creativity in early childhood education journal article

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Developing Children’s Creativity and Social-Emotional Competencies through Play: Summary of Twenty Years of Findings of the Evidence-Based Interventions “Game Program”

Maite garaigordobil.

1 Faculty of Psychology, University of the Basque Country, 48940 Leioa, Spain

Laura Berrueco

Macarena-paz celume.

2 Laboratoire de Psychologie et d’Ergonomie Appliquées, University Paris-Cité, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Associated Data

Data are not publicly available.

This work presents the results of four cooperative-creative game programs (Game Programs). In all four studies, experimental designs with repeated pretest-posttest measures and control groups were used. Validation samples ranged from 86 to 178 participants, randomly assigning participants to the experimental and control conditions. Before and after each program, a battery of assessment instruments was applied to measure the variables under study. The intervention consists of conducting a weekly game session during the school year. The results of the posttest covariance analyses confirmed a significant impact: (1) in social development, by increasing various positive social behaviors and decreasing many negative social behaviors; by increasing assertive cognitive strategies and prosocial resolution of interpersonal problems; and by enhancing relationships and positive communication among group members; (2) in emotional development, by improving self-concept, peer image, and emotional stability; and (3) in cognitive development, by increasing verbal intelligence, verbal and graphic-figurative creativity, as well as creative personality behaviors and traits. This work provides empirical evidence of the relevance of cooperative-creative play in child development.

1. Introduction

1.1. theoretical foundation of the game programs: contributions of play to child development.

Play is inherent to a child’s very nature, and psychologists, philosophers, and pedagogues have referred to its importance for the development of personality. From the conclusions of the studies, it is clear that “play, that activity par excellence of childhood, is a vital and indispensable activity for human development, as it contributes relevantly to psychomotor, intellectual, social, and affective-emotional development” ( Garaigordobil 2003a, p. 97 ). From different epistemological models, pioneering theorists and researchers in play research have emphasized the relevant role of play in psychomotor development ( Piaget [1945] 1979 ; Wallon [1941] 1980 ), in the development of intelligence and creativity ( Piaget [1945] 1979 ; Vygotski [1932] 1979 , 1982 ; Wallon [1941] 1980 ; Winnicott [1971] 1982 ), in the social development ( Elkonin [1978] 1980 ; Vygotski 1982 ), and in affective-emotional development ( Freud [1920] 1981 ; Winnicott [1971] 1982 ). Although authors such as Piaget, Wallon, Vygotsky, Elkonin, and Winnicott were pioneers in the formulation of the relevance of play in human development, among others, recent experimental, correlational, and observational studies have ratified the effectiveness of play in the development of motor skills ( Carpio et al. 2020 ), in language development ( Ramos and Allcca 2021 ), in moral development ( Davis and Bergen 2014 ), in social competencies ( Villavicencio 2019 ), and in emotional competencies ( Zych et al. 2016 ).

Various observational, experimental, and correlational studies ( Lavega et al. 2014 ; Navarro 2002 ) have confirmed the relevance of motor play for physical and sensory development. The variety of games that children play from an early age are a fundamental stimulus for their psychomotor development, i.e., motor coordination (the global coordination of all parts of the body, balance, eye-hand and eye-foot coordination, precision of movements, muscle strength, etc.) and perceptual structuring (visual, auditory, rhythmic, temporal, and tactile perception, spatial orientation, etc.). In summary, psychomotor play permits the development of the body and senses ( Garaigordobil 1999a , 2003a , 2009 ; Shingjergji 2020 ; Votadoro 2001 ).

Concerning the development of intelligence and creativity, scholars of the subject have underlined the relevant role of children’s play in the evolution of thinking that leads to abstraction, as well as in the development of creativity (e.g., Berretta and Privette 1990 ; Chen Tsai 2012 ; Karwowski and Soszynski 2008 ; Russ and Schafer 2006 ). Regarding social development, much research has confirmed the relevance of play for socialization, especially for the acquisition of social knowledge and social communication skills (e.g., Barnes 2014 ; Lillard 2017 ; Mellou 1994 ). A large part of children’s social interactions throughout childhood takes place in the context of play, where they establish contact and relationships with other children. All the ludic group activities that children carry out throughout childhood stimulate the progressive development of what we call the “Social Self”. Studies carried out with collective symbolic games of representation (e.g., Celume et al. 2020 ), also called dramatic or sociodramatic play or role-playing, conclude that these games have intrinsic qualities that make them very relevant in the process of child socialization, which are activities of inestimable value for children’s development and social adaptation.

Other observations relate to affective-emotional development, where play is seen as an activity that allows achieving psychological balance in the first years of life. Play provides the opportunity to express negative feelings, experiment with alternative solutions, process new information without the consequences it would have in real life, resolve affective crises, and express/control emotions (e.g., García-Huidobro 2004 ). Difficulties are part of the process of growth in every individual. If children are to overcome the successive phases, they must be allowed to express their fantasies, desires, fears, and interpretations, and this opportunity is presented in play. “Play promotes affective-emotional development, psychic balance, and mental health” ( Garaigordobil 2003a, p. 93 ).

Play is an instrument of expression and emotional control, essential for growth. This activity contributes to the integration of the personality because children play for pleasure, to express aggressiveness, to master their anxiety, to increase their experiences, to establish social contacts, etc. Play has a vital role in children’s affective-emotional balance, as it enables the expression and release of childhood tensions. Various cognitive and emotional processes are deployed in the symbolic game of representation, developing children’s creative thinking and key emotional competencies ( Celume et al. 2019a ). The dialogical and protected space that promotes play allows children to try different ways of being and acting and thus to develop cognitive processes that influence their creativity and their affective-emotional well-being ( Celume et al. 2019b ).

Recapitulating the contributions of play to children’s integral development, we can confirm that play is a vital activity for human development because the ludic activities that children perform throughout childhood allow them to develop their thinking, meet needs, elaborate traumatic experiences, discharge tensions, explore and discover the joy of creating, fulfill their fantasies, reproduce their acquisitions by assimilating them, relate to others, broaden their horizons, etc. Therefore, it can be said that stimulating play is synonymous with promoting child development, and this activity also has a significant preventive and therapeutic function. A recent review ( Garaigordobil 2022 ) of the effects of play in child development showed that the results of research on the relevance of play have currently driven many professionals of psychology and education to emphasize the inclusion of play in educational and therapeutic contexts. The main findings of this review state that play impacts several levels of child development such as (I) physical and sensory development, (II) intelligence and creativity, (III) social development, and (IV) affective-emotional development. We describe these main findings below.

(I) Physical and sensory development: Thanks to the movement games that children play from early ages (games with the body, with objects, and with others; for example, playing with a ball, hoops, stilts, and roller skates, building with blocks, modeling with mud or plasticine, jumping rope, jumping with an elastic rope, swinging, riding tricycles and bikes, etc.), children can discover new sensations; progressively coordinate the movements of their body, which become more refined, more precise, and more effective; structure the mental representation of the bodily schema, the “I-body”, which is the first “brick” in the construction of personality; discover themselves at the origin of the material modifications they produce when they build or model; explore and expand their sensory and motor skills; conquer their own body and the outside world; have mastery experiences that foster self-confidence; and more importantly, they obtain intense pleasure.

(II) Intelligence and creativity: Motor and sensory manipulative games are an instrument for the development of motor thinking. Play, in addition to being a source of learning, opens up areas of potential development. In play, attention and memory are doubled. Representative play fosters cognitive decentralization, which drives the development of symbolic thinking, or representative intelligence. Symbolic play encourages fantasy–reality discrimination. Social play facilitates language development. Play promotes the development of higher psychological functions because fiction is a necessary avenue for the development of abstract thinking. Play originates and develops imagination and creativity.

(III) Social development: Games of representation stimulate the development of positive social behaviors (helping, cooperating, sharing, negotiating, etc.) and decrease the negative ones (aggressiveness). In games of representation, children discover the social world of adults, the rules that govern these relationships, and how to prepare for work. Games of representation promote moral development because they are a school of self-control and will and an assimilation of norms of conduct. Games of representation foster various social competences (social skills, group cohesion, problem-solving, etc.). In addition, studies that have analyzed the effects of rule games (structured around objective rules whose transgression constitutes a fault), i.e., games of sensorimotor combinations (races, throwing regulated marbles) or intellectual games (board games, cards, chess, checkers, Parcheesi, dominoes, tic-tac-toe), conclude that, in these games, children develop strategies of social interaction and learn to control aggressiveness because the rules regulate the control of behavior, and they are a school of responsibility and democracy.

(IV) Affective-emotional development: Play is a pleasurable activity that generates emotional satisfaction and feelings of happiness. Symbolic play, games of representation, is an activity that allows the control of the anxiety generated by difficult and traumatic experiences. Play is an activity that allows the control of the anxiety generated by internal sources, aggressiveness, and child sexuality. Symbolic play, games of representation, is the performance of forbidden and/or unattainable desires. Play encourages the expression of emotions and facilitates emotion regulation. The game of representation facilitates the progressive process of psychosexual identification. Play is a means of learning conflict-resolution techniques. Play in general improves self-esteem, is a means of self-affirmation, is proof of children’s personalities, and is an early source of a sense of identity. Symbolic play, games of representation, enhances the capacity for empathy. Play has a significant therapeutic value.

1.2. Cooperative Games: Benefits for Child Development

Cooperative games are defined as games in which the players give and receive help to contribute to a common end. These games stimulate communication, cohesion, and trust, and they are based on the idea of accepting, cooperating and sharing, and playing and inventing together ( Orlick 1990 ). Within this category of games, games of representation are included (e.g., representing scenes in which each player contributes with their role), but they also include motor games (e.g., using the bodies of several players to construct a snake that crawls on the ground, or a train that goes on a journey) and rule games (e.g., burnt field cooperative, in which one team’s burnt members go over to the other team and keep on playing when they are “touched (burnt) by the ball”).

According to Garaigordobil ( 2003a ), cooperative games have five features. (1) Participation: as everyone participates in these games, there are no eliminated members, nor does anyone lose; the goal is to participate to achieve group goals. (2) Communication and friendly interaction: because these games structure group communication processes that involve listening, dialoguing, making decisions, negotiating, etc., these games stimulate a friendly multidirectional interaction between players, the expression of positive feelings toward others, etc. (3) Cooperation: as they enhance relational dynamics that necessarily lead the players to help each other to contribute to a common goal, each player contributes with their role, full of meaning and necessary for the achievement of the game, a situation that generates a feeling of acceptance in each person, which positively influences their self-concept and others’ image. In these games, the players’ objectives are closely linked in such a way that each one can only achieve their goals if the others reach their own goals. The results that each player pursues are therefore beneficial for the rest of the teammates with whom they are interacting. This is the opposite of competitive games, in which the objectives of the players are related, but exclusively, and a participant only reaches their goal if the others do not achieve it. (4) Fiction and creation: because, in many cooperative games, children act “as if”: as if they were snakes, turtles, bells, blind, trains, machines, etc., and represent real or fantasy scenes, etc., as well as combine stimuli to create something new (e.g., joining different objects to create musical instruments, etc.). (5) Fun: because when playing cooperatively, the players have fun interacting with their peers in a positive, friendly, and constructive way.

Since the 1970s, observational and experimental studies have proven the benefits of cooperative play in child development. The results of the review of these studies can be seen in Table 1 .

Effects of cooperative game programs on child development.

In addition, research comparing the differential impact of cooperative and competitive games confirms the advantages of cooperation. Some studies ( Bay-Hinitz et al. 1994 ; Bay-Hinitz and Wilson 2005 ) confirmed that, during cooperative games, cooperative behaviors increase and aggressive behaviors decrease, whereas after implementing a competitive game program, aggressive behaviors increase and cooperative behaviors decrease. Finlinson et al. ( 2000 ) found that positive social behaviors were higher during cooperative games, whereas more negative behaviors were observed in competitive games. A higher level of negotiation strategies and sharing behaviors among group members has also been found in cooperative versus competitive games ( Zan and Hildebrandt 2003 ). Recently, Eriksson et al. ( 2021 ) highlighted that cooperative and competitive board games led to the same amount of cooperative and prosocial behaviors. Participants competed more after playing competitive games, but they enjoyed themselves more in cooperative games and preferred them.

In summary, previous studies have shown the effects of cooperative games on variables of social, emotional, and psychomotor development, although few have shown the effects on variables related to intelligence and creativity. Therefore, this work aimed to show the positive effects of “Game Programs”, cooperative play programs, in all the dimensions of child development. The empirical studies carried out with the four intervention programs had three main objectives: (1) to design the intervention programs configured with cooperative-creative games targeting different age groups; (2) to carry out an experimental implementation of the programs that consists of applying a weekly intervention session during an entire school year; and (3) to evaluate the effects of these cooperative experiences on factors of social, affective-emotional, and psychomotor development, as well as on intelligence and creativity.

The current work summarizes the effects of four psychoeducational intervention programs based on the research question about how cooperative-creative play may have significant benefits for child development. Throughout the last two decades, different studies were carried out to test the significance of results regarding competency development, and in this current work, we proposed to review these findings, offering a global perspective of the outcomes and postulating that cooperative-creative games have relevant benefits for several variables of socio-emotional development, as well as for the development of intelligence and creativity. The programs designed and evaluated in the previous work and summarized in the current manuscript contain games with two structural components: cooperation and creativity. On the one hand, they are configured with cooperative games, i.e., games that consist of giving and receiving help to contribute to a common goal and to achieve team goals with the necessary contribution of all players, and, on the other hand, they are configured with creative games that structurally contain dynamics that activate verbal, graphic-figurative, plastic-constructive, and/or dramatic creativity.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. participants.

Validation samples in each of the four programs were chosen randomly, and participants were randomly assigned to the experimental and control conditions. In the Game Program 4–6 years ( Garaigordobil 2007 ), there were 53 experimental (3 groups) and 33 control participants (2 groups) (47 boys; 39 girls). In the Game Program 6–8 years ( Garaigordobil 2005a ), there were 125 experimental (6 groups) and 53 control participants (2 groups) (93 boys; 85 girls). In the Game Program 8–10 years ( Garaigordobil 2003b ), there were 126 experimental (4 groups) and 28 control participants (2 groups) (86 boys; 68 girls). In the Game Program 10–12 years ( Garaigordobil 2004a ), there were 54 experimental (2 groups) and 32 control participants (2 groups) (34 boys; 52 girls).

2.2. Procedure

The four Game Programs were evaluated experimentally and are evidence based. In order to measure the effects of each program on child development, successive investigations were proposed using the experimental designs of repeated pretest-posttest measures with control groups.

