The research of Ondřej Pešout, PhD. focuses on an implementing self-regulated learning (SRL) and metacognition into regular educational practice. In 2017, I earned a doctorate in Educational Psychology at North Carolina State University (CZU). Since then, I narrowed my research concentration on the use of metacognitive skills across learning domains. From 2018, I have been employed as an assistant professor at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem (JEPU). Apart from teaching educational psychology, I have worked on designing metacognitive skill interventions that promote students’ performance in academic tasks. Last year, a new collaboration with colleagues from JEPU and CZU steered my attention on examining the connection between metacognitive monitoring skills and creative thinking. Metacognition could be the new educational avenue in unleashing individuals’ creative thinking potential.
Evidence-Based Educational Approaches to Support Creative Thinking in College Students
(a speech with Jiří Kombrza)
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.