Painting with learning stations: effect on creativity in visual arts class

Employing learning stations to structure the educational environment enables students to independently explore diverse learning experiences. In education, each station is designed to support specific learning objectives, offering various activities and materials to engage students in active participation. This research aimed to evaluate the effect of the learning station technique on students’ creativity in visual arts classes. An experimental model with a pretest-posttest control group design was used to assess the impact. This method allowed for a comparison of students’ creative abilities before and after the intervention, providing insights into the effectiveness of learning stations in fostering creativity. This study included 38 students in the 8th grade, 19 students in the control group and 19 students in the experimental group. In the experimental group, the learning stations technique was used, while in the control group, the visual arts curriculum was followed for a period of 5 weeks. Four stations were established for each lesson. A creativity test was used for both the pretest and posttest. The findings were statistically analyzed using the SPSS program. According to the results, when comparing the pretest and posttest scores obtained from the creativity test, it was observed that the creativity of the students in the experimental group increased more than did that of the students in the control group. Although the instructions applied in the control group slightly increased students’ creativity, they did not lead to a significant difference. As a result, the use of the Learning Stations technique in visual arts classes has elevated students’ creativity levels. Accordingly, recommendations have been made in this direction.