn’t just about the warm and fuzzy feelings, though. Going through a creative process is tough, and can build resilience, grit , and tenacity. It’s much easier to follow step-by-step instructions than it is to brainstorm, ideate, and iterate on your own idea. Creative projects can help kids learn to take risks and embrace failure, which is always an important part of the creative process.

In addition, creativity can help students develop important social skills. When learners work on creative projects together, they learn to collaborate and communicate effectively. This is an important skill for the 21st-century workforce , where teamwork and collaboration are essential. Since Prisma is a virtual school, our learners go even further, learning how to collaborate on creative projects virtually with young people all over the world, much like many adults do in their jobs today.

Sign up for more research-backed guides in your inbox

• Prisma is an accredited, project-based, online program for grades 4-12.
• Our personalized curriculum builds love of learning and prepares kids to thrive.
• Our middle school , high school , and parent-coach programs provide 1:1 coaching and supportive peer cohorts .

Role of Creativity in the Education System

The education system has not always prioritized creativity. In fact, many education systems around the world have placed a greater emphasis on rote learning and standardized testing than on creativity and innovation.

Chen Jining, the president of Tsinghua University in China, once described the dichotomy between “A students” And “X students.” “A students” were those who followed all the rules, achieved excellent grades from kindergarten through high school, and aced standardized tests. Jining noticed what these Chinese students often lacked, however, was an aptitude for risk taking, trying new things, and “defining their own problems rather than simply solving the ones in the textbook.” (Mitchell Resnick, Lifelong Kindergarten ). The kind of creative people who could do those things could be thought of as “X students.”

High-achieving students who lack creativity are a major problem for any society who wants to solve problems, invent solutions, and innovate. What kind of learning environment might create a society of “X students” rather than just “A students”?

Creative Thinkers in Education

Fortunately, there are many educators and thinkers working to promote creativity in education. Sir Ken Robinson made a splash when he argued in a highly popular TedTalk and other writing & speeches that traditional education systems kill creativity.

Prisma’s curriculum was inspired by Seymour Papert , a mathematician and computer scientist who was a pioneer in the field of educational technology. Papert believed technology could be used to promote creativity and empower students to learn in new and innovative ways. He also believed creativity was a key component of the learning process, and that students should be given the freedom to explore and experiment to develop their creative thinking skills. His philosophy that learners learn most when engaged in a process of “ hard fun ” inspired the design of Prisma’s engaging curriculum themes & creative projects.

Another influential thinker in the field of creativity in education is Peter Gray , a psychologist and author who has written extensively on the importance of play and creative expression in children's lives. Gray argues play and creativity are essential for children's emotional and cognitive development and that schools should prioritize these activities to promote social skills and academic success.

Assessing Creativity

Unlike standardized tests, which (arguably) provide a clear measure of students' knowledge and understanding, creativity is more difficult to assess. This prompts some educators to dismiss its importance. However, there are ways to measure creativity, such as through creative projects and assessments focusing on problem-solving and critical thinking skills.

Before joining the founding team of Prisma, I researched creative assessment at Harvard. We discovered strategies such as assessing the process as well as the final product, allowing opportunities for peer & family feedback, and incorporating self-assessment and self-reflection helped reliably assess students’ creativity.

4 Ways to Teach Creativity

So how can teachers and homeschool parents foster creativity?

• Design a creative classroom environment , or make your home workspace more creatively inspiring. Of course, at a baseline, a creative learning environment may include materials like art supplies, building blocks, and maker tools, but kids can also be creative with digital tools like Procreate , TinkerCad , Canva , and plain old pen and paper. Remember, creativity is about ideas, not materials!
• Provide opportunities for brainstorming , encouraging students to come up with their own ideas. Instead of deciding in advance what learners will create and what the steps will be, consider coming up with the project together, or letting learners design their own . At Prisma, learners get multiple options each cycle for projects they can complete, and also have the opportunity to propose and design their own projects.
• Foster a creative mindset . This involves encouraging students to take risks and embrace failure, and helping them understand creativity is a process, not a product. At Prisma, this looks like using badges instead of traditional grades , and offering lots of opportunities for kids to reflect on not only what they made, but what they learned along the way. Don’t just give praise for what a learner completed, but their behavior during the process: for example, “I noticed how you changed your idea after you got peer feedback, what a great creative mindset!” instead of “Your drawing is really good!”
• Teach creative thinking skills explicitly . This can involve teaching students how to brainstorm effectively, how to find a creative flow state , and how to give & get feedback on their ideas. At Prisma, we use design thinking frameworks and teach learners the steps.

So what happens when schools decide to emphasize these strategies? Kids can do amazing things! As one Prisma parent describes, “ This year, my 10 year old designed her own ecosystem in TinkerCAD, started her own business with a functioning website, served as "Swedish Ambassador to the UN council" where she debated how to resolve the Syrian refugee crisis, coded her own game to educate others on Audio-Sensory-Processing-Disorder, and wrote her own fairy tale.”

Creativity is a critical component of education in the 21st century. By promoting creativity, you can help students develop important problem-solving and critical thinking skills, as well as foster their emotional and social development. While there are challenges to promoting creativity in the education system, there are also many educators and thinkers who are working to make creativity a priority in education. As we navigate an increasingly complex and changing world, promoting creativity in education is more important than ever before.

More Resources for Creative Education

Our Guide to Design Thinking For Kids

Our Guide to Entrepreneurship For Kids

Our Guide to Curiosity in Education

Our Guide to Interdisciplinary Education

Our Guide to Real-World Education

Join our community of families all over the world doing school differently.

