Fostering Creativity in the School Setting: Biopsychosocial Factors, Strategies, and Instruments

Chair: Denise Fleith, University of Brasilia

Sheyla Blumen
Pontifical Catholic University of Peru
Peru

Denise Fleith
University of Brasilia
Brazil

Economic, social and cultural arguments have been presented in defense of the promotion of creativity in different contexts of human development, education and performance. To address challenges and overcome threats, it is necessary to recognize emerging realities, anticipate consequences and formulate responses that can turn into innovative products, ideas and connections in a way that contributes to individual and collective wellbeing. A creative response should be new, efficient, appropriate and relevant. This requires not only personal characteristics associated with creativity, but also a psychological and social climate in which recognition, acceptance and encouragement of original production are valued. In this regard, the school is seen as a privileged context of opportunities for creativity to be developed. As it is in this environment that individuals spend most of their lives, it makes sense to emphasize the importance of fostering creative abilities, in several knowledge domains, throughout the school trajectory. In this workshop, we will (a) analyze factors that promote or inhibit the creative expression in the school environment, (b) present cognitive, motivational, and affective strategies for helping teachers to foster students’ creativity, (c) present teaching procedures and practical activities that can be used in the school to enhance creativity, (d) discuss how to promote a creative climate in the classroom, and (d) introduce measures and psychometric instruments to assess the extension to which creativity has been fostered in the classroom.