The Impact of an Ecological Dynamics-Based Physical Education Program on Creative Thinking in Primary School Children

The World Health Organization identifies creative thinking as a key life skill essential for health promotion, personal development, and well-being. In line with recent perspectives on motor learning within the ecological dynamics approach, this study highlights the importance of self-organization, free initiative, and divergent thinking as processes that are deeply connected to individual emotional, experiential, and bodily engagement within dynamic environments. With this quasi-experimental study, conducted in Italy, we aimed to examine the impact of a physical education program, designed according to the principles of ecological dynamics, on the development of creative thinking in children. The sample included 107 primary school students (58 girls, 49 boys; mean age = 7.51 ± 0.50 years) who were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (n = 57) or a control group (n = 50). Creative thinking was assessed before and after the intervention using the WCR test. The WCR (Widening, Connecting, and Reorganizing) test assesses three core components of creative thinking through age-appropriate visual and verbal tasks. The results showed that there was a significant improvement (p < 0.05) in cognitive widening for the experimental group compared with the control group. The findings of this study suggest that physical education grounded in the ecological dynamics framework promotes the generation of ideas, cognitive flexibility, and motor adaptability, allowing children to explore original and self-determined movement solutions. Such programs may play a crucial role in supporting creativity and holistic development in educational contexts.