Measures of instruction for creative engagement: Making metacognition, modeling and creative thinking visible

A Review of Articles Using Observation Methods to Study Creativity in Education (1980–2018)

“…The reviewed studies varied in how explicitly they defined creativity. Most studies developed a framework of creative teaching behaviors through exhaustive reviews of research on creativity and instruction in a particular area of learning (Al‐Abdali & Al‐Balushi, ; Konstantinidou & Zisi, ; Pitts, Anderson, & Haney, ; Richardson & Mishra, ) and, in some cases, compared findings from past research with their own field notes. Konstantinidou and Zisi () adapted an extant self‐report measure aligned to Cropley's () framework to create a short behavioral observation checklist of the environment.…”

“…Pitts et al. () integrated multiple theories of creativity with Glăveanu’s () Five As model of creativity—an update of the Four Ps model—to bridge student creative development to instructional practice in the classroom. Gadja, Beghetto, and Karwowski () observed both teacher and student behaviors separately using a checklist of exemplary creative behaviors in teaching and learning.…”

“…The strongest approaches to observation in learning environments converged extant classroom observational approaches and instructional theory with creativity theory (Al‐Abdali & Al‐Balushi, ; Furman, ; Gadja et al., ; Pitts et al., ; Richardson & Mishra, ). For example, Richardson and Mishra () developed categories from creativity research and extant observation protocol used by school administrators, took field notes in peer‐nominated creative classrooms to refine the tool, and received input from practitioners.…”

“…'s () and Pitts et al. () included observation of teacher and student behaviors for distinct contributions to a supportive learning environment, providing two different successful approaches. Studies that did not integrate an instructional framework into their observation protocol struggled to align to typical educational environments or instructional practice.…”

“…Pitts et al. () sampled purposively in traditional content area classes and multidisciplinary arts integration classes to test the effectiveness of the observation measure for comparative analyses across these contexts. Similarly, Richardson and Mishra () used peer‐nomination for creative teaching to test the relevance and coherence of early versions of their measure.…”