No abstract

Creativity is nowadays seen as an essential feature in higher education. Nevertheless, there is a discrepancy between the need for creativity and what higher education classrooms provide. This study assessed the perceptions of 1599 higher education students from two countries (1059 Brazilian and 540 Portuguese students), from two academic domains (Sciences and Technologies -Sc&T; Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities -SScA&H), about the presence of creativity in their teachers' instruction and evaluation practices. The study's findings evidence interactive effects between the variables country and academic domain for most of the assessed factors: encouragement of new ideas, climate for the expression of ideas, and interest in students' learning. Brazilian Sc&T students presented more negative perceptions of their classroom environments when compared to SScA&H students; Portuguese students showed opposite patterns of results. Some hypothetical explanations are discussed and future directions for research are presented.Keywords: higher education, creativity, teaching work, students, culture Práticas Docentes para Criatividade na Universidade: Estudo em Portugal e no BrasilResumo: Criatividade é atualmente tomada como aspecto essencial na Educação Superior. Há, contudo, discrepância entre a necessidade de criatividade e o que a universidade proporciona. Este estudo avaliou percepções de 1599 alunos universitários de dois países (1059 brasileiros e 540 portugueses), de duas áreas curriculares (Ciências e Tecnologias -Sc&T; Ciências Sociais, Artes e Humanidades -SscA&H) sobre a presença de criatividade nas práticas docentes, instrucionais e avaliativas, de que são alvo. Os resultados mostraram efeitos interativos significativos entre as variáveis país e área curricular para a maioria dos fatores avaliados: encorajamento de novas ideias, clima para expressão de ideias e interesse pela aprendizagem dos alunos. Os estudantes brasileiros de Sc&T mostraram percepções mais negativas da sala de aula, comparados com os de SScA&H; os alunos portugueses obtiveram padrões opostos nos resultados. Algumas hipóteses explicativas são discutidas e são apresentadas orientações para pesquisa futura.Palavras-chave: ensino superior, criatividade, trabalho docente, estudantes, cultura Prácticas Docentes para Creatividad en la Universidad: Estudio en Portugal y BrasilResumen: La creatividad está actualmente considerada como aspecto esencial en la Educación Superior. Sin embargo, existe discrepancia entre la necesidad de creatividad y lo que la universidad ofrece. Este estudio evaluó percepciones de 1.599 estudiantes universitarios (1.059 de Brasil y 540 de Portugal) de dos áreas curriculares (Ciencia y Tecnología -Sc&T; Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades -SscA&T) acerca de la presencia de creatividad en las prácticas docentes, instructivas y evaluativas dirigidas a ellos. Los resultados mostraron efectos de interacción significativos entre las variables país y área curricular para la mayoría de los factores evaluados: foment...

The Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) is an internationally applied educational program that involves young people. Its theoretical foundation is both the Creative Problem Solving Model and the Futurist Thinking. It aims to promote creative and critical thinking through a futurist approach to problems. This study intended to analyze the effects of the program on creative skills evaluated by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural Version). The participants’ perceptions of the efficacy of the program were also assessed. This intervention was carried out with 131 adolescents over a period of 7 months in an extra‐curricular context. The evaluation of the program takes into account periods both before and after interventions, using similar experimental and control groups. The results showed significant statistical differences for the all skills studied and very positive perceptions of the efficacy of FPSPI. Two significant gender differences in creative performance were also found. The results are described and discussed in order to promote awareness for future research concerning this program.

The topic of creativity in higher education has been increasingly emphasized as support to the social and technological innovation. This study presents the adaptation and validation of the Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity (Alencar, 1999) for Portuguese college students. The sample was composed by 582 students from a public university in Northern Portugal, whose ages ranged from 18 to 59 (M=23.41; SD=5.38), belonging to three main domains of graduation courses (Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences and Technologies). An exploratory factor analysis identified the four factors included in the original questionnaire: Inhibition/Shyness, Lack of Motivation, Lack of Time and Opportunities, and Social Repression. The psychometric properties of the instrument are adequate, concerning internal consistency reliability and structural validity, for items and the four dimensions. Some guidelines are provided in order to use this questionnaire in future researches to increase the levels of creativity in teaching and learning processes in higher education.

Os contornos atuais reforçam a importância da educação criatividade intencional, particularmente no contexto escolar. Neste contexto, a adolescência também tem drivers específicos para este tipo de educação sistemática. Enquanto isso, a promoção das competências criativas é legitimada pela investigação. Este estudo examinou os efeitos de um programa de intervenção aplicada a (Future Problem Solving International Program) internacionalmente em adolescentes portugueses. Este programa desenvolve competências de questões criativas de resolução de problemas relacionados com o futuro. Participaram 131 alunos do ensino secundário, dos 12 aos 15 anos. Chegou a um grupo experimental (N = 67) e um grupo controle (N = 64) e foi avaliado tanto nos dois momentos de teste pré e pós. A implementação do programa durou sete meses no contexto formal e avaliação o TTCT-Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Os resultados indicam benefícios estatisticamente significativos do grupo experimental em várias habilidades criativas em um índice de criatividade global e fortalecimento da resolução criativa de problemas (inovação/adaptação) estilos. Os dados são analisados no contexto de outros estudos e as possibilidades futuras desta pesquisa são apresentados. Palabras-Clave:Criatividade, Educação, Resolução de problemas, Adolescência.The actuality highlight the importance of a purposeful education to creativity, particularly in the school context. In this context, adolescence also comes up with reinforcing specificities for such systematic education. For its part, the promotion of creative skills has been legitimized by the research. This study analyzed the effects of an intervention program internationally applied (Future Problem Solving Program International) in Portuguese adolescents. That program improves the creative problem solving skills considering global issues with a future perspective. Participants were 131 students from the Junior High School, (from 12 to 15 years old). It was considered an experimental group (N = 67) and a control one (N = 64) and both were evaluated in the pre and the posttest moments. The implementation of the program lasted seven months in extracurricular context and the evaluation used the TTCT -Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The results indicate gains statistically significant in the experimental group in several creative skills, in the global index of creativity, also indicating an enhancement of creative solving problem styles (innovation/adaptation). These data are discussed in the context of other studies and it is pointed future developments for this research.