This paper reports on a systematic review of 210 pieces of educational research, policy and professional literature relating to creative environments for learning in schools, commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS). Despite the volume of academic literature in this field, the team of six reviewers found comparatively few empirical…

Argument mapping (AM) is a method of visually diagramming arguments to allow for easy comprehension of core statements and relations. A series of three experiments compared argument map reading and construction with hierarchical outlining, text summarisation, and text reading as learning methods by examining subsequent memory and comprehension…

When planning and teaching, attention is generally given to cognition while the effect of mood and emotion on cognition is ignored. But students are not emotionless thinkers and the effect can make a difference to their thought. This is particularly evident when attempting to foster creative thinking. This article draws on research to describe…

Australian national statements describing a quality 21st century education prioritize creativity and sustainability as essentials for global and economic survival and for individual wellbeing. However, data gathered from 114 pre-service teachers commencing undergraduate study indicates their limited experience and skills in the arts, and lack of…

Given enormous global challenges, alongside nurturing children's creativity, professional creativity has perhaps never been more vital ([0100] and [0190]). This paper considers how a small, qualitative, co-participative study in an inner city children's centre, explored practitioner perspectives and practice related to creativity understood as…

The assumption that bodies have little to do with thinking--other than to be the vehicle that gets a mind to a classroom--deeply underpins the traditional model of schooling. Lessons and seminars are designed on the premise that thinking happens best when people are pretty still, their bodies are quiet and undemanding of attention, and they are…

The aim of this work was to gather different perspectives on the "key ingredients" involved in creative writing by children--from experts of diverse disciplines, including teachers, linguists, psychologists, writers and art educators. Ultimately, we sought in the experts' convergence or divergence insights on the relative importance of the…

Teaching thinking skills is one of the most important elements in the learning process. This paper examines how teachers "open up" and "close down" opportunities for promoting thinking skills in EFL classrooms in China through the analysis of the interactions between the teacher and students. A sociocultural analysis of language use and…

The term "critical thinking" (CT) is frequently found in educational policy documents in sections outlining curriculum goals. Despite this frequency, however, precise understandings among teachers of what CT really means are lacking. In this study, 72 high school teachers in Hong Kong were surveyed and interviewed on their beliefs about the…

It has been argued that a creative and cultural education is central to developing a creative workforce and promoting social inclusion. Despite the expanded involvement of creative practitioners in English education toward these aims, their pedagogies remain unclear and under-researched. The purpose of this exploratory case study is to examine…

Although the development and transfer of critical thinking skills are recognized as primary goals for education, there is little empirical evidence to help educators decide how to teach in ways that enhance critical thinking. In two studies, we compared explicit and imbedded instructional modes and assessed critical thinking with the Halpern…

Infusing creativity elements into regular classroom was an important movement in recent Asian educational reforms. A large-scale research study was conducted in Hong Kong to explore the possibilities, outcomes and difficulties of this kind of curriculum change from students' perspectives. Based mainly on Western creativity literature, this study…

This study aimed at revealing the problems experienced by primary teachers of Hong Kong SAR, China, in their initial school-based creativity teaching, through reviewing the teacher reflections in 75 action research reports. A number of teacher tensions and dilemmas emerged. Lack of teaching time and undesirable student performance in creative…

Although the importance of teaching creativity in higher education has been widely recognized, empirical research addressing the success of such attempts, has been scant. The purpose of this study is to develop and evaluate the effects of an online Creative Thinking Program. The program included a series of modules whose design, content and…

A research study using one-group pretest-posttest design was carried out on the effectiveness of the Creative Reversal Act (CREACT) on creative thinking. The CREACT is a new, teaching technique developed based on the theory of the janusian process. The research participants included 34 students who were attending 10th grade at a social studies…