Want to learn more about how Prisma can empower your child to thrive?

More from our blog

Recommendations.

Prisma Newsletter

About The Education Hub

• Course info
• Your courses
• ____________________________
• Using our resources
• Login / Account

What is creativity in education?

• Curriculum integration
• Health, PE & relationships
• Literacy (primary level)
•   Practice: early literacy
• Literacy (secondary level)
• Mathematics

Diverse learners

• Gifted and talented
• Neurodiversity
• Speech and language differences
• Trauma-informed practice
• Executive function
• Movement and learning 
• Science of learning
• Self-efficacy
• Self-regulation
• Social connection
• Social-emotional learning
• Principles of assessment
• Assessment for learning
• Measuring progress
• Self-assessment

Instruction and pedagogy

• Classroom management
• Culturally responsive pedagogy
• Co-operative learning
• High-expectation teaching
• Philosophical approaches
• Planning and instructional design
• Questioning

Relationships

• Home-school partnerships
• Student wellbeing NEW
• Transitions

Teacher development

• Instructional coaching
• Professional learning communities
• Teacher inquiry
• Teacher wellbeing
• Instructional leadership
• Strategic leadership

Learning environments

• Flexible spaces
• Neurodiversity in Primary Schools
• Neurodiversity in Secondary Schools

Human beings have always been creative. The fact that we have survived on the planet is testament to this. Humans adapted to and then began to modify their environment. We expanded across the planet into a whole range of climates. At some point in time we developed consciousness and then language. We began to question who we are, how we should behave, and how we came into existence in the first place. Part of human questioning was how we became creative.

The myth that creativity is only for a special few has a long, long history. For the Ancient Chinese and the Romans, creativity was a gift from the gods. Fast forward to the mid-nineteenth century and creativity was seen as a gift, but only for the highly talented, romantically indulgent, long-suffering and mentally unstable artist. Fortunately, in the 1920s the field of science began to look at creativity as a series of human processes. Creative problem solving was the initial focus, from idea generation to idea selection and the choice of a final product. The 1950s were a watershed moment for creativity. After the Second World War, the Cold War began and competition for creative solutions to keep a technological advantage was intense. It was at this time that the first calls for STEM in education and its associated creativity were made. Since this time, creativity has been researched across a whole range of human activities, including maths, science, engineering, business and the arts.

The components of creativity

So what exactly is creativity? In the academic field of creativity, there is broad consensus regarding the definition of creativity and the components which make it up. Creativity is the interaction between the learning environment, both physical and social, the attitudes and attributes of both teachers and students, and a clear problem-solving process which produces a perceptible product (that can be an idea or a process as well as a tangible physical object). Creativity is producing something new, relevant and useful to the person or people who created the product within their own social context. The idea of context is very important in education. Something that is very creative to a Year One student – for example, the discovery that a greater incline on a ramp causes objects to roll faster – would not be considered creative in a university student. Creativity can also be used to propose new solutions to problems in different contexts, communities or countries. An example of this is having different schools solve the same problem and share solutions.

Creativity is an inherent part of learning. Whenever we try something new, there is an element of creativity involved. There are different levels of creativity, and creativity develops with both time and experience. A commonly cited model of creativity is the 4Cs [i] . At the mini-c level of creativity, what someone creates might not be revolutionary, but it is new and meaningful to them. For example, a child brings home their first drawing from school. It means something to the child, and they are excited to have produced it. It may show a very low level of skill but create a high level of emotional response which inspires the child to share it with their parents.

The little-c level of creativity is one level up from the mini-c level, in that it involves feedback from others combined with an attempt to build knowledge and skills in a particular area. For example, the painting the child brought home might receive some positive feedback from their parents. They place it on the refrigerator to show that it has value, give their child a sketchbook, and make some suggestions about how to improve their drawing. In high school the student chooses art as an elective and begins to receive explicit instruction and assessed feedback. In terms of students at school, the vast majority of creativity in students is at the mini-c and little-c level.

The Pro-c level of creativity in schools is usually the realm of teachers. The teacher of art in this case finds a variety of pedagogic approaches which enhance the student artist’s knowledge and skills in art as well as building their creative competencies in making works of art. They are a Pro-c teacher. The student will require many years of deliberate practice and training along with professional levels of feedback, including acknowledgement that their work is sufficiently new and novel for them to be considered a creative professional artist at the pro-c level.

The Big-C level of creativity is the rarefied territory of the very few. To take this example to the extreme, the student becomes one of the greatest artists of all time. After they are dead, their work is discussed by experts because their creativity in taking art to new forms of expression is of the highest level. Most of us operate at the mini-c and little-c level with our hobbies and activities. They give us great satisfaction and enjoyment and we enjoy building skills and knowledge over time.  Some of us are at the pro-c level in more than one area.

The value of creativity in education

Creativity is valuable in education because it builds cognitive complexity. Creativity relies on having deep knowledge and being able to use it effectively. Being creative involves using an existing set of knowledge or skills in a particular subject or context to experiment with new possibilities in the pursuit of valued outcomes , thus increasing both knowledge and skills. It develops over time and is more successful if the creative process begins at a point where people have at least some knowledge and skills. To continue the earlier example of the ramp, a student rolling a ball down an incline may notice that the ball goes faster if they increase the incline, and slower if they decrease it. This discovery may lead to other possibilities – the student might then go on to observe how far the ball rolls depending on the angle of the incline, and then develop some sort of target for the ball to reach. What started as play has developed in a way that builds the student’s knowledge, skills and reasoning. It represents the beginning of the scientific method of trial and error in experimentation.