After selecting the educational centers, in the four studies carried out to evaluate the effects of each program, a set of evaluation instruments was administered before and after applying each program (September and June) to measure different development variables that the program was hypothesized to affect. The groups were randomly assigned to the experimental or control conditions. The experimental participants performed an experimental implementation of the programs, consisting of receiving a weekly intervention session during an entire school year. The duration of the sessions was variable: 75 min in preschool (4–6 years), 90 min in the first and second cycle of Primary Education (6–10 years), and 120 min in the program of the last cycle of Primary Education (10–12 years).

To avoid the Hawthorne effect, the control participants carried out the curricular activities of their school program, thereby receiving a different type of instruction and the same level of attention. They carried out the activities of the tutorials that the educational centers had detailed in their educational projects. In these tutorials, for example, they talk about the problems that may exist in the group, about issues related to social interactions or emotions, etc. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Hawthorne effect was produced in the control participants, since during the time that the experimental ones were carrying out the cooperative-creative game program, the control ones were carrying out tutoring activities, which offered them the same level of attention.

The study met the ethical values required in research with human beings, following the fundamental principles included in the Declaration of Helsinki, its updates, and current regulations (informed consent and right to information, protection of personal data, and guarantees of confidentiality, nondiscrimination, gratuity, and freedom to leave the study at any stage). The participants and their parents were informed of the study. Consent was obtained from all parents of the participants involved in the research. Parents had to inform if they did not want to participate in the study (passive consent). All parents accepted the participation of their children, largely due to the expectation of the benefits that the programs could have on their children’s development. The children were informed and also had the opportunity not to participate; however, all the children accepted to participate in the cooperative play sessions.

2.3. Instruments

To evaluate the effects of the four programs before and after each intervention, several evaluation instruments, with psychometric guarantees of reliability and validity, were administered to measure the dependent variables that the program was hypothesized to affect. The variables evaluated and the instruments used are presented in Table 2 for preschool children (4–6 years), Table 3 for children 6–8 years old, Table 4 concerning children 8–10 years old, and finally Table 5 gathers the quantitative instruments used for measuring 10–12-year-old children’s competencies. As can be seen in these tables, many of the variables evaluated are related to emotional intelligence, although intelligence and creativity variables are also included. The tables displayed below present the quantitative instruments used for the evaluation of the programs and are presented here as a means to describe the instruments used. Below the tables, we present a qualitative review of the main instrument used as the independent variable, the game program, presenting the similarities of all four programs.

Variables and evaluation instruments of the early childhood education program (preschool) ( Garaigordobil 2007 ).

Program variables and assessment instruments for children aged 6 to 8 years ( Garaigordobil 2005a ).

Program variables and assessment instruments for children aged 8 to 10 years ( Garaigordobil 2003b ).

Program variables and assessment instruments for children aged 10 to 12 years ( Garaigordobil 2004a ).

2.4. The Intervention: Game Programs, a Cooperative-Creative Game Proposal to Promote Child Development

Taking previous works as a reference, a line of psychoeducational intervention configured with four cooperative and creative game programs, the Game Programs were systematized. These programs, which targeted children in early childhood (pre-school) and Primary Education (the 4–6 years program ( Garaigordobil 2007 ), the 6–8 years program ( Garaigordobil 2005a ), the 8–10 years program ( Garaigordobil 2003b ), and the 10–12 years program ( Garaigordobil 2004a ) aim to promote child development. The practical proposals for each age group have a theoretical foundation manual that reflects on the contributions of play, prosocial behavior, and creativity in human development ( Garaigordobil 2003a ).

These programs have three main general objectives: (1) prevention, as this experience attempts to prevent developmental problems; (2) development, as these experiences are intended to enhance the integral development of children who do not present difficulties in their growth, focusing primarily on various socio-emotional aspects and creativity; and (3) therapy because, through these games, we try to socially integrate children who have difficulties in their social, emotional, or intellectual development. On a more specific level, the Game Programs propose the following concrete objectives.

They promote social development by stimulating children’s knowledge of each other, increased multidirectional, friendly, positive, and constructive interactions with their group peers, and group participation; friendly intra-group relationships; verbal and nonverbal communication skills, such as presenting, actively listening, dialoguing, negotiating, and making decisions by consensus; an increase in social behaviors that facilitate socialization (leadership behaviors, joviality, social sensitivity, respect-self-control), as well as a decrease in disruptive socialization behaviors (aggressive-stubborn behaviors, apathy-withdrawal, anxiety-shyness, and antisocial behaviors); prosocial behavior (behaviors such as giving, helping, cooperating, sharing, comforting); and moral development, such as accepting social norms implicit in the instructions of the games (taking turns, cooperation, roles, values, dialogue, tolerance, equality, solidarity, etc.).

The Game Programs promote affective-emotional development by fomenting the identification of various emotions; the understanding of various causes of positive and negative emotions, as well as the consequences thereof; the expression of emotions through dramatization, activities with music-movement, and drawing and painting; coping with or the resolve of negative emotions; empathy for the emotional states of other human beings; emotional stability; self-concept-self-esteem; and feelings of pleasure and subjective psychological well-being.

They stimulate the development of factors of intelligence and creativity, such as attention; memory; the capacity for symbolization; verbal logical reasoning; and verbal creativity (language), graphic-figurative creativity (drawing/painting), plastic-constructive creativity (construction of objects), and dramatic creativity (representation of roles).

As previously explained in the introduction, games within the program stimulate communication, cohesion, trust, and the development of creativity underpinned by the idea of acceptance, cooperation and sharing, playing, and inventing together. This is conducted through the following 5 essential points: (1) everybody’s participation; (2) dialogue and active communication; (3) mutual cooperation; (4) fiction and creation; and (5) fun. Programs contain various types of games and use various group dynamic techniques for the development of action and other techniques to stimulate and regulate discussion.

The Game Programs contain a wide range of cooperative games that stimulate prosocial behavior (helping behaviors, trust, cooperation) and creativity (verbal, graphic-figurative, plastic-constructive, and dramatic). Many programs and game books were reviewed to design these game proposals. Some of the activities included were adapted from other programs that had similar objectives. For example, some are games of Orlick ( [1978] 1986 , 1990 ) pioneering experiences with cooperative games, others are traditional games that met the requirements of cooperative play, and still others were originally competitive games that were transformed into cooperative games by changing their rules (e.g., the game of eliminatory chairs eliminates children; in its cooperative version, only chairs are removed, and all the players sit on the remaining chairs), and other games were invented and created specifically for these programs.

In the implementation of the program, a weekly game session is carried out throughout the school year of variable duration, 75 min in preschool, 90 min in the first and second cycle of Primary Education (6–10 years), and 120 min in the last cycle of Primary Education (10–12 years). The experience takes place on the same day, on the same weekly schedule, and in the same physical space (a large classroom free of obstacles). The same adults always direct the sessions, including the teacher of the group, who directs the dynamics of the game, and an adult with psycho-pedagogical training (psychologist), who carries out the assessment before and after implementing the program and the systematic observation of the game sessions.

The organization of a game session was generally structured with a sequence of 2–4 cooperative-creative recreational activities and their subsequent debates. The session was organized around three phases, led by the group’s regular teacher.

Opening phase: The sessions begin with the group members sitting in a circle on the floor. In this spatial position, the objectives of cooperative and creative games are briefly discussed: having fun, making friends, learning to help each other, learning to collaborate with classmates to perform things as a team, learning to listen to each other, be respectful of others’ ideas, and be original, creative, imaginative, etc. Usually, the adult communicates the opening of the cooperative play session to the group, and, in the first sessions, he/she informs them about the general objectives of the experience, but after 2 or 3 sessions, he/she asks the group about its objectives to encourage two-way communication (feedback) about the objectives of the game program.

Development phase of the game sequence: In this phase, the 2, 3, or 4 games that make up the session are carried out successively, with the following procedure for each recreational activity. (1) The adult presents the instructions of the game to be played, and the members of the group play the game following the instructions. (2) After each game is played, a discussion takes place related to the actions and interactions that occurred in the game. For this purpose, the players sit on the floor in a circle, and the adult asks questions related to the objectives of the program, the specific objectives of the game performed, or what he/she observed during the game (for example, communication, participation, cooperation, originality of the ludic products, conflicts, resolutions provided, etc.).

Closing phase: After performing the game sequence, the closing phase begins, in which reflection and dialogue about what happened during the game session (feelings experienced, participation, rejections, respect for the rules, cooperation, etc.) take place. The adult leading the intervention asks the group members how they felt during the game session and whether they want to comment on any aspect of the session that was not addressed in the dialogue or debate phases after each game. Closure is an exercise of reflection during which the players verbalize the positive aspects of the experience, as well as the problems that arose and the solutions to them. Thus, its role in the children’s cognitive-moral development is important. In this phase, the adult, besides promoting communication within the group about the experience, provides social reinforcement, the verbal assessment of the helping behaviors, dialogue, or cooperation observed, emphasizing the value and creativity of the products elaborated in the activities involved in this process.

To clarify the type of activities contained in the Game Programs, three games are described below, informing about the specific developmental functions they stimulate.

Cooperative drawings: Teams of 4 players are formed, and each player receives one-half of a sheet of white cardboard and a pencil. First, each team member makes a drawing for 10 min, for example, a house. Then, the adult says, “pass the drawing to the right”, and each player gives the drawing they have made to their classmate on the right. Now, they have 5 min to add elements to their classmate’s drawing; for example, to the drawing of the house, the player adds a tree. The operation of passing the drawing is conducted 3 times, so that all the members of the team add elements to the drawing of their three classmates, resulting in 4 drawings made with everyone’s cooperation. In the last pass, each player receives the drawing that they began and colors it to their liking with the paint box they share. At the end, there is an exhibition with all the drawings, and the participants comment on them. This game encourages non-verbal communication (active listening), group cohesion (feelings of belonging), cooperation (drawing among several people), the pleasure of creating (feelings of achievement and mastery that improve self-concept), feelings of acceptance (each player has a necessary role to perform the game), as well as attention, the ability to symbolize, graphic-figurative creativity, visual-spatial perception, and eye-hand coordination.

Discover the excitement: The group is divided into teams of 6–7 players, to each of whom an emotion is assigned (sadness, love, hate, joy, envy, fear, etc.). The players of each team have 15–20 min to agree on how to represent the situation so that the rest of the players can guess the emotion from the scene. For example, they may express sadness by dramatizing a funeral or joy by representing a birthday. Team members clarify how to represent the emotion, they disguise themselves, and they create some supporting material for the performance. Subsequently, each team performs the representation in turns, and the rest must guess the emotion expressed. This game stimulates verbal and non-verbal communication (active listening and decision-making), cooperation (role representation and coordination with other roles to represent the scene expressing the emotion), group cohesion (feelings of belonging), the pleasure of representing and guessing the emotion expressed, the ability to identify and express emotions through dramatization, feelings of acceptance (each player has a necessary role to perform the game), attention, symbolization, and dramatic creativity.

The new evolution of species: The group is divided into teams, and each team receives a sheet of white cardboard, several photos of animals, scissors, and various glues. The game consists of cooperatively inventing a new animal species. To do this, team members must select photos of animals, and then cut out different anatomical parts (ears, eyes, legs) that they will use to form the body of the new animal. When they have enough cutouts of different body parts of different animals, they begin to paste them onto the cardboard, configuring a new invented animal made up of parts of other existing animals. Then, they invent a name for their animal and make a brief description of it (type of animal: land, sea, air…, what it eats, where it lives…). Finally, an exhibition is held with the animals created and each team presents its animal. This game promotes verbal communication (active listening and decision-making), cooperation (inventing a new animal with everyone’s contribution), group cohesion (feelings of belonging), the pleasure of creating (feelings of achievement and mastery that improve self-concept), feelings of acceptance (each player has a necessary role to perform the game), attention, the capacity for synthesis (configuration of the whole through the integration of parts), plastic-constructive creativity, visual perception, and eye-hand coordination.

To analyze the effects of the program with the data obtained in the assessment instruments applied in the phases pretest-posttest, we calculated the means and standard deviations of each target variable for the experimental and control participants in the pretest phase, in the posttest phase, and in the differences pretest-posttest. In addition, we conducted univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) with the pretest and the posttest scores, comparing the experimental and control conditions. To further probe these effects, taking into account the differences between the two conditions in the pretest phase, analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs) were then performed with the posttest scores (covarying out the pretest scores) on each of the dependent variables, and effect sizes were calculated (Cohen’s d : <0.2, small, 0.5 = medium and >0.8 large). To calculate the ANCOVAS, the usual procedure was followed. In each variable, the posttest was introduced as the dependent variable, the pretest score as the covariate, and the condition (experimental and control) as a fixed factor.

The statistical analyses carried out with the pretest-posttest data obtained (descriptive and inferential analyses) in each of the four investigations validated these experiences. The evaluation of the programs for the four age levels ratified numerous positive effects when comparing the change in various development factors in the children who participated in these cooperative-creative game experiences during the school year (experimental group) compared to those who did not have the opportunity to play the games that academic year (control group). The descriptive (means and standard deviations) and inferential (analysis of variance and covariance) results in the pretest and posttest phases and the pretest-posttest difference are presented in Table 6 , Table 7 , Table 8 and Table 9 .

Means, standard deviations, and results of the analysis of variance of the experimental and control groups in all the measured variables in the pretest and posttest phase and the pretest-posttest difference. Evaluation of the Early Childhood Education Game Program (preschool, 4–6 years).

+ p < 0.09 * p < 0.05 ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001.

Means, standard deviations, and results of the analysis of variance of the experimental and control groups in all the measured variables in the pretest and posttest phase and the pretest-posttest difference. Evaluation of the Game program 6–8 years.

Means, standard deviations, and results of the analysis of variance of the experimental and control groups in all the measured variables. in the pretest and posttest phase and the pretest-posttest difference. Evaluation of the GAME program 8–10 years.

Means, standard deviations, and results of the analysis of variance of the experimental and control groups in all the measured variables in the pretest and posttest phase and the pretest-posttest difference. Evaluation of the Game program 10–12 years.

In the evaluation of the program targeting preschool children ( Garaigordobil 2007 ), the results of the posttest covariance analyses (see Table 6 ) confirmed that this game experience promoted a significant improvement in many variables. From the point of view of social and affective-emotional development, the program stimulated an increase in: (1) altruistic behavior with peers, (2) prosocial strategies for solving interpersonal problems, (3) normativity or knowledge and compliance with social norms indicated by adults, and (4) affective maturity or the ability to give affective responses according to the evolutionary level (tendency). From the point of view of cognitive development, the program promoted an increase in: (1) verbal intelligence (Verbal IQ) and global intelligence (global IQ) (tendency); (2) neuropsychological maturity factors such as verbal fluency; (3) verbal creativity (fluency, flexibility, and originality); (4) graphic-figurative creativity (abreaction, elaboration, fluency, and originality); (5) behaviors and traits of creative personalities evaluated by teachers; and (6) creative thinking associated with the analysis of an image (ability to perceive unusual or strange details, fluency, and originality to identify problems and seek solutions to these problems) ( Garaigordobil and Berrueco 2007a , 2011 ). The effect size was large in the following variables: verbal creativity (flexibility, fluency, originality), graphic creativity (elaboration, fluency, originality), and creative thinking (attention to detail, fluency, originality). A medium effect size was found in the verbal fluency.

