Preservice teachers’ perspectives on the definition and assessment of creativity and the role of web design in developing creative potential

Abstract

This empirical study explores the perspectives of eight preservice teachers on the meaning and assessment of creativity and the role of web design in developing creative potential. Data sources included eight semi-structured interviews analyzed by three independent raters, web design checklists, and interviewer's notes. Five themes emerged from participant responses during data analysis: a) definition of creativity, b) assessment of creativity, c) creativity and instructional strategies, d) creativity and problem solving, and e) creativity and web design. Web design is viewed as a process of ill-structured problem solving that educators can integrate in the curriculum to link content knowledge with the construction of a tangible product. Each of the web design steps, according to these preservice teachers, is important in developing and realizing the creative potential because they require comprehension, analysis, synthesis, application, and evaluation skills to create a unique product.

Assessment of Creativity in K‐12 Education: A Scoping Review

“…Through a survey of 285 pre‐service music and visual arts teachers in Hong Kong that examined creativity and assessment in arts education, Leong and Qiu () found that respondents indicated a far greater understanding of how to support and assess skill development over creativity, and a belief that they should focus their teaching on tests and exams rather than on assessment practices that foster creativity. In the US, eight pre‐service teachers were asked about their perceptions of creativity by Antonenko and Thompson () and described creativity as a broad concept that could not be pinned down or reduced to a list of adjectives. These future teachers indicated a general preference for a ‘subjective’, holistic assessment of creativity.…”

“…It is difficult to identify any meaningful pattern amongst the findings in this section, other than the indication that teachers’ orientations to the teaching and assessment of creativity are highly variable. While some studies indicated that teachers’ limited, broad, or vague conceptions of creativity were accompanied by avoiding creativity assessment (Myhill & Wilson, ; Leong & Qui, ; Gardiner, ), or resorting to holistic assessment (Antonenko & Thompson, ), other studies indicated that some teachers did value assessing creativity, and were making efforts to do so (e.g., visual arts teachers in Hong Kong, Leong, ; drama teachers in Canada, Jamaica, the US and Norway, McCammon et al, ; and music teachers in Slovenia, Rozman, ).…”

“…Clearly defined criteria could also serve to support the practice of teachers, such as those surveyed by McCammon et al (), who responded that they believed it was important to assess student creativity, but to a lesser extent that they knew how to assess it. Criteria might also be of benefit to those teachers who currently favour holistic creativity assessment (e.g., Antonenko & Thompson, ) or avoid creativity assessment altogether (e.g., Myhill & Wilson, ; Leong & Qui, ; Gardiner, ); access to clearly defined criteria could help teachers develop the confidence they need to meaningfully assess and thereby support students’ creative work.…”

“…However, numerous studies did not explicitly specify the research design, leaving the reader to make assumptions about the design based on the methods and instruments used. For example, Anontenko and Thomson () describe their process of collecting ‘qualitative data’ and creating ‘case files’ for analysis, but do not mention case study as their research design. Hence, we identified the research design only when it was clearly stated.…”

Biology Students Building Computer Simulations Using StarLogo TNG

“…suggests that people learn best by building (Papert and Harel, 1991;Alimisis et al, 2009;Klopfer et al, 2009a;Antonenko and Thompson, 2011). Asking the students to design their own experiment with the simulation provides an enquiry-based educational experience (HmeloSilver et al, 2007;Deigan, 2009), increasing student perception of "ownership" of their work (Palmer, 2002).…”