Creativity is not just making things up. For something to meet the definition of creativity, it must not only be new but also relevant and useful. For example, if a student is asked to make a new type of musical instrument, one made of salami slices may be original and interesting, but neither relevant nor useful. (On the other hand, carrots can make excellent recorders). Creativity also works best with constraints, not open-ended tasks. For example, students can be given a limit to the number of lines used when writing a poem, or a set list of ingredients when making a recipe. Constrained limits lead to what cognitive scientists call desirable difficulties as students need to make more complex decisions about what they include and exclude in their final product. A common STEM example is to make a building using drinking straws but no sticky tape or glue. Students need to think more deeply about how the various elements of a building connect in order for the building to stand up.

Creativity must also have a result or an outcome . In some cases the result may be a specific output, such as the correct solution to a maths problem, a poem in the form of a sonnet, or a scientific experiment to demonstrate a particular type of reaction. As noted above, outputs may also be intangible: they might be an idea for a solution or a new way of looking at existing knowledge and ideas. The outcome of creativity may not necessarily be pre-determined and, when working with students, generating a specific number of ideas might be a sufficient creative outcome.

Myths about creativity

It is important that students are aware of the components that make up creativity, but it is also critical that students understand what creativity is not, and that the notion of creativity has been beset by a number of myths. The science of creativity has made great progress over the last 20 years and research has dispelled the following myths:

• Creativity is only for the gifted
• Creativity is only for those with a mental illness
• Creativity only lives in the arts
• Creativity cannot be taught
• Creativity cannot be learned
• Creativity cannot be assessed
• Schools kill creativity in their students
• Teachers do not understand what creativity is
• Teachers do not like creative students

The science of creativity has come a long way from the idea of being bestowed by the gods of ancient Rome and China. We now know that creativity can be taught, learned and assessed in schools. We know that everyone can develop their creative capacities in a wide range of areas, and that creativity can develop from purely experiential play to a body of knowledge and skills that increases with motivation and feedback.

Creativity in education 

The world of education is now committed to creativity. Creativity is central to policy and curriculum documents in education systems from Iceland to Estonia, and of course New Zealand. The origins of this global shift lie in the 1990s, and it was driven predominantly by economics rather than educational philosophy.

There has also been a global trend in education to move from knowledge acquisition to competency development. Creativity often is positioned as a competency or skill within educational frameworks. However, it is important to remember that the incorporation of competencies into a curriculum does not discount the importance of knowledge acquisition. Research in cognitive science demonstrates that students need fundamental knowledge and skills. Indeed, it is the sound acquisition of knowledge that enables students to apply it in creative ways . It is essential that teachers consider both how they will support their students to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills in their learning area as well as the opportunities they will provide for applying this knowledge in ways that support creativity. In fact, creativity requires two different sets of knowledge: knowledge and skills in the learning area, and knowledge of and skills related to the creative process, from idea generation to idea selection, as well as the appropriate attitudes, attributes and environment.

Supporting students to be creative

In order for teachers to support students to be creative, they should attend to four key areas. Firstly, creativity needs an appropriate physical and social environment . Students need to feel a sense of psychological safety when being creative. The role of the teacher is to ensure that all ideas are listened to and given feedback in a respectful manner. In terms of the physical environment, a set of simple changes rather than a complete redesign of classrooms is required: modifying the size and makeup of student groups, working on both desks and on whiteboards, or taking students outside as part of the idea generation process can develop creative capacity. Even something as simple as making students more aware of the objects and affordances which lie within a classroom may help with the creative process.

Secondly, teachers can support students to develop the attitudes and attributes required for creativity , which include persistence, discipline, resilience, and curiosity. Students who are more intellectually curious are open to new experiences and can look at problems from multiple perspectives, which builds creative capacity. In maths, for example, this can mean students being shown three or four different ways to solve a problem and selecting the method that best suits them. In Japan, students are rewarded for offering multiple paths to a solution as well as coming up with the correct answer.

Thirdly, teachers can support the creative process . It begins with problem solving, or problem posing, and moves on to idea generation. There are a number of methods which can be used when generating ideas such as brainstorming, in which as many ideas as possible are generated by the individual or by a group. Another effective method, which has the additional benefit of showing the relationships between the ideas as they are generated, is mind-mapping. For example, rather than looking at possible causes of World War Two as a list, it might be better to categorise them into political, social and economic categories using a mind map or some other form of graphic organiser. This creative visual representation may provide students with new and useful insights into the causes of the war. Students may also realise that there are more categories that need to be considered and added, thus allowing them to move from surface to deep learning as they explore relationships rather than just recalling facts. Remember that creativity is not possible without some knowledge and skills in that subject area. For instance, proposing that World War Two was caused by aliens may be considered imaginative, but it is definitely not creative.

The final element to be considered is that of the outcomes – the product or results – of creativity . However, as with many other elements of education, it may be more useful to formatively assess the process which the students have gone through rather than the final product. By exploring how students generated ideas, whether the method of recording ideas was effective, whether the final solutions were practical, and whether they demonstrated curiosity or resilience can often be more useful than merely grading the final product. Encouraging the students to self-reflect during the creative process also provides students with increased skills in metacognition, as well as having a deeper understanding of the evolution of their creative competencies. It may in fact mean that the final grade for a piece of work may take into account a combination of the creative process as observed by the teacher, the creative process as experienced and reported by the student, and the final product, tangible or intangible.

Collard, P., & Looney, J. (2014). Nurturing creativity in education . European Journal of Education, 49 (3), 348-364.