In the research on the program for children aged 6 to 8 years ( Garaigordobil 2005a ), the results of the posttest covariance analyses (see Table 7 ) revealed significant changes in several variables evaluated. From the point of view of social development, the program promoted (1) an increase in positive social behaviors (prosocial leadership, joviality or joy in social interaction, social sensitivity or helping behaviors, respect for the rules of sociability-self-control of impulses) and a decrease in negative social behaviors (aggressiveness-stubbornness, apathy-withdrawal, anxiety-shyness) in social interactions with peers, improving the general social adaptation of the children in the school context; (2) an increase in the capacity for group cooperation (decrease in the time they need to perform a cooperative task and an increase in cooperative facilitating behaviors such as giving-receiving and helping behaviors); and (3) communication and relationships of acceptance within the group. From the point of view of affective-emotional development, the program stimulated an improvement in: (1) self-concept and (2) emotional stability. In terms of psychomotor and cognitive development, the program facilitated: (1) a greater recognition of the body schema and (2) an increase in various maturity skills for school learning (verbal comprehension, numerical aptitude, perceptual aptitude) and the overall maturity index for school learning ( Garaigordobil and Echebarria 1995 ; Garaigordobil et al. 1996 ). The effect size was large in the following variables: social behavior (social sensitivity, aggressiveness, apathy withdrawal, anxiety shyness, social adjustment) and group cooperation (task performance time, giving-receiving behaviors, asking-receiving behaviors). A medium effect size was found in many variables, such as social behavior (leadership, joviality, respect for self-control), group cooperation (helping behaviors), body schema, and school learning (verbal comprehension, numerical aptitude, maturity index). The research of the program was presented as a Doctoral Thesis at the University of the Basque Country ( Garaigordobil 1994 ) and was nominated for the “Extraordinary Doctorate Award” granted by the University of the Basque Country.

In the research of the program for children aged 8 to 10 years ( Garaigordobil 2003b ), the results of the posttest covariance analyses (see Table 8 ) highlighted a significantly positive impact of the program. In social development, it promoted (1) an increase in altruistic prosocial behavior as the scores in competitive and betrayal behaviors, whose purpose is to achieve greater individual benefits at the expense of harming the other, decreased; (2) a decrease in non-assertive social behaviors (passive and aggressive) in interactions with peers; and (3) an increase in positive messages towards group members (especially socially valued physical characteristics, cognitive skills, prosocial behaviors, skills for various activities, etc.) and a decrease in negative messages (referring to intellectual difficulties, socially depreciated physical characteristics, lack of skills for activities, negative personality characteristics, insults, etc.). With regard to affective-emotional development, the program promoted an improvement (1) of the global self-concept, especially in relation to the social and affective self-concept. In terms of cognitive development, there was also a significant increase in (1) verbal creativity (fluency, flexibility, originality) and (2) graphic-figurative creativity (fluency, flexibility, originality, connectivity, abreaction, fantasy). The effect size was large in the following variables: altruistic behavior, assertive behavior, communication (positive and negative messages), verbal creativity (fluency, flexibility, originality), and graphic creativity (fantasy). A medium effect size was found in many variables such as: social behavior (aggressive, passive, helping), self-concept (social and global), and graphic creativity (fluency, originality, connectivity, abreaction). These results validated the program ( Garaigordobil 1995 , 1996 , 1999b , 2014 ), and the design and evaluation of the program received the “First National Prize for Educational Research 1994” awarded by the Ministry of Education and Science ( Garaigordobil 1996 ).

The results of the posttest covariance analyses (see Table 9 ) in the experimental validation of the program for children aged 10 to 12 years ( Garaigordobil 2004a ) showed a significantly positive effect of the program on a variety of variables. From the point of view of social development, it stimulated (1) an increase in the social behaviors of respect for the rules of sociability and self-control of impulses, social leadership behaviors associated with the spirit of service and popularity; (2) assertive behaviors in interactions with peers; (3) prosocial behaviors (evaluated by parents); (4) the image of the group members perceived as more prosocial and creative; (5) assertive cognitive social interaction strategies; and (6) a decrease in aggressive behaviors in peer interactions and (7) in antisocial and delinquent behaviors. From the point of view of affective-emotional development, the program promoted (1) an increase in emotional stability and (2) an improvement in total and creative self-concept. In cognitive development, a positive impact of the program was confirmed in (1) verbal intelligence (verbal IQ); (2) verbal creativity (originality); (3) graphic-figurative creativity (abreaction, originality, and elaboration); as well as (4) an increase in creative personality behaviors and traits (self-evaluation and evaluation of teachers) ( Garaigordobil 2005b , 2005c , 2005d , 2006 , 2008 ). The effect size was large in the following variables: aggressive behavior, assertive social interaction strategies, creative personality (teacher evaluation), verbal creativity (originality), and graphic creativity (abreaction, elaboration, time needed to paint a creative picture). A medium effect size was also found in many variables, such as social behavior, antisocial behavior, delinquent behavior, self-control behavior, prosocial behavior evaluated by parents and peers, self-concept, emotional instability, creative personality (self-assessment), creative behavior (peer evaluation), and the graphic creativity of a picture (originality). The work received the “First National Prize for Educational Research 2003”, awarded by the Ministry of Education and Science ( Garaigordobil 2005b ).

The results obtained in the successive studies confirmed the positive effects of the Game Programs on various social, emotional, intellectual, and psychomotor factors of child development, validating this line of psychological intervention based on cooperative and creative play for the development of children’s personalities from ages 4 to 12 years. These results provide empirical evidence of the relevance of cooperative-creative play in child development and validate game programs to promote child development in educational, family, and therapeutic contexts.

4. Conclusions and Discussion

These results point in the same direction as other studies that confirmed the positive effects of play on various factors of social, emotional, and psychomotor development ( Andueza and Lavega 2017 ; Blazic 1986 ; Brownell et al. 2002 ; Carlson 1999 ; Cuesta Cañadas et al. 2016 ; Garcia 2021 ; Guerreros 2021 ; Guevara and Ubillus 2019 ; Grineski 1989 ; Beltrán 2007 ; Lavega et al. 2014 ; Navarro-Patón et al. 2019 ; Mender et al. 1982 ; Mikami et al. 2005 ; Miralles et al. 2017 ; Ochoa 2019 ; Orlick 1981 ; Orlick et al. 1978 ; Orlick and Foley 1979 ; Valencia 2010 ; van der Aalsvoort and van der Leeden 2009 ; Vega 2018 ; Zanandrea 1998 ) and also ratify the results of the recent review ( Garaigordobil 2022 ) that shows the positive effects of play on the development of intelligence and creativity.

The work of the design, implementation, and evaluation of the four Game Programs, which have been developed for more than two decades, provides empirical evidence of the contributions of play to integral child development. This line of research allows us to conclude that play, cooperation, and creativity are relevant activities for child development, providing empirical evidence of the important contributions of cooperative-creative play to psychomotor, intellectual, social, and affective-emotional development. In addition, the results ratify the perspective of many psychology and education professionals who emphasize the inclusion of ludic group activities as a preventive and developmental instrument in clinical and educational contexts.

The effects of the programs on the different variables of social, emotional, psychomotor, and intellectual development are derived, on the one hand, from the characteristics of the games themselves and, on the other hand, from the emphasis that is made during the debates of the game sessions. In these phases, we reflect on the satisfaction generated by receiving positive messages about oneself, as well as on the moral damage and its impact on one’s behavior of perceiving negative messages about oneself. It also reflects on the benefits of cooperating versus competing, the difficulties of working in a group, or the pleasure of creating, etc., thereby stimulating cognitive and moral development with their consequent implications on behavior and development. In addition, in these debates, the adult who directs the intervention values and reinforces the prosocial behaviors observed in the course of the session, the expression of feelings, the creativity of the ludic products elaborated cooperatively, etc., and all this promotes positive behavioral, cognitive, and emotional change.

The results obtained when evaluating the intervention programs, on the one hand, ratify many of the hypotheses proposed and, on the other hand, are consistent with various investigations carried out on children’s play ( Lillard 2017 ; Russ and Schafer 2006 ). In the same direction as other research, these studies confirm the positive role of play, especially friendly, cooperative, and creative play, in child development and intragroup relationships within the school context. Recent research that has used adapted versions of the interventions presented in the present study has shown us how children can develop creative thinking and more positive emotional states ( Celume et al. 2019b ) and can deploy various emotional competencies, such as the identification of emotions and collaboration ( Celume et al. 2020 ). The successive works carried out validate the programs designed and provide a tool for psychological interventions based on cooperative-creative play to develop personality during childhood. They emphasize the importance of including structured ludic experiences in the school curriculum to promote communication, empathy, prosocial behavior (behaviors of helping, cooperating, sharing), and creativity and prevent violence.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the professors and students who collaborated in these studies, without whose contribution these projects would not have been possible.

Funding Statement

The research of the Game program 10–12 years was funded by the Research Vicerectorate of the University of the Basque Country (1/UPV 00006.231-H-13945/2001) and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture (BOE 1-1-2004. First National Prize for Educational Research, 2003). The research of the Game program 8–10 years was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (BOE 25-5-1995; First National Prize for Educational Research, 1994). The research of the Game program 4–6 years was funded by the Training and Research Unit of the University of the Basque Country (UFI PSIXXI 11/04).

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, M.G.; methodology, M.G.; validation, M.G., L.B. and M.-P.C.; formal analysis, M.G. and L.B.; investigation, M.G. and L.B.; resources, M.G. and L.B.; data curation, M.G. and L.B.; writing—original draft preparation, M.G., L.B. and M.-P.C.; writing—review and editing, M.G., L.B. and M.-P.C.; visualization, M.G.; supervision, M.G.; project administration, M.G. and L.B.; funding acquisition, M.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study met the ethical values required in research with human beings, respecting the fundamental principles included in the Helsinki Declaration in its latest version and in the active rules: informed consent and right to information, protection of personal data, and guarantees of confidentiality, non-discrimination, gratuity, and the possibility of dropping out of the study in any of its phases.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all parents of the participants involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Supporting the Development of Creativity

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By: Laurel Bongiorno

A three year old sits at the kitchen table extremely focused on his art.

He’s gathered white paper, a glue bottle, scissors, small bits of colored paper, tissue paper, and finger paint from his own special art box. He chooses which paper to cut and which to tear. He intently glues each small item to the white paper, creating a collage. He then finger paints bright red all around his gluing, creating a framed-effect.  With delight, he shows his sister his creation, and begins to make another piece of art.

A four-year-old waits for instructions while her mother gathers materials for her to create a flower basket.

Her mom places a piece of large white paper, a glue bottle, a pair of scissors and small pieces of tissue paper on the table and says, “Okay, you can make this however you want --- BUT the basket is the base and I cut that for you, and then the tissue papers pieces are the flowers.  Let me show you how to tear the tissue paper.”  The four-year-old pastes the basket in place and glues the flowers, creating the basket of flowers as planned.  She shows her mother what she’s made and says, “Is this right?”

These examples show two very different types of art experiences.  In the first, a process art experience, the child has many opportunities to explore the materials, think, express himself, and create. The second is a product focused art experience where the child follows directions given to her to make a predetermined end product.

These two types of art experiences don’t support children’s development in the same ways. It's important to know the difference in order to offer children art experiences that support their creativity, enjoyment of art, thinking skills, and healthy development.

Process Art Experiences Support Many Aspects of Children’s Development

Physical Development:  Your child’s small motor skills develop as he glues, draws, paints, and plays with clay or homemade dough.  Small motor skills are important for future writing.

Language & Literacy Development:  As you talk with your child her vocabulary expands when you name new art materials, tools, and concepts such as  scissors ,  collage ,  purple ,  wide ,  sticky , and  smooth . Your child often tells you about the ideas she’s expressing through the art and this type of conversation supports literacy development.

Social and Emotional Development:   There is joy and self-exploration in self-expression. Art supports the development of self-regulation and self-control as your child focuses, makes choices, and feels successful.  The ability to focus is important to future school success.

Product Art Experiences Do Not Support Rich Learning

Product art offers children a few learning opportunities (following directions and developing small motor control) but does not offer the rich opportunities for cognitive, language, and social and emotional development open ended art experiences offer.

Clues To Identifying Product and Process Art

Product Art:

• Your child follows a sample, pattern, or model and follows instructions
• Adults know in advance what the artwork will look like
• There's a right way and a wrong way
• Adults feel the need to "fix" the art
• Patterns and cut-outs are easily available online

Process Art:

• There's no sample, pattern, or model
• Your child explores lots of interesting materials
• Adults have no idea what children will create
• There's no right or wrong way to do the art
• Children are relaxed and focused
• Your child wants to do more
• The art is truly an "original" every time

In addition,  children react differently  to these two types of art experiences.

Children doing  product art  might say:

• "Can I be done now?"
• "Is this right?"
• "Mine doesn't look right."
• "I can't do this!"

Children doing  process art  might say:

• "Can I have more time?"
• "Can I have more paper?
• "Is there any yellow?"
• "I want to make another one"

Parents Can Offer Exploratory Process Art Experiences:

• Provide a place for art materials such as a special bin or drawer
• Save recycled materials (like magazines) children can later use to create collages
• Include watercolor paints, finger paints, and offer brushes and interesting painting tools such as toothbrushes and potato mashers 
• Offer many drawing materials like markers, crayons, and colored pencils of different sizes
• Have lots of blank paper (rather than coloring books)
• Include tape, glue, and scissors
• Make homemade dough and offer clay
• Try art outside – use natural materials like leaves in art projects or paint outside for a change of setting

Dr. Laurel Bongiorno , Dean of the Division of Education and Human Studies at Champlain College, writes and presents on a variety of early care and education topics -- play as learning, parents' and teachers' understanding of play, process art, and early childhood leadership.  She is a past president of the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children.

