Group Creativity in Learning Context: Understanding in a Social-Cultural Framework and Methodology

Chunfang Zhou,Lingling Luo

doi:10.4236/ce.2012.34062

Abstract

Recent studies have emphasized group creativity as a social-cultural conception, but they lack a focus on the relationship between group creativity and knowledge creation. This paper aims to build a framework for group creativity in a learning context which includes both theoretical understanding and empirical methodology. Thus, a literature review is led by the following questions: How has creativity theory been developed from individual to group level? From a social-cultural perspective, how can group creativity, knowledge creation, and their relationship be understood? And what methods have been employed to study group creativity? As the review demonstrates, creativity theory has been driven by new insights from recent sociology studies. Three focuses have been shaped from group creativity studies: 1) group creativity in context, 2) group-level creative synergy, and 3) strategies for developing group creativity. Individual knowledge is a potential resource for group creativity, and group creativity could be a driver of knowledge creation. Empirically, group creativity can be examined through both qualitative and quantitative approaches, which also calls for a creative combination of methodologies in future studies.

Highlights

The concept of creativity has gained importance
It soon appeared that the conditions which enable collaboration to be effective were much more complex than expected, and were related to a number of dimensions such as interpersonal relationships, the characteristics of the task, the quality of talk, social and institutional contexts, the students’ definition of the situation and task, and so on. Researchers found that their empirical methods needed to be diversified in order to achieve a comprehensive view of peer collaboration in context. Both quantitative and qualitative views coexist in group creativity studies, and these are described in the following
In order to provide a framework for both the theoretical understanding and empirical studies of group creativity in a learning context, this paper has reviewed literature focusing on 1) creativity theory development from individual to group level; 2) understanding group creativity and knowledge creation, and their relationship within a social-cultural framework; and 3) the methodology of group creativity study

Summary

Introduction

The concept of creativity has gained importance. A sign of the importance of creativity is the decision of the European Union to make 2009 the European Year of Creativity and Innovation. The objective of the year is to promote creativity for all as a driver for innovation and as a key factor for the development of personal, occupational, entrepreneurial and social competences through lifelong learning (European Commission, 2008). The year should raise public awareness and promote public debate on creativity; it should stimulate research into how to develop creativity and innovative attitudes (Villalba, 2008). For education systems, promoting creativity has been suggested as one of the priorities for meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century (Craft, Jeffery, & Leibling, 2001)

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Conclusion