Craft, A. (2001). An analysis of research and literature on creativity in education : Report prepared for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Runco, M. (2008). Creativity and education . New Horizons in Education, 56 (1), 96-104.

[i] Kaufman, J. C., & Beghetto, R. A. (2009). Beyond big and little: The four C model of creativity .  Review of General Psychology,  13(1), 1-12.

By Tim Patston

PREPARED FOR THE EDUCATION HUB BY

Dr Tim Patston

Dr Tim Patston is a researcher and educator with more than thirty years’ experience working with Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education providers and currently is the leader of consultancy activities for C reative Actions . He also is a senior adjunct at the University of South Australia in UniSA STEM and a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne in the Graduate School of Education. He publishes widely in the field of Creative Education and the development of creative competencies and is the featured expert on creativity in the documentary Finding Creativity, to be released in 2021. 

Download this resource as a PDF

Please provide your email address and confirm you are downloading this resource for individual use or for use within your school or ECE centre only, as per our Terms of Use . Other users should contact us to about for permission to use our resources.

Interested in * —Please choose an option— Early childhood education (ECE) Schools Both ECE and schools I agree to abide by The Education Hub's Terms of Use.

Did you find this article useful?

If you enjoyed this content, please consider making a charitable donation.

Become a supporter for as little as $1 a week – it only takes a minute and enables us to continue to provide research-informed content for teachers that is free, high-quality and independent.

Become a supporter

Get unlimited access to all our webinars

Buy a webinar subscription for your school or centre and enjoy savings of up to 25%, the education hub has changed the way it provides webinar content, to enable us to continue creating our high-quality content for teachers., an annual subscription of just nz$60 per person gives you access to all our live webinars for a whole year, plus the ability to watch any of the recordings in our archive. alternatively, you can buy access to individual webinars for just $9.95 each., we welcome group enrolments, and offer discounts of up to 25%. simply follow the instructions to indicate the size of your group, and we'll calculate the price for you. , unlimited annual subscription.

• All live webinars for 12 months
• Access to our archive of over 80 webinars
• Personalised certificates
• Group savings of up to 25%

The Education Hub’s mission is to bridge the gap between research and practice in education. We want to empower educators to find, use and share research to improve their teaching practice, and then share their innovations. We are building the online and offline infrastructure to support this to improve opportunities and outcomes for students. New Zealand registered charity number: CC54471

We’ll keep you updated

Click here to receive updates on new resources.

Interested in * —Please choose an option— Early childhood education (ECE) Schools Both ECE and schools

Follow us on social media

Like what we do please support us.

© The Education Hub 2024 All rights reserved | Site design: KOPARA

• Terms of use
• Privacy policy

Privacy Overview

Thanks for visiting our site. To show your support for the provision of high-quality research-informed resources for school teachers and early childhood educators, please take a moment to register.

Thanks, Nina

• +44 (0)1782 491098
• Request information
• MSc Management
• MSc Management with Marketing
• MSc Management with Sustainability
• MSc Management with Data Analytics
• MSc Computer Science
• MSc Computer Science with Data Analytics
• MSc Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence
• MA Education
• MA International Education
• MA Education Leadership and Management
• MA Early Childhood Education
• MA Education Technology
• MPH Global Health
• MPH with Leadership
• On-campus courses
• Start application
• Complete existing application
• Admission requirements
• Start dates

The importance of embedding creativity in education

Creativity in an educational context is often thought of in terms of creative subjects such as music, art, and drama. These subjects certainly nurture creativity, but creativity is an integral part of teaching and learning across all subjects. It involves an active curiosity when seeing something for the first time and how we react to it. Sometimes this involves an element of risk-taking, which can be developed in the safe environment of learning.

Cultivating creative thinking amongst students is highly dependent on creative leaders being visible within the learning and work environments. For this reason it’s important that creative leadership is evident from primary school to high school or college, and on into higher education. Creative thinking should be encouraged amongst all stakeholders and considered a valuable quality that initiates individuals into responding flexibly and adaptively in their problem-solving and decision-making.

Creative leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic

The ongoing impact of the global pandemic upon the learning environment and how educational institutions respond, means that the need for school leadership which takes a creative approach is greater than ever. In the introduction to the final report on the Creating Socially Distanced Campuses and Education Project launched by Advance HE, it is noted that there are five faces of transformational leadership that have come to the fore:

• Crisis leadership
• Courageous leadership
• Compassionate leadership
• Collaborative leadership
• Creative leadership

Elaborating upon creative leadership, Doug Parkin, Principal Adviser for Leadership and Management at Advance HE, says,

“The academic endeavour is at its core a creative one. Even very technical and rigorously precise research has a creative basis. From the most complex curriculum review challenge to the most wicked interdisciplinary research question, creativity and positivity unlocks human potential at every stage. It ignites ideas, inspires, and develops focus, commitment and energy. And leadership can and should complement this by being creative and using creativity as the basis for communication, positivity and engagement.”

He also quotes Kimsey-House et al when he writes “People are naturally creative, resourceful and whole.” This is an important point as people sometimes believe that they are not creative when being creative is an inherently human trait that often simply hasn’t been developed. Continued professional learning and development can support head teachers and staff in fostering creative processes so that they can use them both in their approach to management and their teaching practice.

Expressing creativity in teaching

Teacher creativity can be expressed through preparation and development, originality and novelty, fluency, freedom in thinking and acting, sensitivity to problems, and flexibility in finding alternative solutions to problems. School leaders and principals are key role models in promoting creativity in the education system and when they lead by example, it’s easier for creative learning to take hold amongst both teachers and students. Professor Louise Stoll from the UCL Centre for Educational Leadership states that, “Creative leaders…provide the conditions, environment and opportunities for others to be creative.”