Creative Arts and Music

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Promoting creativity in early childhood education

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliation Department of Preschool Education, Faculty of Education, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

Affiliation Preschool Teacher, Ministry of National Education, Alanya, Turkey

• Yakup Yildirim, 
• Yeşim Yilmaz

• Published: December 6, 2023
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915
• Reader Comments

This study aims to find out the opinions and experience of teachers and teacher candidates on promoting creativity and creative thinking in the early childhood stage within the scope of the current preschool educational program. The method of the study is the basic qualitative research design. The study group consists of 25 preschool teachers employed in the province of Alanya in the city of Antalya, and 25 preschool teacher candidates who were students in their 3 rd and 4 th year at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Education. Open-ended questionnaire form was used for getting the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates. The data was analyzed within the principles of content analysis. According to the results of the study, statements on the prominence of creative thinking mainly emphasized the child being able to express her/his emotions and thoughts effectively, developing the child’s problem-solving skills, forming cause- effect relationships, and being able to create a different point of view towards events and situations. As for developing creative thinking, the opinions that come to the forefront are going on trips with the children, conducting art activities, focusing on drama activities, conducting science and maths activities based on research, and motivating children to create authentic products with different materials. On the whole, teachers and teacher candidates expressed that the present preschool educational program has positive contributions to promoting creative thinking in children.

Citation: Yildirim Y, Yilmaz Y (2023) Promoting creativity in early childhood education. PLoS ONE 18(12): e0294915. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915

Editor: Prabhat Mittal, Satyawati College (Eve.), University of Delhi, INDIA

Received: September 14, 2023; Accepted: November 10, 2023; Published: December 6, 2023

Copyright: © 2023 Yildirim, Yilmaz. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All "Promoting Creativity in Early Childhood" files are available from the openicpsr database (accession number(s) https://www.openicpsr.org/openicpsr/project/195022/version/V1/view , https://doi.org/10.3886/E195022V1 .).

Funding: The author(s) received no funding for this work.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

What kind of atmospheres and situations in class and out of class should we create or what should we do to discover and promote the real potential of children? We have tried to seek answers to these questions from those closest to the child. Creativity may emerge when the child has the opportunity to combine different experiences in appropriate situations especially in the preschool period. This may sometimes display itself while creating a solution to a simple problem or when obtaining new knowledge by using higher skills. Creating an environment which enables the child to develop a new point of view is a leading element of creativity. Preschool is a stage during which the creativity of the child is at its peak as they have unlimited imagination.

The preschool stage, which is defined as the stage from birth to the time the child starts primary education, and a time when the child acquires the psychomotor, social- emotional, cognitive and linguistic development that will play an important role in children’s life, and a developmental and educational process during which the character of the child is shaped with the education provided by the parents and pre- school institutions [ 1 – 6 ] is the most critical period in life as it affects the future life of the child in terms of knowledge, skills, gaining habits and developing these traits. The preschoolperiod is a stage when mental development and synaptic connections are experienced the fastest and highest [ 7 ]. Mental development plays an important role during the preschool stage for the cognitive, linguistic, motor, social and emotional development of children.

Children grow rapidly in the preschool stage—the first six years of their life display rapid results in developmental areas [ 8 ]. This enables the child to realise herself/himself and become a productive member of society. The preschool period is the stage which is most affected by environmental factors. In this respect, the environment affects the preschool child and facilitates learning motivation for children who are in this stage. The child’s ability to discover and learn is closely related to how supportive the child’s environment is, and which opportunities are presented to the child [ 7 ].

The child, who matures and becomes competent rapidly, realises her/his own potential and starts to become a productive individual. Creativity has a prominent impact on how the child develops herself/ himself. Creativity and judgement skills enable individuals to consider problems using different views, to create new products as well as enabling them to reach a decision by forming cause- effect relationships [ 9 ]. It is necessary to create new ideas and consider events in a different way, and create new solutions to a problem. It is also important to respect different ideas [ 10 ]. It is going beyond the presented knowledge in order tocreate something authentic by using methods which are not traditional. It is defined as the skill to create innovative and authentic solutions to problematic situations by realizing problems and shortcomings within the light of experiences [ 11 ], and it may be said that it makes the child self- confident and independent and enables her/ him to develop herself/ himself and the environment, makes the child responsible towards her/his environment, makes them productive and sensitive individuals. Creativity can be enhanced by creating connections between similar or different areas [ 12 ]. Preschool children may activate their creative thinking skills when they use an object for a different purpose, when they find an extraordinary solution to a problem, while displaying motor skills, when day dreaming, while forming an emotional relationship with a peer or an adult, or in other situations which require a creative process [ 13 ].

Children who have suitable conditions for using and practicing their creative thinking actively may strengthen their cognitive skills. These conditions also contribute to the children’s social skills development such as discovering their emotions and values, understanding their own cultures and other cultures, thinking, and communicating with others [ 14 ]. Thus, different teaching approaches that will increase children’s motivation and cultural understanding could support creativity [ 15 ].

Creativity is a phenomenon needed and used in all stages of life, is a prominent factor in the development and advancement of society. In societies which have individuals who have high levels of creativity and who can use creative thinking effectively, the level of welfare increases and the opportunities for people depending on their interests and talents are equally higher. There is a positive relationship between the educational backgrounds of people and the increase in their creativity. In order to maintain progress, guarantee advancement and to have a good place in life, individuals need to get the opportunities to strengthen creativity both in the family and at home starting from the preschool stage. In an educational environment which is based on rote learning and which is teacher- centred, promoting creativity and creative thinking is more difficult compared to a child-centred environment [ 16 ].

Teachers who can create a child-centred environment and processes in which the children can develop their creativity contribute to the development of the children in all aspects as well as playing a prominent role in the progress and development of the society in which the children live. Thus, along with the development of creativity and creative thinking, some inventions result in increase in production and the economic situation of the society. Similarly, life standards increase in a society which has a developing economy. Consequently, promoting creativity in a society which lacks productive skills can be difficult [ 17 ]. The technological infrastructure, knowledge and skills of integrating technology into teaching and learning practices, and students’ creative skills of using technology is essential to promote higher thinking skills (i.e. creativity) [ 18 ].

Individuals who can think creatively become individuals who are open to change as they can adapt to the rapidly changing world. There is a positive correlation between the level of development in a country and the creativity and creative skills of the people in that society. In order to promote the development of a country, the development of creativity should be facilitated by focusing on production and innovation in different areas [ 19 ]. The adaptive skills may involve having cultural understanding of inclusive education, not only integrating children into the classroom, but also having a teaching program that will support children with special educational needs in creativity [ 20 ].

To promote creativity and creative thinking important skills for both the individual and the society, families and teachers have important roles. The family also has a prominence for developing creativity and creative thinking in children along with teachers. There are differences between the educational backgrounds of families, and this may hinder creativity in some situations. Families may be asked to help children concerning this topic by offering training to parents and educating them on creativity and creative thinking [ 21 ]. It is seen that children whose creativity is supported in the family environment offer different ways of solutions while expressing their emotions and thoughts, discover new games, are curious and are interested in travelling and observation [ 16 ].

Teachers and families may offer opportunities to children to promote their creativity and creative thinking by considering the traits that preschool children display. As the way each individual shows her/ his creative potential, and the way this potential is supported may display differences. The opinions of teachers and teacher candidates on how they discover and support the creativity of children is very important. Therefore the best way to understand these thoughts is to analyze the explanatory information they would express qualitatively. The aim of this study is to determine the prominence of creativity in preschool education, to determine the creative skills of children as well as making evaluations on what kind of studies should be conducted to develop creativity, and to determine methods and suggestions on developing creative thinking. For this purpose, answers were sought to the following questions:

• Why are creativity and creative thinking important in preschool education?
• What should we do to promote the creativity and creative thinking of children in the preschool stage?
• What are your in-class and out of class activities that you use to promote the creativity and creative thinking of preschool children?
• How did the 2013 Preschool Education Programme contribute to the development of creativity and creative thinking of children?

Materials and method

The research design.

This study, which has been conducted to determine strategies to promote creative thinking in the preschool stage, and to create suggestions for solutions, used the basic qualitative research design, which is a qualitative research pattern. Basic qualitative research aims to find out how participants comprehend their experiences within the scope of the topic studied, and which meanings they place on their experiences [ 22 ]. Thus, this method was preferred in this study in order to determine feelings, thoughts, perceptions and experiences of teachers and teacher candidates on the prominence of creativity and the promotion of creative thinking in the preschool stage, and to study their opinions in more detail. The open-ended questionnaire template which was developed to get written opinions was used for data collection. A comprehensive literature review was conducted for the study to reach its aims. In addition, the conceptual structure of the subject was stated within the framework of the aims and limitations of the study. Following that, open ended questionnaire forms were prepared for both teachers and teacher candidates as appropriate to the aims of the study. Thus, the purpose was to study in detail the awareness of the participants on the prominence of creativity in the preschool stage and developing creativity as well as the methods they used for this purpose.

The study group

The study group consists of preschool teachers who are employed at preschools in the province of Alanya in the city of Antalya, and preschool teacher candidates who were students in their 3rd and 4th year at Akdeniz University, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Teaching. The 25 preschool teachers and 25 teacher candidates who met this criteria and who participated in the study group were determined by using the purposive sampling method [ 23 ]. The main purpose for preferring this sampling method is that the participants are chosen according to certain criteria determined by the researchers beforehand [ 24 ]. When choosing the participants among the teacher candidates attending their third and fourth year at university, the main determining factor was that they had taken the classes which were ‘creativity, school experience and/ or teaching practice’. Another point which was given priority during the study was ensuring that preshool teachers and teacher candidates gave sincere answers to the questions which were included in the data collection tool, and which were directed towards the experiences and practices of the participants. For this reason, special care was taken to make sure that the preschool teachers participating in the study had spent a certain amount of time working with the children so that they were able to get to know the children better, and that they could express their experiences more clearly. In addition, special care was taken to ensure that the professional seniority of the teachers were different from each other and that met the desired criteria in terms of seniority (See. Table 1 ). The data on the professional seniority of the preschool teachers participating in the study are presented in the table below:

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t001

Data collection tools

When the data collection tool of the research was being prepared, the related regulations and the Ministry of Education Preschool Educational Program [ 7 ] was studied as well as the related literature review. As a result of the theoretical knowledge in the related literature and the interviews conducted with experts, ‘open-ended questions were prepared’ in order to determine the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates for the aims of the study. The steps to develop the data collection tool is listed in Table 2 . Due to the pandemic, the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates were obtained using online methods. After the subject and aims of the study were explained to teachers and teacher candidates, open-ended online questionaire forms were sent to volunteers, and they were asked to answer the questions in the data collection tool. The participants were told that it was prominent that they put emphasis on their personal experiences and pay attention to their practices or future practices while offering suggestions. The first part of the data collection tool includes the personal information of teachers and teacher candidates. The second part of the data collection tool focuses on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage. The third part contains what should be done in order to promote creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage while the fourth part focuses on in- class and out of class activities that affect creativity and creative thinking. The fifth part includes the suggestions of preschool teachers and teacher candidates on the contribution of Preschool Educational Program on the development of creativity and creative thinking in children.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t002

The data collection stage and ethical procedure

During the data collection process, it was stated that teachers and teacher candidates were to pay attention to certain criteria while filling in the open-ended questionnaire forms.

• The open-ended questionnaires were sent to teachers via online methods as it was impossible to conduct face-to-face interviews with the participants because of the pandemic. These open-ended questionnaire were conducted between March 15 th 2021 and June 28 th 2021.
• Before filling in the open-ended questionnaire forms, written consent form was signed by adult participants to make sure that they are aware of the ethical issues.
• Each teacher and candidate teacher was told that that codings would be used instead of their names, and that their real names would not be used so as to ensure that the participants would answer the research questions sincerely.
• The data obtained in the pilot study was not included in the final findings of the study.
• - Teacher 1 (T1)   - Teacher Candidate 1 (TC1)
• - Teacher 2 (T2)   - Teacher Candidate 2 (TC2)

This study is approved by Social Sciences and Humanities Scientific Research and Publication Ethics Committee of Akdeniz University.

Data analysis

The content analysis method was used for analyzing the study data of the participants in the open-ended questionnaire form by applying a child-centred data analysis method (see Fig 1 ). The main purpose of content analysis is to reach concepts and connections that would assist in explaining the comprehensive data obtained in the study. Data, which is summarized descriptively and commented on broadly, is studied in detail using content analysis, and new concepts and connections are discovered. The basic process here is to gather related data within the framework of specific themes and concept and present the data in a meaningful and organized way [ 24 , 25 ]. The themes were created according to the results of the analysis obtained using content analysis. The codes that emerged during creating the themes were presented to the opinion of an expert for reliability (Reliability = consensus / consensus + disagreement) as suggested by Miles and Huberman [ 26 ]. The reliability of the experts and researchers for the relationship between the codes and the themes was calculated as 89%. The themes which were created were presented as items in findings, and the information on the preschool educational program and regulations were added to the end of each theme in order to compare the data obtained from participants for each theme. Statements were presented in the findings of the study in order to maintain the reliability of the study.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.g001

This part presents the findings obtained from the participants within the framework of the themes of the study. Themes and subthemes were analysed by presenting the tables for the subthemes of each theme. The findings of both preschool teachers and teacher candidates were presented after the tables.

