Promoting Social Creativity in Science Education With Digital Technology to Overcome Inequalities: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Enhancing creativity and developing technology skills in the classroom are the future of education and can turn out to be powerful tools to smooth out inequalities in class. This paper presents a systematic scoping review study of the literature focusing on cases of social creativity and digital technology embedded in science education. To this end, 23 empirical studies were selected from several databases—all in English and subjected to a blind peer-review process—to address the interconnectedness of key themes encapsulated in the following three research questions: (i) which digital technology roles support collaborative and creative processes in science education? (ii) which forms of technology and technological features support and organize the aforementioned creative processes? and (iii) what pedagogical principles guide the promotion of social creativity using technology in science education and involve all the students? Results show that technology can play different roles in promoting social creativity: (1) as a tutoring device that nurtures some key science creative processes; (2) as a tool that shapes students' creative thinking; and (3) as a medium that builds the supportive environment to perform collective creativity processes. In our project, these three roles were performed using a wide range of web 2.0 technologies (e.g., web-based environments, digital platforms, mobile technology) that both engaged all students in active and rich user experience for collective knowledge creation and equipped all learners with the necessary skills that would turn them into active, i.e., dynamic and resourceful, citizens in a swiftly changing world.

Dimensions of Creativity in Secondary School High-Ability Students

“…In our preliminary study, significant differences are shown in terms intelligence in favor of cognitive high-ability groups. Data show high abilities are linked to more possibilities of improving, perfecting or adding new elements to an initial idea [32]. This is the capacity of being creative and seems to be present in the high-ability students evaluated.…”

Dimensions of Creativity in Secondary School High-Ability Students

“…The contributions of this study in the teaching and learning process of high-ability students are clear [ 30 , 31 ], and they coincide with the contributions of the Gagne model. This model helps us to process the information and to understand the information being processed or transformed as structures are elaborated and reworked [ 32 ]. Therefore, the largest number of high-ability students should be identified to be able to offer the attention required to enhance their talent and abilities [ 17 , 33 ].…”

Social climate of support for innovativeness

“…The business incubator centers in the United States and Poland are forms of social support for innovativeness and entrepreneurship (Al-Mubaraki et al, 2017;Malecki, 2018;Hassan, 2020;Wolniak et al, 2019;Hausberg and Korreck, 2020;Torun et al, 2018). Technical education and a large number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) graduates are affected and linked to social support for innovativeness and entrepreneurship (Niittylahti et al, 2021;Saw, 2020;Aguilar and Turmo, 2019;Garcia-Morales et al, 2021;Haviland and Robbins, 2021;Grebski and Grebski, 2016;Grebski and Grebski, 2019;Aguilar and Turmo, 2019;Garcia-Morales et al, 2021;Haviland and Robbins, 2021). A social culture of respecting and protecting intellectual property is also a another form of social support for innovative behavior (Holgersson et al, 2018;Grebski and Wolniak, 2018).…”