No matter how many inputs and initiatives towards creative learning are suggested by staff or students, if headteachers do not embrace a creative methodology, the outputs will be subpar. For this reason, leadership development is also a critical factor in school improvement through creativity. Those who are creative know that a school culture in which stakeholders are always learning only leads to more creativity, and that creativity is itself a vital part of facilitating learning – it becomes a virtuous cycle.

An interesting case study that involved both pupils and teachers is that of Manorfield Primary School in Tower Hamlets. Head teacher Paul Jackson explained in an article in Headteacher Update,

“We engaged an architect to design us a model classroom that would put teaching and learning at the centre. Pupils and teachers worked with him on ideas. The idea was that if that worked, it would become a ‘lab’ where we tested things and if they worked we would roll it out elsewhere. Our children visited hotels and offices to get design ideas and then reported their ideas back to the architect. The result was the transformation of a previously cluttered classroom into a modern, light, and airy space and we’re now applying the lessons that we learned to the conversion of two redundant offices into a new, inspiring Key Stage 1 library area. I think it was a good example of using outside expertise to challenge our thinking.”

This kind of creative work is hugely beneficial to learners of all ages, but particularly to young minds. By involving them in the shaping of their environment, their opinions on high level decision-making are validated. The children are the ones who will primarily be learning in the school space, so letting them know that their input is important has a positive impact on their learning and sense of agency. When learning spans both the classroom and real-world scenarios, creativity can really come to fruition as students see the real-life effect of their decisions.

How important is creativity in education?

Creativity is sometimes referred to as one of the key competencies of the 21 st century and is also intrinsic to sustainable development. 

As the world increasingly faces challenges related to climate change, the education of the next generation is pivotal in helping to cultivate innovative thinking and problem solving to address sustainability issues. Creative education is not just a more fun and resourceful way of learning, it helps prepare children and young adults for creative work and the challenges of everyday life.

Take a creative approach with an MA Education Leadership and Management

The educational sector is changing in the wake of Covid-19 and the weak points that the pandemic restrictions exposed in the current structures of pedagogy. Educational leaders want their schools to be more resilient and their staff and students to be actively learning and collaborating beyond the restraints of traditional learning methodologies. When it comes to the success of remote learning, there are more dynamic ways to share information than simply through webinars, and creativity has shown how limits can be overcome.

If you’re looking for professional development that lets you consider these challenges of teaching and many more, while exploring creative leadership styles and leadership roles, a master’s in education could be for you. Find out more about the learning opportunities offered by a 100% online MA Education Leadership and Management and how you can register today.

Quick Links

• Accessibility statement

How to Mix STEM Education and Creativity in the Classroom

• June 29, 2021

Lately, the three Rs of school have been eclipsed by a focus on STEM education , or Science , Technology , Engineering , and Math .

But that doesn’t mean that there’s no room for creativity or the arts in the classroom. On the contrary, creativity is increasingly being recognized as a vital skill for the future.[2] Because of that, and the impact creativity has on learning, fostering creativity should be a natural function of schools.[5]

Read on for a look at why creativity is important and suggestions on how to mix STEM activities and creativity in the classroom.

Why Is Creativity Important for Children in STEM?

Creativity through art and play is important for enriching lives, if for no other reason. But it’s also important for strengthening the mind, and it is among the most important attributes in increasing learning. In fact, creativity is essential to STEM. That’s why you’ll often see an emphasis on STEAM—Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.

It’s important not to think of creativity and the arts as separate from STEM fields. Creativity is a core competency in science and is behind many “Eureka!” moments of discovery.[4]

“Researchers have found that play is important for productive thought. Playing with ideas also increases learning,” writes Ainissa Ramirez in Edutopia. “We must encourage playing with concepts to nurture creativity in students.”[3]

“The skills of the 21st century need us to create scholars that can link the unlinkable,” Ramirez continues. “These scholars must be willing to try many combinations before finding the right answer. They must be comfortable with concepts that they can play with in new ways. We want smart-thinking creative people. This is the formula for a better tomorrow.”[3]

Although there’s no sure-fire formula for teaching children how to be more creative, there are ways STEM teachers can encourage students to tap into their creative side.

7 Ways to Encourage Creativity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Classes

During your STEM classes, you can use fun games and other creative activities that will help your students nurture their creativity. Here are some ways you can encourage children’s creativity to merge with STEM.

1. Create a Stimulating Physical Environment

The right kind of environment can help children learn and create. A flexible space that’s inclusive and allows for a variety of arrangements can encourage collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and communication. Teachers should also embrace the movement of a child. When students have the chance to move, “both their brain and their circulation are refreshed.”[8]

2. Throw a Task Party

A task party  lets children think outside the box by completing a creative task in a certain amount of time. Beforehand, gather odds and ends (like paper plates, styrofoam, and cardboard) along with scissors, glue, and other art supplies. On slips of paper, write several tasks or things to build (draw a friend’s portrait, build a house for a mouse, etc.) and place them in a bucket or jar. Have a student pull out a task and get started.[9]

3. Introduce Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning (PBL) makes space for creativity to grow by having students work on a real-world challenge over a period of time. Solving a real-world problem that has no one right answer pushes students to think creatively.[5]

PBL allows students to ask questions, think critically, and apply their academic knowledge to a real-world situation. Teachers take on the role of a facilitator, allowing students to work independently, make their own decisions, and experience independence in solving problems.[7] You can find some more examples on DefinedLearning.com .