Theme 1. Awareness on creativity

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on Theme 1

When Table 3 is studied, it is observed that preschool teachers participating in the study mentioned the following categories on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage:

• a) The relationship between imagination and creativity enables the child to express her/ his thoughts
• b) It enables the child to gain communicative skills
• c) It develops the child’s problem-solving skills
• d) It enables the child to create cause- effect relationships
• e) It enhances the child’s curiosity and the wish to discover
• f) Contributes to scientific research
• g) Enables the child to develop a different point of view
• h) It provides hands-on learning to the child

It may be said that the categories least mentioned by the teachers are that it makes each child feel special, it enables self-realization, and it contributes to the social skills development of the child.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t003

A general evaluation on subthemes of the first theme

When the opinions of preschool teachers on the theme ‘the prominence of creativity and creative thinking’, are studied it is observed that teachers believe that creativity and creative thinking develop the most when children use their imagination and the power of thought, and that the preschool stage was a very important stage for developing these skills as their imagination is at its peak during the preschool stage. When the teachers were stating their opinions on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage, they focused on the fact that it would help children to express their emotions and thoughts, and help them in gaining communicative skills. They have also stated that the problem-solving skills of children would develop, and that they could understand cause- effect relationships between events in this way. Examples for the teachers’ opinions on the first theme and its subthemes are presented as follows:

• Creative thinking and using imagination. This stage, in which imagination is unlimited, is a stage that should not be missed to promote creativity and creative thinking skills. For most children, creativity is at its peak before the age of six (T1).
• The preschool stage is a world during which imagination and cognitive skills are unlimited. Developing this world starts with discovering the creative thinking of the child (T14).
• It is important because the children can learn to express themselves (T19).
• Children who have creative thinking skills also develop their communication skills (T23).
• It is important to promote creative thinking so that they can find authentic solutions to problems (T8).
• Helping students to form cause- effect relationships plays a very important role in children’s discovering their talents. Children who have creative thinking skills also develop their skills for communication, problem solving, practice, following instructions, and starting and maintaining projects (T23).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the First Theme

The opinions of teacher candidates’ preschool children on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in preschool children are presented below:

When Table 4 is studied, it may be said that the preschool teacher candidates participating in the study mostly focused on the following categories on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking in preschool education:

• It helps the child to create a different point of view
• It develops the problem-solving skills of the child
• It affects the child’s life
• It develops the child’s imagination
• Creativity and creative thinking are very important in the preschool stage

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t004

The categories least mentioned by teacher candidates for the theme ‘the prominence of creativity and creative thinking’ were the following:

• It enables the child to discover and get to know herself/ himself
• It contributes to the developmental aspects of the child
• Creativity contributes to the child’s learning
• It helps us to understand the child
• It enables the child to express her/ his feelings and thoughts

A general evaluation of the subthemes of the first theme

In their opinions on the theme ‘awareness for creativity’ teacher candidates drew attention to the fact that creativity and creative thinking was an important factor in helping the child realize her/ his potential, and in strengthening the child’s self-realization. Teacher candidates, who focused on the fact that creativity and creative thinking developed the imagination and the potential of the child, also mentioned the contribution of creativity and creative thinking on the social and cultural life of the child. The fact that creative thinking makes life easier for the child and would provide proactive conditions to the child in social life and in problematic situations in the future is the opinion of teacher candidates that stands out in the subthemes of the first theme. Example statements of teacher candidates that express that developing creativity and creative thinking presents positive contributions to different developmental aspects of the child are as follows:

• If we can help them to discover their creativity and develop this potential in this stage, they may create more practical solutions to situations they may experience in the future and have different content (TC4).
• The schemes created by the child in this stage contributes to the child’s creativity in the future (TC1).
• The child discovers and gets to know herself/ himself with creative thinking (TC2).
• The child may discover herself / himself by thinking differently (TC9).
• It is important as they can find different and authentic solutions to problems they may encounter throughout their lives (TC17).
• The activities which are used during this stage affect the creative skills of the child in the coming years (TC12).
• It is effective for the cognitive, social, emotional, and psychomotor development of the child (TC11).

Theme 2. Promoting creativity

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on Second Theme

Table 5 presents the suggestions and the subthemes created by preschool teachers for the theme ‘promoting creativity’. Preschool teachers suggested creating environments in which the child can ask questions and express herself/ himself, providing them with creative environments, having structured activities, motivating children for creative thinking by asking them open-ended questions, creating environments that would arouse interest, designing activities and games, and enabling children to discover themselves and their environment for promoting creativity. When the sub themes for the second theme are studied, the topics least mentioned by teachers were that they need to discover the inner world of the child, conducting attention and coding activities, and giving children some responsibilities in the family.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t005

A general evaluation of the subthemes of the second theme

The suggestion most emphasized by teachers for promoting creativity in the preschool stage is the need for creating an environment that keeps the curiosity of the child active and enables the child to express herself/ himself. It was stated that a process in which children are asked open-ended questions that would make them think would contribute to promoting creative thinking in children. Teachers stated that activities which are not structured and ones which the child could shape using her/ his interest are more functional, and that they are an important factor that supports creativity. It may be said that especially manipulative materials enable children to think in different ways. The prominence of games, the fact that games open the doors to the inner world of children, that children may face different challenges and create authentic solutions through games are among the suggestions of teachers. The following statements of teachers draw attention in their suggestions for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children:

• Creativity develops in environments in which the child can express herself/ himself with self- confidence and show her/ his curiosity (T1).
• Children should be supported to express themselves by asking open-ended questions (T15).
• Open-ended questions, art, music, movement, and dance activities enhance creative expression. They should be given opportunities to create their own stories by looking at illustrations in books. Children may create new objects using their imagination by using games such as puzzles and building blocks. Using play dough may be effective in gaining creative skills by creating the objects in their imagination (T1).
• We may give them different materials and ask them to create new things, or we may give the same materials at different times and expect them to create different things each time (T3).
• We may encourage them to think by asking open-ended questions (T22).
• In order for them to discover creative thinking, games and activities should be designed to increase their curiosity (T2).
• Children should be provided environments that can arouse their curiosity. We should trigger their curiosity by offering opportunities for play and give them a chance to experience their creativity (T10).
• We should open a door to their inner world by using games and determine their needs (T5).
• We should not stereotype them while they are making these discoveries (T16).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers Candidate on the Second Theme

The opinions of preschool teacher candidates on promoting creativity and creative thinking in preschool stage children are presented below:

When Table 6 , which presents the suggestions of teacher candidates for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children, is studied, the suggestion that is most emphasized is the need to offer an environment of freedom to the children. It is emphasized that creating a rich environment by presenting different materials to children is another important factor that promotes children’s creativity. Another major opinion of teacher candidates for the second theme is creating authentic activities for children and providing hands-on learning.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t006

A general evaluation of subthemes for the second theme

Creating a suitable environment in which the child can think freely was greatly emphasized by teacher candidates as a suggestion for promoting creativity and creative thinking in children. Having different materials that motivate children to think in a different way may be stated as another suggestion that supports creative thinking. Example suggestions by teacher candidates for adding variety to materials, the quality of the questions to be asked, the children participating actively in the learning process, guiding children to create solutions to problematic situations are as follows:

• We may design and implement activities in which the children can use their imagination (TC4).
• We must give them opportunities to discover without intervention. We should help them with hands-on learning (TC11).
• We should motivate them to use hands-on learning (TC11).
• We may ask children divergent questions and motivate them to think and develop their creativity (TC7).
• Asking them questions directed at their creativity while conducting activities in class (TC19).
• We must present different stimulus to motivate the child (TC1).
• It may be necessary to conduct different activities with children using different materials. Learning centres at nursery schools are in direct proportion with this topic (TC8).
• We must respect children’s thoughts and ideas and pay attention to what they wish to do (TC13).

Theme 3. Strategies for promoting creativity

• The Thoughts of Preschool Teachers on the Third Theme

Table 7 presents the strategies of preschool teachers for promoting creativity and creative thinking. It is observed that for the third theme the teachers mainly drew attention to the following categories:

• a) Enabling the children to express themselves by asking open-ended questions
• b) Making use of art activities, and using activities different from standard ones
• c) Enabling the children to create authentic products by using different materials
• d) Enabling the students to express their emotions and thoughts individually during Turkish language classes
• e) Using structured and semi-structered activities
• f) Using different methods and techniques in activities
• g) Enabling children to express themselves through drama and game activities
• h) Using science and math activities
• i) Making use of out- of- class activities
• j) Observing children during play and while they are not playing
• k) Motivating children to carry out activities with their families in the home

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t007

A general evaluation of the subthemes for the third theme

Teachers have emphasized that acting according to standard practices for in-class and out-of- class activities for promoting creativity hinders creative thinking, and that it is necessary to conduct activities with which the children can reflect their individual performance to the maximum, either during in-class or out-of- class activities. Teachers mentioned the prominence of trips and observation in out-of- class activities and stated that it would be useful to talk to the children about the activities following practice. They stated that using techniques such as scamper, brainstorming, dramatization that attract the attention of children and enable them to think in a different way in in-class activities should be used. Examples for the teachers’ statements for the third theme and its subthemes are as follows:

• Asking children for their opinions, asking open-ended questions, creating a model, praising creative thinking. Organising out-of- school trips and observations, and later chatting to the students about what they have seen and learnt (T8).
• I would encourage them to express themselves by asking open-ended questions during in-class activities and out-of- school activities (T2).
• I would make them create products using their creativity by using natural materials such as fabric, pinecones and twigs during art activities (T15).
• During classes I use techniques such as games, drama, scamper, and brainstorming (T8).
• I introduced them to activities that would motivate them to do research and create what they think. (STEM activities, coding, algorithm, recycling, ecology and nature activities, the Young Inventor and his Inventions, drama and the Orff approach, audio stories, games, scamper activities etc.) (T16).
• We frequently make use of experiments and maths activities (T1).
• Patterns with buttons of different sizes, measuring the length of objects, finding pairs, ordering, making comparisons. Science and nature studies in the garden, creating appropriate environments for them to study and discover stones and leaves (T10).
• They should be allowed to act freely and flexibly in the classroom without being dependent on a model, with the guidance of the teacher (T7).
• Preparing comprehensive activity plans that enhance creativity instead of steoretype activities (T17).
• Families should accept that each child in the family is an individual, determine targets parallel to the interests and talents of their children. In addition, they may cooperate with teachers to conduct activities that reinforce the school program and that are related to real life. These activities should be conducted starting from simple to difficult ones, and from the known to the unknown (T23).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the Third Theme

The strategies of preschool teacher candidates on developing creativity and creative thinking in preschool children are presented below:

When Table 8 is studied, it is observed that the strategies most suggested by preschool teacher candidates for promoting creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage are taking children on trips, conducting art activities, carrying out drama activities, making Turkish language activities, conducting maths and science activities, and focusing on activities children have at home with their families. The least mentioned suggestions are not interfering when children are conducting activities, carrying out comprehensive activities with divergent questions, and motivating students to different areas of interest.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294915.t008

Evaluation of the subthemes of the third theme

Giving prominence to activities children conduct with their families attracts a lot of attention among the strategies teacher candidates have suggested for developing creativity. Another major suggestion of teacher candidates is that supporting children with different activities may enable them to think in different ways. Teacher candidates have suggested that motivating children to ask questions, and using techniques that promote creativity such as completing stories may enable children to ask different questions and enhance their creativity. Examples for the statements of teacher candidates are presented below:

• Games to develop the creative sides of children may be designed by using kitchen tools in the home, or parents may make cookies of different shapes with the children (TC5).
• Activities that are mostly based on the choices of children should be conducted. Families should read story books at home with the children, and later ask child to narrate the rest of the story, or ask them to change the ending of the story. Parents may make drawings with the children or may build towers with toys (TC13).
• Drama activities enable children to use creative thinking. These activities develop their way of thinking by causing children to use improvisation (TC3).
• Drama activities may be conducted by planning improvised activities on a certain topic (TC7).

Theme 4. Creativity in the program

• The Opinions of Preschool Teachers on the Fourth Theme

When teachers were asked their opinion on the elements in the preschool educational program that supported the creativity of children, they stated that on the whole, the program enabled children to reflect their individual traits. They have also reported that the flexibility of the program enables them to restructure the program according to the individual differences of children, and that this offers them a chance to support their creativity. It may be said that teachers consider the preschool educational program as one that supports the children’s feeling of discovery and self-awareness. The teachers’ opinions on the fourth theme are presented below:

• It is child-centred. Children experience meaningful hands-on learning instead of rote learning. In this way, creativity is always active. The flexible program enables necessary changes in the educational process depending on daily and momentary changes that may arise. As individualism is the most prominent element, the program is created by taking individual differences into consideration as appropriate to the needs of the children. In this way, the differences, creativity, interests and needs of each child make each children unique (T2).
• The program basically has a structure that supports creativity and aims to strengthen it. However, the shortcomings in practice (physical shortcomings, the attitudes of teachers, the attitudes of school administration and families etc.) makes it difficult to reach goals or hinders it (T6).
• The program enabled the child to participate actively in the learning process, and encouraged the child to learn by asking questions, doing research, making discoveries, and playing games. It offered the children the necessary opportunities to express themselves authentically, and in different ways in environments which are appropriate for the learning needs and learning styles of each child (T16).
• The effect of the 2013 Preschool Program on the development of children’s creativity and creative thinking is great. As it is a flexible program, it enables teachers to plan according to the interests and talents of children, the cultural traits of the environment and the self-awareness of the children (T23).
• It develops the imagination, creative and critical thinking skills of children as well as their communication skills and their potential to express their feelings (T25).
• The Opinions of Preschool Teacher Candidates on the Fourth Theme

When preschool teachers candidate were talking on the advantages of the preschool educational program that supported the creativity of children, they focused on the fact that the program supported the development of children in all aspects. They stated that as the program is student- centred, it is a prominent factor in supporting the children’s creativity. The opinions of teacher candidates on the fourth theme are as follows:

• The 2023 preschool program is a program that considers children with all of their aspects and supports children’s development in all ways. Since this program is student-centred, it gives children the chance to express themselves, and to state their opinions freely. Consequently, this situation contributes positively to children’s creativity (TC5).
• In this program, activities are prepared as student- centred activities as appropriate to the program, and then put into practice. Chatting to the children about the activities prior to practice and asking open-ended questions to children following activities may give us clues on how their creativity is developing (TC7).
• This program contributes to the progress of children’s creativity by enabling the children to receive better education as it leads teachers and candidate to the right path (TC1).
• The 2013 preschool program was prepared by studying different programs that would contribute to different types of development. It includes various activities to facilitate children’s creative thinking, and different types of advice to teachers. Teachers who study the program may become more conscious (TC12).
• Following a certain program, acting within limits is a situation that affects creativity negatively. For this reason, the 2013 preschool program makes limitations to children’s creativity (TC8).

Conclusions and discussions

The themes derived from the findings of the study and the subthemes related to these themes were discussed by taking into consideration the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates within the light of the related literature. In the first theme, which focused on creativity and the prominence of creative thinking, teachers and teacher candidates mentioned aspects of creativity which emphasized the individual traits of children. The fact that creativity is an important factor in bringing up unique individuals draws attention as an important finding, which was also proved by the research that was conducted by Özkan [ 8 ] and which sought answers to the question ‘What is creativity?’. In his study, Özkan [ 8 ] reached the conclusion that a majority of teachers defined creativity as the child expressing himself individually, being able to grasp what is authentic, and producing authentic products. Opinions which state that creativity and creative thinking develops the problem-solving skills of children are the items most mentioned by both teachers and teacher candidates regarding the first theme. Opinions which support that children may develop different points of view towards events and situations are supported by thoughts which state that children are able to express their feelings and thoughts authentically. In teachers’ and teacher candidates’ opinions on the prominence of creativity and creative thinking, it is stated that this skill may also positively affect the social development of children. The opinions of the participants which state that training aimed at promoting creativity will lead to positive results both in terms of cognitive development and other areas of development, distinctly overlap with the study conducted by Karadayı [ 27 ], in which the researcher states that we should focus on creativity and creative thinking during the preschool stage. In his study, Karadayı [ 27 ], studied the effects of creavity education on cognitive processes and the skill to organise emotions, which was given to children aged 5 to 6. It is also stated that creativity education promoted creativity, and the skills to organise cognitive and emotional personality, and reached the conclusion that creativity in the preschool stage was related to both controlled and flexible cognitive skills [ 28 , 29 ]. Opinions within the first theme which stated that creativity enables children to express themselves individually also draw attention to the social aspect of creativity and creative thinking. In fact, there are other studies which present opinions that children in classes of extremely traditional teachers may experience problems expressing themselves, and that this situation may hinder creativity [ 10 ]. If teachers are flexible in their attitudes towards children, and if they pay attention to the individual traits of children, children will be able express themselves easily, and this will strengthen the social function of creativity in children.

