Bc. Jiří Kombrza is a student of the master’s program at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (JEPU), specialization in art education and history – teaching for secondary schools. I obtained a bachelor’s degree from the same specializations in 2019. The theme of my bachelor’s thesis was painting on canvas (triptych) with pedagogical overlaps and the text theme was Figural painting in the Czech Republic after 2000. In the field of history I create worksheets and figures with an emphasis on attractive transformation challenging history curriculum for students, trying to emphasize the history of art. In my diploma thesis I deal with the theme: Religious-cult practices and feelings of the Roman aristocracy at the border of the time of the republic and the empire. Outside of my studies, I work as an assistant of professor at the Department of Psychology at JEPU. I participate in the research of creativity in college students by processing data, questionnaires and evaluating student results. My personal interest is psychology, which I often use in my texts for historical and artistic analysis. I gained theoretical knowledge by reading professional literature (C. Rogers, D. Kahneman, A. Kohn, C. Dwecková, J. Peterson, H. Rohr, J. Poněšický, D. Štrobl, KH Brisch, P. Říčan, D. Dennett , M. Vágnerová, R. Čapek, B. Bettelheim, etc.), from professional seminars at the university, in which I actively participated and voluntarily assisted in research on creativity, to which I was invited due to my diligence and interest. Now I am also focusing on finding methods of applying creative thinking in higher education.
Evidence-Based Educational Approaches to Support Creative Thinking in College Students
(a speech with Ondřej Pešout)
What is characteristic for the 21st century tasks are disorderly procedures riddled with ill-defined problems. A linear step-by-step problem solving demonstrates to be ineffective and needs to be replaced with more innovative and conceptual thinking. Since 2006, creativity has been placed into spotlight by many globally recognized organizations and economic enterprises. [1] In the last decade, the importance of educating the future generation in creative thinking has grown ever larger across various array of domains and academic disciplines. However, current education is plagued with equivocal approaches that sporadically lead to resolute outcomes. Hence the current study aimed at reviewing empirical studies that examine creative thinking interventions in regular college level education. The review was based on the database search (EBSCO) using a combination of the following words: creativity; creative thinking; creative performance; experiment; intervention; manipulation; college students; university students; higher education. The search for the keywords has resulted in (k ~ 756) multiple studies. The following criteria were used to select relevant studies: peer-reviewed studies; college students; experimental/quasi-experimental design; published after 2006. The remaining studies were compared by their year of publication, sample size, study area, region, assessment instruments, research design, duration and complexity of intervention(s), study outcomes, and effect sizes. The results suggest that creative thinking can be positively affected by interventions aimed at training and regulating one’s own thinking skills (e.g. metacognition, divergent thinking). Teaching instruction that can improve creativity can benefit from using problem-based learning frameworks, maintaining high motivation, and encouraging greater number of solutions followed by a clear feedback. The presented study informs educators about evidence-based practice and discusses its potential to improve college students’ creative thinking skills.
[1] RITTER, Simone a Nel MOSTERT. Enhancement of Creative Thinking Skills Using a Cognitive-Based Creativity Training. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement [online]. 2017, 1(3), 243-253 [cit. 2020-03-19]. DOI: 10.1007/s41465-016-0002-3. ISSN 25093290.