Upcoming Effect of Creative Thinking Challenges on Learning and Engagement

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of creative thinking challenges on teacher education students’ perceptions of learning and engagement and their creative attitudes and values. Researchers provided creative thinking challenges that promoted divergent thinking, metaphorical thinking, and creative problem-solving. Participants completed a post-only survey with Likert-style questions and open-ended responses to determine if the creative challenges enhanced student perceptions of learning, motivation, and engagement with the topics studied. Thematic analysis was used to determine student perception of the creative activities, their influence on personal creative abilities, and how the participants would promote creativity in their own classrooms. In addition, participants completed a pre and post-assessment, the Creative Attitudes and Values (CAV) which is a 25-item self-report that is part of the Runco Creativity Assessment Battery (rCAB). Results indicate that the challenges enhanced learning and engagement. Additionally, results of the CAV indicated a statistically significant difference in scores from pre to post indicating the creativity challenges increased the participants’ creative attitudes and values.