Within the second theme, which includes opinions on supporting creativity and creative thinking in children, teachers and teacher candidates mentioned the prominence of techniques that would attract the attention and interest of children during activities conducted with them. Leaving children in the middle of a problematic situation, motivating them to use an object for different purposes or asking them to complete a story are among the practices that may be carried out to support creativity. The participants stated that there are technology-based techniques that can be used to promote creativity in addition to techniques based on communication. Akbaba and Kaya [ 30 ], who pointed out that such techniques may be used to enhance the creativity of children by maintaining their interest and curiosity, conducted research with teachers to promote the thinking skills of children. In this research, preschool teachers stated that they mainly used methods and techniques such as hands- on learning, demonstrations, projects, games, and the question and answer to enable students to achieve thinking skills.

There are the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates which state that using different methods (i.e. arts) to promote creativity and creative thinking in the preschool stage will provide positive contributions [ 31 ]. In their suggestions regarding in class activities and out of class activities to be conducted with children, teachers have concentrated on conducting activities that offer different options to children rather than standard and monotonous activities. Creativity and creative thinking may yield more development when people break the mold. Teachers developing attitudes that enable their students to express themselves comfortably is one of the most important factors that would eliminate the obstacles hindering creativity [ 32 ]. In the findings of the study conducted by Yenilmez and Yolcu [ 10 ] regarding the attitudes of teachers in classes on the promotion of creative thinking skills in children, it was stated that children should be given the opportunity to express their thoughts, and that their thoughts should be respected.

It has been emphasized that families should contribute as much as possible during in class and out of class activities. Supporting the child strongly both in the home and at school is a very important factor that accelerates the development of creativity. Chatting to the children about activities during out of class activities, and asking them open-ended questions about the process may enrich their thinking and their mind. Making suggestions to the family to have this point of view while communicating with the child may give the children an opportunity to enhance their creativity throughout the day. The teachers stated opinions which show that if families participate actively during this process, they may provide positive contributions to the child.

Mutlu and Aktan [ 33 ] stated that educational programs which are directed towards thinking, and with which the teacher, family and children support and complement each other during preschool education should be prepared. The preschool teachers participating in the study also stated that creativity and creative thinking play an important role in activities which the families do with their children.

It is important to include activities that address different senses for activities conducted in the class, and getting the attention of children. In a study conducted earlier [ 8 ] it was found out that a teacher needs to discover the different traits of children by observing them carefully, act as a role model for the child with her / his character, and include music, art, language and game activities in the daily plan that will develop and promote the child’s creativity.

It was stated by teachers and teacher candidates that the preschool educational has a structure that gives the chance to promote creative thinking. The preschool educational program is defined as a child-centred and flexible program which places prominence on research and discovery, and which offers children different activities for learning. The program is a developmental program which places emphasis on creativity as well as family education and family participation [ 7 ].

Teachers and teacher candidates expressed that the flexible structure of the preschool educational program enables them to plan according to the individual traits of children and offers the child more freedom. The fact that the program is student- centred may enable the child to display more creative outcomes.

In a research which was conducted to find out the achievements and the indicators in the program in relation to the skills of the 21 st century, it was emphasized that 5 achievements within a total of 21 in the cognitive delopment part were found to be in relation with the skills of the 21 st century. Similarly, 18 indicators among a total of 113 indicators were found to be in relation with skills of the 21 st century. It was stated that 7 of the achievements in the social- emotional development, 5 items in the cognitive development, and 4 of the items in the achievements in linguistic development were parallel to the skills of the 21 st century. It is stated that the highest achievements in relation with the skills of the 21 st century are the achievements in social- emotional development [ 34 ].

It is also aimed to find out the opinions of teachers and teacher candidates for developing creativity and creative thinking in children, tries to evaluate the opinions of participants using a holistic perspective within the context of the preschool educational program. The following suggestions are made based on the findings of the study:

• Problem solving situations that may enable students to display their creativity should be provided.
• Families should participate more in children’s educational process.
• Teachers should include more activities that strengthen the individual traits of children.
• Resources should be provided to teacher candidates to enhance awareness for promoting creativity in the preschool stage.
• Teachers should develop attitudes that are not traditional in the activities conducted with children, and when communicating with the children, as well as taking individual differences into consideration.

As the study was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was less interaction between the researchers and the participants. Thus, this situation is considered to be the greatest limitation of the study.

Acknowledgments

This article was written based on the master’s thesis titled ‘The Study of the Opinions of Preschool Teachers and Teacher candidates on the Promince and Promotion of Creativity in the Preschool Stage‘ which was prepared by Yeşim Yılmaz under the supervision of Assistant Professor Yakup Yıldırım in 2021, at Akdeniz University, Institute of Educational Sciences.

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Singing the ABC song. Learning the days of the week from a nursery rhyme. Making a finger-painted collage of little handprints. 

Arts education has always been center stage in early education because little children are naturally creative, filled with wonder and the burning desire to express themselves. Arts and crafts not only help nurture a child’s natural imagination, they also boost small motor skills, sharpen hand-eye coordination and feed the insatiable need to play. 

“Children don’t just play, they learn fundamental skills through play,” said Daniel Mendoza, a Placer County-based visual artist and specialist in early childhood education art practices. “Children are in a creative mindset all the time.”

While this may well be as true for teenagers as it is for toddlers, there is far more time and space allotted for playfulness in the early grades, when the crucial role of play in particular and creativity in general has long been a matter of common sense.

“Really, I’m just a common-sense professor, and somehow it became rogue,” said Kathryn Hirsh-Pasek, a professor of psychology at Temple University and an expert in the key role of play in learning. “What if we taught children the way we know the brain learns?”

Bringing joy back into the classroom is also what motivates Cindy Hoisington, an early childhood expert who specializes in reaching out to children from historically marginalized communities at the Education Development Center (EDC), a national education nonprofit.

“This is not anything new, knowing that play is so critical to children, whether it’s dramatic play, building play, creative arts play or physical play,” said Hoisington, a STEM expert who taught preschool for decades . “ But as soon as they hit kindergarten and first grade, there’s this dichotomy that sets in. Play is something you get to do after you do the learning when, in fact, we know that play is an incredible vehicle for learning.”

Play, some experts suggest, may be the superpower of the young. A growing body of research suggests that play may even be a way to help close achievement gaps. One report , analyzing 26 studies from 18 countries, found that in communities from Rwanda to Ethiopia, children got higher learning boosts in literacy, motor skills and social-emotional development when attending child care centers that use a mix of instruction and free play as opposed to those focused solely on academics.

“Children are so naturally, intuitively ready with their curiosity, their motivation to explore the world and everything in it, to the point where that’s why the twos are so terrible, because you’re constantly chasing after them,”  said Hoisington, who helps evaluate digital media for PBS. “Science, for instance, tends to have a bad rap as this dry body of knowledge that we have to learn, but really it’s a process of exploration that is very much integral with play.”

Tapping into that spirit of discovery with hands-on experiences is often best, experts say. Curiosity burns brightest in the early years, so letting kids loose to investigate the world is part of building a rich, play-based learning environment.

“Where young children are free to investigate by observing, touching and acting on the objects in their world,” said Deborah Stipek, an expert in early childhood at Stanford University.  “This is how they learn about the world — for example, that some objects float and some sink. Through their own experimentation and observation, they may even arrive at hypotheses about the qualities that differentiate the two.” 

From “The Wheels on the Bus” to “Baby Shark,” kiddos love to sing and love to learn, so why not teach through music? Singing the “Old MacDonald had a Farm” song can be educational, experts say, as well as a ritual for community building. Children can take turns deciding on which animal to pick, which builds vocabulary as well as sharing skills.

“Young children learn best by doing,” said Stipek. “Counting objects is better than counting dots on a worksheet because they can move the objects to help them keep track of how many they have counted. Worksheets are not all bad. They can provide opportunities to practice and consolidate skills. But children don’t develop new skills doing worksheets, and they are typically not nearly as engaging and fun.”

Tracing the alphabet in shaving cream or making tin-foil sculptures may seem like basic exercises, but they often teach sophisticated concepts. Playing make-believe games can teach numerous skills at once. Pretend restaurants need someone to write a menu, calculate a bill and greet diners, fostering literacy, numeracy and special-emotional learning all in one game, Hoisington notes.

Songs are a clever way to remember stuff because they make memorization easy and fun for littles ones. Melodies and rhymes make the most of our limited working memory to help children embed basic facts into their long-term memory, bolstering depth of cognition. 

“I still sing the ABC song in my head sometimes, if I want to know which letter comes before which letter,” admits Hoisington.

What’s often missed in the discussion of the role of play is that older children also need time for creativity and free play, as well as the arts. While there is much talk about the need to engage students, there is little focus on low-hanging fruit like increasing time for arts, sports and recess. Putting too much emphasis on academic skills in isolation undercuts the love of learning, some warn.

“Kids try to buck it, but certainly by first grade we’ve started to ruin them,” said Hirsh-Pasek. “We pound the curiosity right out of kids.”

Mendoza firmly believes teachers should be guides to adventure instead of taskmasters. 

“You don’t have to be a dictator,” as he puts it, “you can be a Sherpa.”

So, why doesn’t the role of play get more respect in education? Why do we emphasize test scores over deep learning?

“We got to this place because people are scared,” said Hirsh-Pasek. “They’re feeling like they’re losing control, and they want to make sure their kid is ahead. We push it younger and younger and younger, and as we do that, we’re creating a situation where our kids are anxious wrecks and the parents are anxious wrecks.”

Too few teachers and parents are aware that play helps build the architecture of the growing brain, experts say.

“Play is not frivolous; it enhances brain structure and function and promotes executive function (i.e., the process of learning, rather than the content), which allow us to pursue goals and ignore distractions,” as an American Academy of Pediatrics report put it. “When play and safe, stable, nurturing relationships are missing in a child’s life, toxic stress can disrupt the development of executive function and the learning of prosocial behavior; in the presence of childhood adversity, play becomes even more important.”

Some experts fear that the laser focus on falling test scores in recent years has led to a decrease in playful learning. They suggest that children need more time for play in the wake of the pandemic, not less. Amid the crisis of chronic absenteeism, engaging students on a compelling level may be more vital than ever.

Creativity is the secret formula, experts say, in a world where machines will always compute faster than humans. Drill and kill won’t help children master high-level intellectual inquiry and conceptual analysis.

“You have to ask yourself, what’s it going to take to outsmart the robots?” as Hirsh-Pasek put it. “We need kids who don’t just memorize and take tests well, which AI will do better than our kids ever will. We need kids to be explorers and problem solvers.”

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Bob Capriles 3 days ago 3 days ago

As I read this article, I was reminded of the Pixar movie, Monsters, Inc. Initially, the “monsters” scare to capture energy. Later they discover that laughter creates much more energy. Perhaps play, more so than academic skills, is what will move our world forward.

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Effects of a Creativity-Enhancement Intervention on Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Creativity in Computing Education

• Original Paper
• Open access
• Published: 07 September 2024

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• Elena Novak   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0873-2081 1 ,
• Chia-Ling Kuo 1 ,
• Janet Lynne Tassell 2 &
• Grace Morris 1  

Recently, creativity has been acknowledged for its importance in improving computer science learning and attitudes. However, very little is known about how to integrate creativity in preservice teacher computing education. Toward this end, we developed a creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module to introduce preservice elementary teachers ( N = 76) to the ideas of creativity in the context of computing education. Using a pre-/posttest quasi-experimental design, we examined the effects of the creativity-enhancement intervention on participants’ person-, process-, and Scratch product-related creativity compared to the same curriculum that did not include the creativity-enhancement intervention. Preservice elementary teachers who received the creativity-enhancement intervention reported significantly higher person- and process-related creativity and produced more creative Scratch projects than their peers who did not receive the intervention. When looking at the three creativity strands holistically, the study findings provide strong evidence that the intervention had a positive effect on preservice elementary teachers’ creativity in the context of computing education.

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• Artificial Intelligence
• Digital Education and Educational Technology

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Introduction

Creativity has become a core educational goal in K-12 education in many countries due to its societal, economic, and individual benefits (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2021 ; Voogt & Roblin, 2012 ). These benefits include generating innovative processes of modern economies (Florida, 2002 ), driving innovation and progress in our society (Florida, 2014 ), enhancing career satisfaction and well-being, and helping people find meaning in life (Kaufman, 2018 ). Consequently, teachers are expected to integrate creativity in the classroom to equip students with the skills that are needed for success in the 21 st century. Today, many educators associate creativity primarily with visual arts, music, drama, and language arts (Henriksen et al., 2018 ). Nevertheless, creativity can be practiced in various subject areas, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM; Bolden et al., 2020 ). Integrating creativity in an educational context can help students think of new and original ideas (Glăveanu, 2018 ), develop critical thinking skills, and analyze the functionality of various products and processes in different contexts (Lehmkuhl et al., 2021 ). Teachers are instrumental in helping students develop their creativity, as their beliefs about creativity and ability to implement and evaluate creativity in the classroom are crucial for nurturing their students’ creative abilities (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2021 ; Skiba et al., 2017 ). To this end, teachers need to be aware of their level of creativity and ways to integrate creativity into various educational contexts (Bolden et al., 2020 ). However, many educators lack knowledge about creativity and how it can be integrated and assessed in the classroom. This is due to an insufficient emphasis on these skills in today’s curricula and preservice teacher training (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2021 ). To address this important issue, this pre-/posttest quasi-experimental study introduced preservice elementary teachers to the concept of creativity and Creative Computing (Brennan et al. 2014 ) in an online teacher preparation educational technology course. Specifically, we examined the effects of a creativity-enhancement intervention in a Creative Computing instructional module on participants’ creativity compared to the same curriculum that did not include the creativity-enhancement intervention.

