This study aimed to synthesize and evaluate a STEAM Learning Ecosystem on Gamification System to Promote Innovators. The research was conducted in three phases: (1) synthesis, (2) development of the learning ecosystem, and (3) expert evaluation. The resulting ecosystem comprises three main elements: (1) STEAM Learning Ecosystem (Instructor,…

Broad exploration is often the best way to solve complex problems because the best solution might not come to mind first. Consequently, creative thinking, like simulated annealing, begins with a "hot" exploratory phase of broad solution search and gradually "cools" to exploitation and narrowing the search space. In solving…

For a semester within a transition-to-proof course, mathematics majors explored two famous conjectures: The Twin Primes Conjecture and the Collatz Conjecture. Students were scaffolded into exploring the conjectures through directed activities but were also expected to create their own methods of exploration. We documented students' experiences…

Hong Kong's policy and curriculum guide advocates the development of creativity, and stresses the importance of child-centred and play-based practices in preschools. Effective pedagogical approaches for creativity reform should reflect a sociocultural perspective. This study aimed to compare the pedagogical effects of two teaching approaches, in a…

In reviewing the six articles within this "Instructional Science" special issue, we are reminded of Schoenfeld's ("Educ Res" 45(2):105-111, 2016) review of American Educational Research Association president-authored papers for the centennial celebration of AERA. There, he succinctly unveiled the content focus of AERA research…

The purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical framework for creative education, which consists of three dimensions: initiation, operation, and content. I will first review the creativity literature in education, and then go on to demarcate three levels with several components that are necessary to a pedagogical practice for creative…

Synectics is a creative problem-solving process carrying participants from problem analysis to the generation and development of new ideas. The system recognizes three types of thinkers: apposite, divergent, and generative. Effective thinking is often limited by maintaining inflexible criteria concerning thinking, insisting on literal meaning,…

This paper introduces an artistic model of planning and problem solving. The model is based on a case study of processes engaged in by a college art student during the course of producing a senior thesis in batik (a wax-resist fabric dyeing process). Based on the premise that knowledge of the creative process is essential to understanding the…

Children's natural propensity for wonder is important to learning. Educators play a vital role in keeping that sense of wonder alive; educators must not merely supply explanations, but must move young children toward solving their own problems through active exploration, discovery, and reflection--processes that are pertinent to our responses in…

A testing procedure used by J. W. Getzels and M. Csikszentmihalyi (1964) to gauge the relationship between problem finding and creativity in art students was employed in a study designed to determine if the same relationship existed in writers. Subjects were middle school students identified as either creative or noncreative by two separate…

A Discovery Unit was designed to develop problem-finding behavior in 67 gifted children (grades 3-6). Students identified a problem and its solution using topics of their choice. The results of this two-year pilot project support the need to instruct and practice problem-finding skills at the elementary level. (DB)

Based on a project concerned with studying invention across the curriculum, this paper discusses an across-the-curriculum writing program that encourages students to take control of what they are studying, contributing to what is known rather than being passively filled by it. The paper (1) challenges the current notion that creative behavior is a…

This book is used as a two-day workshop for teachers in how to use the "History Alive!" program. The three premises of the program include: (1) cooperative interaction; (2) multiple intelligences; and (3) the spiral curriculum. The strategies developed focus upon: (1) Interactive Slide Lectures; (2) Social Studies Skill Builders; (3)…