4. Combine Maker Activities and STEM Lessons

Children naturally enjoy making things. This also helps them grow their creativity. A makerspace , a place where students can think, imagine, explore ideas together, can help students create and invent while learning STEM fundamentals.[5]

5. Set Out Art Traps in the Classroom

An art trap is an invitation for students to come create something. You set out all the art or craft supplies your students need to make something and have them at the ready, waiting for a student to pass by.[10]

This helps eliminate the barriers students might encounter that could stop them from creating something. When all the brushes, media, and tools are prepared and easy to access, your students can just jump in and exercise their creative muscles with a medium they might otherwise not have tried.

6. Avoid Creativity Killers

Part of encouraging creativity is knowing things to avoid. Leslie Wilson writes about the creativity killers —things or situations that can squash a child’s natural curiosity—that teachers should be wary of. These include:

• Surveillance : Hovering over children and making them feel watched can cause students to hide their risk-taking urges.
• Evaluation : Constantly making students worry about how they’re doing can cause them to ignore the satisfaction in their own accomplishments.
• Rewards : The excessive use of prizes can deprive a student of the pleasure of creative activity.
• Pressure : Unreasonably high expectations can pressure children to conform and deter exploration and innovation.[6]

7. Embrace Mistakes

Perfectionism is a natural impulse many students may harbor. But perfectionism can also prevent people from finishing tasks, or trying new things. Take action to help your students embrace mistakes and think about failure as an opportunity for growth instead.[11] Here’s why mistakes are good:

• Students learn from their mistakes. It’s an opportunity to grow by analyzing a situation and choosing a different course of action next time.
• Mistakes help students become better problem solvers and critical thinkers. When a student makes a mistake, they learn to develop foresight, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
• Hughes, Joanna. “STEM, STEAM, and Where Creativity Fits into the Mix.” Keystone Masterstudies. April 2017. https://www.masterstudies.com/article/STEM-STEAM-and-Where-Creativity-Fits-into-the-Mix/
• Van Broekhoven, Kim, David Cropley, and Philipp Seegers. “Differences in Creativity Across Art and STEM Students: We Are More Alike than Unalike.” June 2020. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871187120301814
• Ramirez, Ainissa. “Creativity is the Secret Sauce in STEM.” Edutopia.org. August, 2013. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/creativity-secret-sauce-in-stem-ainissa-ramirez
• Escalante, Alison. “Creativity Education is Equally Important for Careers in STEM and the Arts.” Forbes.com. November 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/11/30/creativity-education-is-equally-important-for-careers-in-stem-and-the-arts/?sh=30524c41554f
• Jolly, Anne. “Cultivate Creativity in Your STEM Classroom.” DefinedLearning.com. https://blog.definedlearning.com/blog/cultivate-creativity-in-your-stem-classroom
• Wilson, Leslie, Ed.D. “Killing or Fostering Creativity in Children.” The Second Principle. https://thesecondprinciple.com/understanding-creativity/children-creativity/killingcreativityinchildren/
• O’Brien, Maggie. “What is Project Based Learning? DefinedLearning.com. https://blog.definedlearning.com/blog/what-is-project-based-learning
• Envision by World Strides. “6 Key Elements of 21st Century Classroom Design.” envisionexperience.com. July 2017. https://www.envisionexperience.com/blog/6-key-elements-of-21st-century-classroom-design
• Harmon, Wynita. “8 Ways to Help Your Students Be More Creative.” The Art of Education. 2019. https://theartofeducation.edu/2019/02/13/8-ways-to-help-your-students-be-more-creative/
• Hathaway, Nan. “Art Trap.” Studio-Learning. December 2017. https://studio-learning.blogspot.com/2017/12/art-trap.html
• Tulsian, Kirsten. “The Truth About Making Mistakes: Helping Students Discover the Benefits.” Kirsten’s Kaboodle. https://kirstenskaboodle.com/the-benefits-of-making-mistakes/

More education articles

National Poetry Month: Elementary Classroom Activities & Picture Books

Every April, the literary world comes alive with rhythm and rhyme as we celebrate National Poetry Month. For elementary school teachers, this month is an

Bridging the Trust Gap in AI: Ethical Design and Product Innovation to Revolutionize Classroom Experiences

Written by Leah Dozier Walker Executive Vice President of Equity & Inclusion at Waterford.org The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds tremendous promise across the

24 Activities, Teaching Strategies, and Resources for Teaching Students with Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodivergent condition that affects communication, behavior, and learning. Psychologists use the term spectrum disorder because symptoms and support needs

Can You Complete These 48 Summer Reading Challenges?

MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Awards Waterford.org a $10 Million Grant

The Importance of Creativity

Personal perspective: creative pursuits enhance work/life balance and bring joy..

Posted October 1, 2022 | Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

• What Is a Career
• Find a career counselor near me
• Acts of creativity add meaning, shape, purpose, and richness to our days.
• Educators, particularly in higher education, face institutional demands that often constrain creativity.
• A commitment to creativity can enhance work/life balance.

What is creativity ? It’s usually defined in terms of imagination and innovation and especially related to the production of artwork. Yet creativity isn’t necessarily about art per se but is a quality of being artful. It’s about how we make and weave meaning and richness into our days. Being creative means possessing curiosity, the ability to observe keenly, and a passion for innovation to move about in space and time in new ways. It means trying something different, which requires us to take the leap to trust our intuition so we can play in the unknown.