Contemporary literature on creativity demystifies the idea of creativity as a “soft” or “fuzzy” construct, arguing that research on creativity is grounded in well-defined theoretical frameworks supported by rigorous empirical research (Plucker et al., 2004 ). Creativity has many different definitions that can be understood through various lenses and frameworks (Israel-Fishelson & Hershkovitz, 2022 ). One of the most useful taxonomies is Rhodes’ ( 1961 ) four P’s of creativity framework, which identifies creative person, creative process, creative product, and creative press. Investigating different dimensions of creativity is crucial because they provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the multifaceted nature of creativity, encompassing individual traits, values, and attitudes (person creativity), the techniques involved (process creativity), the tangible outcomes that have been realized based on an idea or a thought (product creativity), and the environmental and contextual influences (press). These four dimensions allow for a holistic view of creativity by combining (a) individual predispositions, knowledge, and skills, and (b) pedagogical, physical, cultural, and social environmental characteristics (Amabile et al., 2018 ; Cropley, 2011 ).

Creativity can be defined by the originality of an artifact (or idea) within a particular context and its appropriateness (or value) within that context (Simonton, 2017 ). Context plays a pivotal role in this definition, as it provides a relevant lens for evaluating the originality and appropriateness of the artifact or idea (Plucker et al., 2015 ). This definition is informed by Guilford’s ( 1957 ) influential definition of creativity, which posits that creativity can be found across various fields and contexts including mathematics and science. The present study examined creativity in the context of creative computing for educators (Brennan et al. 2014 ). Creative computing aims to introduce novices to the field of computer science by connecting the technical aspects of computer science to creativity, personal interests, and imagination. It emphasizes a design-based approach for creating interactive stories, games, and animations (Brennan et al. 2014 ) and is oftentimes implemented using Scratch – a block-based visual programming language for introducing students to coding and computational thinking (Fagerlund et al., 2021 ). Creative computing allows teachers to integrate coding and computational thinking into other subject areas, such as English language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and arts (Israel & Lash, 2020 ; Pektaş & Sullivan,  2021 ). This approach is particularly suitable for elementary schools, as many of them have a crowded curriculum that does not leave room for stand-alone technology or computer science classes.

Research on creativity-enhancement interventions in computing education is, however, extremely scarce (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2021 ). This is not surprising, as only recently research has acknowledged creativity for its importance in improving computer science learning and attitudes (Fragapane & Standl, 2021 ). Nevertheless, some initial findings suggest that project-based learning in certain programming environments can improve creativity (Romero et al., 2017 ; Yadav & Cooper, 2017 ). K-12 students are usually introduced to programming using visual block-based programming languages, such as Scratch and App Inventor. To promote creativity, programming activities are often situated in constructivist “learning-by-making” ideas utilizing a problem-based and design-based learning approach that engages students in solving open-ended ill-defined problems (Bjögvinsson et al., 2012 ). For instance, Blau and Benolol ( 2016 ) conducted an experimental study with high school students that examined the effects of an intervention for changing student perception of intelligence from being fixed to more flexible in the context of creative computing with Scratch. The results indicated that (a) watching a short video that explained that intelligence could change over time and (b) creating a Scratch project where students presented how they viewed themselves in five years increased student beliefs about intelligence as being more flexible. However, the intervention did not result in significant differences in Scratch projects’ creativity between the intervention and control groups.

In the context of teacher creativity in computing education, we were able to find only three articles that examined teacher creativity in computing education (Marcelino et al., 2018 ; Mouza et al., 2022 ; Pala & Michi Türker, 2021 ), of which only two provided training on creativity in computing education. Pala & Mıhci Türker ( 2021 ) investigated the effects of two project-based programming activities, – robotics with Arduino and C++, – on preservice teachers’ creativity and computational thinking. The study results revealed that robotics with Arduino increased preservice teachers’ creativity and computational thinking, while a more traditional C++ programming project did not. Marcelino et al. ( 2018 ) introduced elementary teachers to 21 st century skills, including creativity, in a distance education course on Computational Thinking and Scratch. As part of the course, teachers had to create a glossary of 21 st century skills for computational thinking. Since creativity was not the focus of their study, no creativity-related findings were reported. Mouza et al. ( 2022 ) provided teachers with research-based professional development in computer science education that introduced creativity as one of the seven big ideas about computing (College Board, 2017 ), including rubrics for assessing creativity and creating a curriculum that is grounded in the big ideas about computing. Teachers’ self-reported creativity for teaching computer science significantly improved after participating in the professional development and was mentioned as the most engaging principle for student learning of programming. Mouza et al.’s ( 2022 ) study was the only one we found that investigated the impact of creativity training on teachers’ beliefs about creativity in a computer science classroom.

To enhance preservice elementary teachers’ awareness of their creativity and the creativity of their Scratch projects, we designed a creativity-enhancement intervention and integrated it into a Creative Computing instructional module of an online teacher preparation educational technology course. The Creative Computing instructional module introduced preservice elementary teachers to computational thinking and coding using Scratch, culminating in the creation of a Scratch Story project . We examined the effects of the creativity-enhancement intervention on preservice elementary teachers’ three P’s of creativity (Rhodes, 1961 ): person, process, and product creativity, using the following research questions:

RQ1 : What are the effects of a creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module on preservice elementary teachers’ person and process creativity compared to the same curriculum without the intervention?

RQ2: Is there a difference in the Scratch product creativity among preservice elementary teachers who received the creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module versus those who did not?

In the present study, preservice elementary teachers’ person creativity was operationalized through innovation – a quality that empowers individuals to engage in creative thinking and behavior. Process creativity was operationalized through design thinking – a “mental process” (Rhodes, 1961 ; p. 305) involved in generating new ideas or products. Product creativity referred to Scratch Story projects’ creativity.

Literature Review

Teachers’ beliefs about creativity.

Past studies indicate the importance of teachers’ beliefs about creativity because they influence how teachers teach and advocate creativity to students (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 , 2021 ; Gralewski, 2019 ). These beliefs also influence how teachers view creative students and acknowledge other teachers who enact creative practices (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 ; Soh, 2017 ). Although a growing body of literature indicates that many teachers believe that everyone can develop some type of creativity (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 ), prior research suggests that teachers may not understand what creativity means (Kaufman & Beghetto, 2013 ). In addition, teachers may not be aware of the connections between creativity and rewards, self-evaluation, and student motivation (de Souza Fleith, 2000 ). Moreover, a classroom observation study revealed that very few elementary teachers utilized teaching strategies that nurtured creativity in their students (Schacter et al., 2006 ).

Nevertheless, teachers tend to believe that they can teach creativity to their students, acknowledging the necessity of creativity enhancement for students (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 ; Gralewski & Karwowski, 2018 ). However, researchers argue that more training is needed for teachers regarding their beliefs about and assessments of creative products, as there seems to be a lack of understanding of creativity in the classroom (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 ;).

Design Thinking in Teacher Education

Design thinking involves the processes and skills utilized by designers to solve problems (Henriksen et al., 2020 ). It is also viewed as a mindset that captures an individual’s ability to design, act independently when producing new innovative ideas and solutions, engage in argumentation, and reflect on the design process (Andersen & Pikanen, 2019 ).

Design thinking can help teachers think more creatively about human-centered educational problems, promote their students’ understanding of how to make choices and find solutions in complex design environments, and engage students in problem-solving (Christensen et al., 2019 ; Henriksen et al., 2020 ). Design thinking in educators was promoted through project- and problem-based learning that included design experiences, learning about and through design itself, and acknowledging teaching as design (Novak & Mulvey, 2020 ; Henriksen et al., 2020 ). For example, Bressler and Annetta ( 2022 ) explored how teachers gained an understanding of design thinking through a structured design cycle of an educational game design. These learning experiences improved teachers’ design perceptions as well as familiarity with design, engineering, and technology. The authors argue that working through specific design experiences can help teachers fully understand the design process. This thinking falls in line with Henriksen et al.’s ( 2020 ) study that argues that design thinking helps preservice teachers view teaching as design, which can transform their process of teaching. Kong et al. ( 2020 ) evaluated teacher learning in a course that addressed pedagogical and content knowledge of teaching programing and computational thinking. One of the course activities involved computational thinking and design thinking to solve community problems using robotics, Scratch, and App Inventor. However, no data related to teachers’ design thinking were reported.

Overall, research in this area acknowledges the importance of design thinking for teachers’ classroom practices in general as well as the importance of design thinking skills in technology-supported design and computing education. However, no research on teachers’ design processes or skills in computing education has been found.

Self-Assessments and Creativity

When acknowledging how creativity is fostered in the classroom, it is important to understand the role of assessment in supporting and enhancing creativity. Bolden et al., ( 2020 ) argue that formative assessment is an effective approach for helping students become more creative and learn about creativity. Formative assessment can include teacher, peer, or student self-assessment (Bolden et al., 2020 ). Self-assessments of creativity typically engage students in self-evaluations of their own creative work. Cropley ( 1995 ) indicates that self-evaluation is one of the nine criteria that helps foster creativity . Soh ( 2017 ) further explains that “self-evaluation helps students exercise their own judgments by applying self-set standards and helping them to learn to appreciate their own creativity instead of waiting for teacher assessment” (p. 61).

Several studies found that K-12 students’ self and external raters’ assessments of creative products significantly correlated, thus suggesting the effectiveness of self-assessments (Halverson et al., 2014 ; Kaufman et al., 2016 ). In addition, self-reflection as a strategy for self-assessment was beneficial for enhancing K-12 student creativity, particularly in the context of creating computer games (Eow & Baki, 2010 ), Logo computer programming (Clements, 1991 ), and re-inventing media content (Doron, 2017 )

Essentially, utilizing creativity assessments in the classroom helps students and instructors alike to accurately assess whether creativity occurs in classroom activities or in the classroom environment (Bolden et al., 2020 ). Research in creativity-enhancement interventions through self-assessments or self-reflections is, however, scarce (Bolden et al., 2020 ; Doron, 2017 ), and almost non-existent in teacher preparation.

Participants

Seventy-six preservice elementary teachers enrolled in an online undergraduate Educational Technology course at a large Midwestern university in the United States participated in the study (100% females; age M = 20.47, SD = 2.80). Students take this course during their second or third year in the program.

The online undergraduate Educational Technology course was organized in 10 asynchronous modules. Each module covered one of the course topics, including an introduction to educational technology, assistive technology and universal design for learning with technology, digital citizenship, technology integration models, teaching and learning with Web 2.0 applications, effective instructional videos, Google Classroom, 3D printing, creative computing, and electronic portfolio. The course instructor took an active role in managing all course activities, responding to student emails, and providing timely feedback.

The research involved students who were enrolled in one class section each semester over the course of three semesters (Fall 2020, Spring 2021, and Fall 2021). All sections were taught by the same instructor. During the first two semesters, the course did not include the creativity intervention in the Creative Computing instructional module (Scratch+No_Creativity group), whereas students in the last semester received the creativity intervention in that module (Scratch+Creativity group). The rest of the course curriculum was identical among the three semesters.

All students participated in the Creative Computing instructional module as part of their course requirements. Students completed a pretest online questionnaire that included a background questionnaire (age, gender, and prior Scratch experience), and Innovation Stance and Design Thinking surveys before the beginning of the Creative Computing module. After the module was concluded, participants completed the same posttest online questionnaire and submitted their Scratch Story projects, which were evaluated by researchers for creativity. A few students in each group were familiar with Scratch. There were non-significant group differences in participants’ prior Scratch experiences ( p > .05).

Participation in the research study was voluntary and not associated with student grades. This research complied with the American Psychological Association Code of Ethics and was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the participating university. Informed consent was obtained from each participant.

Creative Computing Instructional Module

The Creative Computing instructional module was part of an online asynchronous course. The module introduced preservice elementary teachers to computational thinking and coding using Scratch. Students completed assigned readings, participated in online discussions, created a Scratch Story project, and prepared a Scratch design report reflecting on their Scratch experiences. The module took place after the middle of the semester for two weeks.

We developed two versions of this module: Scratch+Creativity and Scratch+No_Creativity (Figure 1 ). Both versions were of the same length, included identical instructional materials on computational thinking and coding, and identical Scratch story assignment requirements. The creativity-enhancement intervention introduced preservice elementary teachers to the concept of creativity through readings about creativity and assessments of creativity in a classroom, related discussions, as well as modeling and hands-on activities that involved them in learning how to evaluate the creativity of Scratch story projects. At the end of the module, students created their own Scratch story project and self-evaluated its creativity using a custom-developed rubric (Creative Product Analysis Matrix (CPAM); Besemer & Treffinger, 1981 ).

Two Versions of the Creative Computing Instructional Module (creativity-enhancement activities appear in bold)

Instruments

Innovation Stance (Chen et al., 2017 ) includes 12 four-point Likert-style items that ask participants to rate their “comfort taking risks, appreciation of new ideas, entrepreneurial spirit, and desire to do something different or unique” (Chen et al., 2017 , p. 1) Innovation scores were calculated by averaging the 12 items (minimum score = 0, maximum score = 4). The instrument had a high reliability with Cronbach’s α pretest = .87 and Cronbach’s α posttest = .90.

Design Thinking questionnaire (Novak & Soyturk, 2023 ; Royalty et al., 2014 ) includes 10 five-point Likert-type items. It includes two sub-scales: Creative Agency and Design Dispositions – five items each. The scores were calculated by averaging the five items of each sub-scale. The questionnaire’s reliability was high: Cronbach’s α pretest = .86 and Cronbach’s α posttest = .86.

Creative Product Analysis Matrix (CPAM; Besemer & Treffinger, 1981 ). We adapted the CPAM to rate the creativity of student Scratch projects (Figure 2 ). The CPAM is a framework for assessing creativity of various products and artifacts. When evaluating creativity of Scratch projects, we adapted the CPAM’s original three dimensions focusing on the project’s instructional and technical soundness and aesthetics: Originality (conceptual newness of using Scratch for storytelling) , Appropriateness (the Scratch project is useful for enhancing learning), and Elaboration & Synthesis (the Scratch project is complete, technically sound, and aesthetically pleasing). The three CPAM dimensions are considered well-established characteristics of product creativity in computing education research (Da Cruz Alves et al., 2021 ). The Scratch projects were rated by the first and second authors on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = not at all; 7 = to a very large extent) and their scores were averaged to provide a final Creative Product score. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient was .85 and the 95% Confidence Interval ranged from .66 to .93, indicating good agreement among the raters.

An adapted CPAM assessment of Scratch projects’ creativity

Research Design

The study utilized a pre-/posttest quasi-experimental research design that involved pre- and posttest assessments in two intact groups (Creswell, 2003 ): Scratch+Creativity and Scratch+No_Creativity. The dependent variables were design thinking, innovation, and Scratch project creativity; whereas the between-subject factor was the creativity intervention (with vs. without).

Data Analysis

Differences between the Scratch+Creativity and Scratch+No_Creativity groups’ pre- and posttest innovation and design thinking scores were analyzed using an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The Design Thinking subscales were further analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Pre-/posttest time effects for innovation and design thinking were computed using a paired sample t-test for each group.

