Creativity in Teaching and Teaching for Creativity in Engineering and Science in Higher Education—Revisiting Vygotsky’s Psychology of Art

Lucy Lunevich

doi:10.4236/ce.2021.127110

Abstract

The article presents observational research conducted over four years which showed that creativity can be enhanced in all students using a variety of teaching methods and strategies. Strategies recommended promotingcreativity including engaging students with activities that they enjoy and find intrinsically, encouraging students to verbally present and discuss their ideas with others, and providing opportunities for students to develop arguments based on evidence. Students should be encouraged to value empirical evidence and relevant knowledge and ideas, identify and address obstacles, learn about the lives and contributions of creative individuals throughout history, collaborate with others, take intellectual risks, and learn from mistakes in order to develop cognitive skills and self-efficacy. The research outlined here demonstrated that teaching critical analysis of art stimulated creativity in learners by facilitating emotional connections with the environment, encouraging a more holistic understanding of artworks and the creative processes behind them, and stimulating creative thinking skills and orientations that facilitated the development of intellectual potential.

Highlights

IntroductionVygotsky proposed that “creativity arises from any human activity that produces something new”
The research outlined here demonstrated that teaching critical analysis of art stimulated creativity in learners by facilitating emotional connections with the environment, encouraging a more holistic understanding of artworks and the creative processes behind them, and stimulating creative thinking skills and orientations that facilitated the development of intellectual potential
Vygotsky (2016) further proposed that many advances gained through human creativity and productivity have relied on collective creativity, in which small individual contributions combine to produce a greater outcome than individuals could have produced alone

Summary

Introduction

Vygotsky proposed that “creativity arises from any human activity that produces something new” Within his constructivist theory, the analysis of art has the potential to facilitate the development of higher cognitive abilities and provides an opportunity for collaborative learning when undertaken in group contexts. Vygotsky (2016) further proposed that many advances gained through human creativity and productivity have relied on collective creativity, in which small individual contributions combine to produce a greater outcome than individuals could have produced alone Creativity of this kind should be encouraged among contemporary engineering and science students to support the problem-solving and critical thinking required to produce practical and theoretical solutions for complex modern problems

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Conclusion