In academe, we need to teach and write in ways that reveal a depth of interpretation, that demonstrate meaning-making, that forge connections, that push the boundaries of existing modes of thought, and that play with new questions and ideas. When it comes to teaching, we might create a new course that invigorates us as teachers. Such new preparations breathe new energy into teaching and keep us engaged as lifelong learners, an important thing to model for students. Recently, I’ve created three new courses for our sociology curriculum and each was transformative for my teaching and writing practice.

It’s paradoxical that in higher education many faculty members often report feeling stifled or deadened when it comes to creative practices. One would think academe would be one of the more open arenas for nurturing creativity. But, formulaic and status-quo constructions generally prevail for what makes scholarship and pedagogy good enough for us to achieve successful annual reviews and ascend the ranks through tenure and promotion.

It saddens me tremendously to hear so many in academe, including several of my important mentors, confess that they can’t wait to retire just to finally write the sort of stuff they want to write. Living and working suspended like that is so conditional and constraining; it functions like a chokehold on our inner creative life. I couldn’t bear to wait that long.

I’ve come to regard the reclamation of my own creativity as a radical act. It’s a way of being more present in my life and work and responding to the urgent and important inner whispers that insist I be more creative today—not decades from now in retirement .

I’ve found the best way to anchor more deeply into that mindset is to borrow energy and momentum from another arena of invention. When I attend concerts, I think about the habits, routines, and practices of the musicians. And I’m always energized to hear about others’ seemingly mundane daily rituals that pave the way for creativity. Witnessing others’ creativity can jump-start our own.

Over the past two years since my mother died, I’ve been unpacking boxes of her paintings. I’ve been blown away by how vast a body of work she produced and inspired by how she kept at it, constantly taking new risks and trying again. In the mornings, after having espresso, I’ve found myself going into the guest room, now turned art gallery, and caressing the nuanced details of some of the pieces. Sometimes I take photographs of them that I pair with fresh flowers or with the work of a favorite potter—playing with colors, shape, light, and form—and then share them on social media .

Invariably, people ask if my mother and the potter created work in tandem because of how much their art complements each other. I explain that, no, in fact, I just noticed the parallels and decided to photograph them together. It’s in the act of making such visual connections and juxtapositions that I feel a high of creative and playful synthesis, and I find that it propels me to want to sit down to do my own writing.

Creativity involves imagining new ways of seeing, sensing and being. Another simple way I do that is to look around a room in my home and find an object, meditate for a moment on its functions and then consider what else it might be used for. The simple act of repurposing an object changes my relationship to it and keeps things fresh. When I get stuck, I try to pause and reflect on times I felt most in a creative flow state, and I call up a multisensory picture of that experience to revisit it for the qualities I most need to tap into.

While we grapple with intense institutional demands and constraints, it’s still possible to craft a creative dossier. For those of us committed to being creative public intellectuals, the issue becomes one of educating colleagues about what we’re doing and why it’s important. At my university, where I work in a multidisciplinary department of social sciences and humanities and where faculty members from disciplines all across the university comprise the tenure and promotion committee, I crafted a personal statement for my file that captured my intentionality around public sociology and the ways it’s a legitimate and firmly grounded part of my discipline.

We’ve seen how the pandemic has changed how people conceptualize work, space, and place, and we can use that to creatively rethink how we manage our time for tasks such as office hours. It might be possible to conduct them outside, or to do a walk-and-talk session with a student on campus. Or perhaps we can offer phone appointments while walking. The spirit of these ideas isn’t to amplify multitasking, but rather to consider ways we might be able to give back to ourselves while supporting others’ success and growth. The point isn’t about adding more but about how we negotiate our time in ways that prioritize creative spaciousness.

Similarly, much of the service being done across campuses is unpaid labor for the purpose of institutional maintenance. We might want to create our own service opportunities. Years back, a colleague and I created monthly events related to gender issues and invited the entire campus community. No such thing had existed there before, and various campus leaders appropriately recognized that endeavor as a meaningful and special contribution of service.

We’re limited by blocking beliefs that if only we could have endlessly unfolding hours and days, we would finally be able to write and publish more—that until it’s perfect, we dare not submit our work yet, and that we probably don’t know what we’re doing anyway, given the impostor syndrome so pervasive in academe. But that mentality of “if only,” “when” and “not until” ramps up our self-expectations and fear and holds us back from taking creative risks. It also feeds into a mentality of scarcity that runs counter to a creative life.

We must make room for our creative endeavors by prioritizing them and not becoming overwhelmed or sidetracked by other demands. I’ve learned that if our initial gut instinct is to say no to something, it’s best to say it or to say, “I’ll have to think about it and get back to you,” and then return with the no. Some colleagues bear down in meetings with intense praise and pressure to get us to agree to something. It’s OK to say, “Thanks for thinking I’d be good at this, but if you need an answer right now, it will have to be no.” In my mind, I picture the famous New Yorker cartoon where a man on the phone looks at his calendar and says, “How about never—is never good for you?”

Our personal lives offer us endless opportunities to be creative. In The Artist’s Way , Julia Cameron suggests daily walks, writing morning pages every day, and taking a creative excursion as regularly as possible. Contained in that model is the need for rituals and structure to be creative. I’d add that being in friendships and intimate relationships that nourish our creativity is essential.

It’s advantageous to approach our responsibilities as creatively as possible, as doing so will enhance work-life balance. When we drop down into the most creative oasis within ourselves, we’re able to experience unleashed freedom, timelessness, flow, and energy in ways that life looks light-filled, colorful, and more spacious than ever before.

An earlier version of this article appeared in Inside Higher Ed on September 23, 2022.

Deborah J. Cohan, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort where she teaches and writes about the intersections of the self and society.

• Find a Therapist
• Find a Treatment Center
• Find a Psychiatrist
• Find a Support Group
• Find Online Therapy
• United States
• Brooklyn, NY
• Chicago, IL
• Houston, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Portland, OR
• San Diego, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Washington, DC
• Asperger's
• Bipolar Disorder
• Chronic Pain
• Eating Disorders
• Passive Aggression
• Personality
• Goal Setting
• Positive Psychology
• Stopping Smoking
• Low Sexual Desire
• Relationships
• Child Development
• Therapy Center NEW
• Diagnosis Dictionary
• Types of Therapy

Understanding what emotional intelligence looks like and the steps needed to improve it could light a path to a more emotionally adept world.

• Emotional Intelligence
• Gaslighting
• Affective Forecasting
• Neuroscience

14 episodes

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ it all starts with a vision *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧Hi I'm AbbyRae, founder of RAEVISION MEDIA™ I'm a 23 year old hopeless creative. Join me as I (attempt) to navigate the ebbs and flows of life, how I am building my own Multi-media and Design Business, and how to stay afloat in a big world with even bigger dreams. Thanks for listening, I hope there is something for you here!(this podcast is STILL deep + unhinged)Follow me on Instagram @abbyorchard

Vision Club AbbyRae

• 5.0 • 5 Ratings
• MAY 4, 2024

WHAT MAKES YOUR CREATIVE SERVICE VALUABLE? | The Importance of Developing Yourself

The more time you spend on developing YOURSELF will directly affect the amount of success you'll be able to have.  WHAT you create will turn into evidence of your personal development, that's what makes your individual talents so valuable.  I loved recording this episode so much, making this pivot towards the Vision Club is something I am absolutely stoked about. Being able to not only keep the "deep + unhinged" convo's going but to also incorporate more of what I do creatively is so fulfilling. Today I am talking about the Importance of developing yourself so that you can apply value to your creative product/service! If you work in the industry, you understand how hard it can be to Price yourself out. I've personally struggled with it, A LOT. So hopefully this helps! Thank you for all the love and support as i've slowly closed in on what I truly want this podcast to represent. Trying to post weekly! Talk to you again very, very soon. xo,  AbbyRae Instagram @abbyorchard @raevisionmedia 

WELCOME TO THE VISION CLUB | Embracing a New Perspective

This year I made it a goal to find more authenticity and fluidity between my personal life, career, mental health, spirituality, and creativity.  I rebranded the podcast - AGAIN....fully realizing that you guys might be tired of the turbulence. But I can assure you, nothing about this podcast will stop representing the Deep or Unhinged conversations that you know. I just needed this to feel more cohesive with my personal life and career. Thank you for your never-ending support. I appreciate you all so much.  What inspired this change was honestly just a perspective shift that i've had while searching for a way to bridge the gap between all of the things that I do and what I truly want to talk about.  Moving forward, I am going to continue focusing on these categories. Career, Personal Development, Mental Health, Creativity, and Spiritual Wellness.  So, Welcome to the Vision Club!  yours truly,  AbbyRae Follow me on Instagram for more! @abbyorchard  @raevisionmedia 

• MAR 19, 2024

MISSING THINGS | Facing Your Past and Reassigning Meaning

We're talking about MISSING THINGS This episode is really really short, didn't realize it was only going to be 12 minutes but looks like you get a quick listen today! :)  I love this topic because I seem to keep coming back to it.  Missing things doesn't have to be negative, we get to assign meanings to everything that we feel and experience. An idea that I haven't truly learned until now.  Facing your regrets:  This one is tough, but so incredibly necessary.  I hope you enjoy this episode! Thank you so much for listening.  ALSO - I do graphic design and recently started making these really cute "pick-me-up" Retro Art Designs. I want to make them available for download! If you're intersted, please DM me, I would love any and all feedback on how to make this happen.  Instagram @abbyorchard  Talk to you soon!  xo,  AbbyRae

• FEB 26, 2024

DISCOVERING CONFIDENCE AND PURPOSE + with Paola Camila | Out of my Mindset Podcast

With my girl Paola Camila from the Out of my Mindset Podcast We talk about finding confidence, authenticity, how to discover your niche, relationsips and more. As soon as I met her, I loved her. You will too. Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram @abbyorchard and you can find Paola @paola.camila https://msha.ke/paolacamila See you next week

• 2 hr 13 min
• JAN 31, 2024

Lessons of Heartbreak and Navigating Vulnerability in Relationships with Taylor Church | Of Stone and Clay Podcast

My longest and most value-packed episode yet! Taylor messaged me a few days ago for us to meet up and record an episode! I stalked his instagram/message and immediatley got so excited. He is such an inspiriation and we had such a great convo about the Lessons of Heartbreak, Raw Acceptance in Relationships, and True Vulnerability.  I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!  Follow Taylor on Instagram  @taylorchurch44 And listen to his Podcast | Of Stone and Clay 

• 2 hr 18 min
• JAN 19, 2024

you’re not done.

(half my intro cut out and so excuse me while I just jump right in)  This episode is the sequel of the 'Embrace your Phases' ep.  Happy 2024, we made it. In this episode we're talking about mantras, moving through phases, and adjustiing to life's whirlwinds.  I also share a little fun announcement hehe ;)  Instagram:  @abbyorchard  Have a good week!

• © 2024 Vision Club

Customer Reviews

Feels like you’re on a phone call with a close friend.

I truly admire Abby! Her openness and authenticity create a comforting sense of familiarity, and listening to this podcast feels much like chatting with a close friend. Excited for more podcast episodes from her!

Top Podcasts In Education