Group differences in the total CPAM scores were analyzed using an ANCOVA with pretest design thinking and innovation scores as covariates. All required ANOVA, ANCOVA, and MANOVA assumptions were examined, and no violations were found (Field, 2013). To follow up, group differences in the CPAM creativity dimensions (originality, appropriateness, and elaboration) were analyzed using a MANCOVA with pretest design thinking and innovation scores as covariates. Normality, equality of error variance, and equality of covariance matrices were held (Field, 2013).

Table 1 shows the pre-/posttest means and standard deviations for all the variables. An ANOVA analysis of pretest data revealed non-significant group differences, indicating that on average, both groups had similar innovation and design thinking scores at the outset of the study, F (1, 68) = 1.11, p = .30, and F (1, 68) = 1.49, p = .28 respectively.

Between-Group Intervention Effects

Using an ANOVA, there was a significant intervention effect for innovation, F (1, 68) = 5.65, p = .020, η 2 = .08, indicating that the Scratch+Creativity group reported significantly higher innovation scores ( M Posttest = 3.15, SD = .49) than the Scratch+No_Creativity group ( M Posttest = 2.87, SD = .43).

Design Thinking

Using an ANOVA, there was a significant effect size of the intervention on design thinking, F (1, 68) = 4.53, p = .037, η 2 = .06, indicating that the Scratch+Creativity group reported significantly higher design thinking scores ( M Posttest = 3.98, SD = .68) than the Scratch+No_Creativity group ( M Posttest = 3.66, SD = .46).

The Design Thinking subscales were further analyzed using a MANOVA. Using Pillai’s Trace, there was a significant effect of the intervention on preservice teachers’ design thinking, V = .089, F (2, 67) = 3.25, p = .045, η 2 = .09. Separate univariate ANOVAs on the outcome variables revealed a significant intervention effect on Creative Agency scores, F (1, 68) = 6.56, p = .013, η 2 = .09, and non-significant intervention effect on Design Dispositions scores, F (1, 68) = 1.68, p = .20, η 2 = .02. These results indicate that the Scratch+Creativity group reported significantly higher posttest Creative Agency scores ( M Posttest = 4.16, SD = .66) than the Scratch+No_Creativity group ( M Posttest = 3.75, SD = .62). Moreover, on average, both groups reported similar posttest Design Dispositions scores.

Scratch Story Projects’ Creativity

Using an ANCOVA with pretest design thinking and innovation scores as covariates, the pretest design thinking and innovation scores covariates were not significantly related to the Scratch projects’ creativity scores, F (1, 62) = 2.22, p = .14, and F (1, 62) = .20, p = .66, respectively. There was not a significant effect of the creativity intervention on Scratch projects’ creativity scores, F (1, 62) = 1.54, p = .22, partial η 2 = .02, indicating that on average, both groups had similar levels of projects’ creativity, M Scratch+Creativity = 5.52, SD = .1.26 and M Scratch+No_Creativity = 4.94, SD = .1.54.

To follow up, group differences in the CPAM creativity dimensions (originality, appropriateness, and elaboration) were analyzed using a MANCOVA with pretest design thinking and innovation scores as covariates. The two covariates were not significantly related to the participant’s creativity scores, Wilks’ λ = .92, F (3, 60) = 1.69, p = .18, and Wilks’ λ = .93, F (3, 60) = 1.54, p = .22, respectively. Using Wilks’ Lambda, there was not a significant effect of the creativity intervention on projects’ creativity scores, Wilks’ λ = .95, F (3, 60) = 1.08, p = .36, partial η 2 = .05. Similar to the ANCOVA results, these findings suggest that there were no significant differences across all creativity dimensions between the two intervention groups. Nevertheless, descriptively, Scratch Story projects from the Scratch+Creativity intervention were scored higher than those from the Scratch+No_Creativity intervention on all CPAM sub-scales.

Time Effects

Using a paired sample t-test, there was a significant increase from pre- to posttest for innovation, t (41) = -2.885 , p =.06, Cohen’s d = .27, M Pretest = 3.03, SD = .48, M Posttest = 3.15, SD = .49, and a non-significant increase for design thinking, t (41) = -1.457 , p =.153, Cohen’s d = .42, M Pretest = 3.91, SD = .68, M Posttest = 3.98, SD = .68 in the Scratch+Creativity group. These results indicate that on average, there was a significant pre-posttest gain in innovation but not in design thinking in the Scratch+Creativity group.

Using a paired sample t-test, there was a non-significant change from pre- to posttest for innovation, t (22) = .41 , p =.689, Cohen’s d = .27, M Pretest = 2.93, SD = .41, M Posttest = 2.87, SD = .43, and design thinking, t (22) = .185 , p =.86, Cohen’s d = .34, M Pretest = 3.78, SD = .54, M Posttest = 3.66, SD = .46 in the Scratch+No_Creativity group. These results indicate that on average, there was a non-significant pre-posttest gain in innovation and design thinking in the Scratch+No_Creativity group.

This research contributed to the scarce body of literature on creativity-enhancement interventions in computing education for preservice teachers. Specifically, it examined the effects of a creativity-enhancement intervention in an online Creative Computing instructional module on preservice elementary teachers’ person, process, and Scratch project creativity. Results indicated that preservice elementary teachers who received the creativity intervention (Scratch+Creativity group) reported significantly higher innovation, i.e., person creativity, than their peers who did not receive the creativity intervention, with a large effect size( η 2 = .08). Moreover, the Scratch+Creativity group significantly improved their innovation stance from pre- to posttest, while the Scratch+No_Creativity group did not. These findings are consistent with prior research that indicates that creativity training can increase teachers’ perceptions of creativity and contribute to a more mature understanding of creativity (Mullet et al., 2016 ). Beliefs teachers hold about creativity and innovation have been directly connected to teachers’ classroom practices that promote students’ creative expression (Bereczki & Kárpáti, 2018 ).

Moreover, the Scratch+Creativity group reported significantly higher design thinking, i.e., process creativity, than the Scratch+No_Creativity group with a large effect size ( η 2 = .09), supporting the notion that nurturing creativity in teacher education can enhance design thinking (Henriksen et al., 2017 ). Researchers argue that design thinking should be part of teacher preparation programs, as design thinking can empower teachers to address human-centered educational problems that require non-linear creative thinking (Henriksen et al., 2017 ; Mishra & Mehta, 2017 ). The Design Thinking scale had two dimensions: creative agency and design dispositions. Creative agency is critical for preservice teachers as it involves not only understanding of a creative process but also implementing it to produce innovative ideas and solutions (Novak & Soyturk, 2023 ). Students with higher creativity agency have a better understanding of what it means to be creative and how various conditions and processes facilitate creativity. The results revealed that the Scratch+Creativity group reported significantly higher creative agency scores than the Scratch+No_Creativity group, with a large effect size ( η 2 = .09). These findings are in line with prior research that has demonstrated the positive impact of creativity-enhancement interventions utilizing project-based learning on students’ creative skills (Mishra & Henriksen, 2018 ).

The Design Dispositions dimension focuses on an individual’s beliefs about their ability to use design thinking processes. On average, students in the Scratch+Creativity group reported high Creative Agency scores (4.16 on a 5-point scale) and moderately high Design Dispositions scores (3.81 on a 5-point scale). On average, both groups reported similar Design Dispositions scores. To some degree, these findings reflect the goals of the employed creativity-enhancement intervention. The two-week creativity-enhancement intervention aimed to enhance preservice teachers’ understanding of creativity and their ability to develop creative Scratch projects. It did not focus on design education that aims to enhance students’ understanding of the design process. Many computing projects, particularly design of computing artifacts, engage students in the design process and to scaffold these learning experiences teachers need to have a good understanding of design thinking and design practices. Therefore, understanding design processes as they relate to computing education is an important part of teacher preparation in computing education and therefore needs to be taught explicitly (Kong et al., 2020 ).

In addition to person- and process-related creativity, this study examined the effects of the creativity-enhancement intervention on Scratch product creativity. Assessing product creativity is a challenging task because it requires creating context-specific instruments that usually cannot be borrowed from other research. We adapted the CPAM instrument to assess the creativity of Scratch Story projects. The CPAM instrument has three dimensions: Originality, Appropriateness, and Elaboration. The Scratch+Creativity group’s projects received moderately high creativity scores (5.52 on a 7-point scale) with projects’ elaboration scores being the highest (5.82) and originality the lowest (5.08). The Originality sub-scale included two items: (a) level of surprisingness of using Scratch for storytelling, and (b) potential for using the Scratch Story project across different curricular areas. Our review of the Scratch projects revealed that most of the preservice elementary teachers focused on a single curricular area – reading – without making additional curricular connections. However, those who connected their Scratch projects to other curricular areas demonstrated more innovative ideas for using Scratch stories across multiple subject areas. These findings support prior research on the beneficial effects of using Scratch for enhancing creative thinking (Resnick et al., 2009 ), particularly when Scratch is integrated into different curricular areas (Kafai & Burke, 2015 ).

Descriptively, the Scratch+Creativity group scored higher on all creativity indicators of their Scratch Story projects than the Scratch+No_Creativity group. Nevertheless, the effects were non-significant, indicating that the creativity of Scratch stories was on average similar among the two groups. Similar findings were reported in Blau and Benolol ( 2016 ) experimental study with high school students. After participating in the creativity enhancement intervention and Scratch project, students reported significantly higher perceptions of creativity compared to their peers who did not receive the creativity enhancement intervention, but the creativity of their Scratch projects was on average the same among students from the intervention and control groups.

The relatively short duration of the creativity-enhancement intervention and the Creative Computing module in the present study could also possibly explain these findings. Students had only two weeks to learn Scratch and, for most of them, the Scratch Story project was their first coding project. On top of that, the Scratch+Creativity group had to learn about creativity in a classroom and participate in creativity evaluations of Scratch projects. Learning about creativity in a classroom and connecting this knowledge to computing might have presented additional cognitive challenges for students in the Scratch+Creativity group. Perhaps, teaching the Scratch+Creativity curriculum over a longer time could have resulted in a higher quality and creativity of Scratch projects.

In summary, the study's findings support Scott et al.’s ( 2004 ) meta-analysis about the effectiveness of creativity training, which found that successful creativity training programs focused on the development of cognitive skills and heuristics through realistic exercises. Consistent with these findings, the present study used classroom-ready Scratch projects and creativity self-assessments activities to enhance preservice teachers’ creativity.

Limitations

The study has limitations. First, the creativity-enhancement intervention was relatively short – only two weeks, – and creativity was not the only instructional focus during this time, as students had to learn additional topics such as computational thinking and Scratch. Second, the Creative Computing module was part of an online asynchronous course. Therefore, caution is needed when generalizing the findings to other instructional delivery mediums. Third, person and process creativity were assessed using self-report measures asynchronously, which may create (a) a social desirability bias (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960 ) and (b) lower engagement. Finally, our sample size was limited to participants from one teacher preparation program in the U.S. that does not focus explicitly on creativity in its curricula. Moreover, it included females only, which is common for elementary teacher preparation programs.

Conclusions

Assessing creativity is an arduous task, particularly in maker-centered project-based learning, because creativity is comprised of multiple strands, each of them representing a different dimension of creativity (Da Cruz Alves et al., 2021 ). The present study used multiple strands of creativity, i.e., person-, process-, and product-related creativity (Rhodes, 1961 ), to evaluate the effects of a creativity-enhancement intervention on preservice elementary teachers’ creativity. When considering these three creativity strands holistically, the study’s findings provide strong evidence that a targeted intervention aimed at assisting preservice teachers in understanding of creativity and its assessment within an elementary computing classroom can make a real impact on preservice elementary teachers’ creativity in the context of computing education.

Moreover, creativity-enhancement interventions in computing education for preservice elementary teachers have the potential to increase elementary teachers’ ability to teach computer science in an elementary classroom, as elementary teachers seldom integrate computer science into an elementary curriculum due to low self-efficacy and attitudes toward technology (Davies & West, 2014 ). Therefore, teacher preparation programs should provide preservice elementary teachers with more hands-on project-based learning opportunities that model effective creativity-infused instructional activities in the elementary classroom. When implementing such activities it is important to provide the needed support for preservice teachers who struggle with coding, because their fear of coding and low computing self-efficacy are directly related to their reluctance to implement coding in their future classrooms.

Finally, this study used an innovative approach of product-related self-assessments to increase preservice teachers’ creativity in computing education. For educators, this approach offers a more equitable assessment of ability and achievement (Kaufman, 2018 ). For students, product-related creativity assessments in computing help connect the ideas of creativity with programming and computing, thus offering students another pathway to connect to the field of computer science.

Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Micronutrient intake inadequacies in Northwest Ethiopian children aged 6–23 months

• Yonatan Menber 1 ,
• Tefera Belachew 2 &
• Netsanet Fentahun 1  

Scientific Reports volume  14 , Article number:  20732 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Epidemiology
• Paediatric research

The early stages of childhood are a crucial period of life for health, with inadequate nutrition impacting physical growth, cognitive development, and the immune system. A considerable proportion of children are affected by micronutrient intake inadequacy and deficiency across the globe. Evidence on micronutrient intake among children aged 6–23 months is limited in Northwest Ethiopia, where there is a divergence between production and dietary consumption practices compared to other regions of the country. This study aimed to determine micronutrient inadequacy and associated factors among children aged 6–23 months. From February 1 to February 18, 2023, 435 children aged 6–23 months participated in a community-based cross-sectional study in the North Mecha District of the Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia. The study participants were selected using a multistage sampling technique. A multiphasic interactive 24-h dietary recall was used to collect dietary intake data via an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The interviews were conducted with the mothers of the selected children. Nutrient values for the selected 12 micronutrients were calculated using the NutriSurvey 2007 software and food composition tables from Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya. SPSS version 25 was used for the remaining parts of the analysis. The Nutrient Adequacy Ratio and Mean Adequacy Ratio were calculated to evaluate the nutrient intakes. To identify the factors associated with overall micronutrient intake inadequacy, a binary logistic regression analysis was performed, with statistical significance determined at a p-value < 0.05. The overall prevalence of micronutrient intake inadequacy was 64.7% (95% CI 59.9, 69.2). The odds of inadequacy of micronutrient intake were 2.8 times higher among children aged 6–8 months than children aged 9–23 months (AOR = 2.80, 95% CI 1.71, 4.59). Children with paternal education unable to read and write and primary school incomplete were 3.1 (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI 1.26, 7.70) and 2.4 (AOR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.01, 5.73) times more likely to have micronutrient intake inadequacy, respectively, compared to children with paternal education of primary school completed and above. The likelihood of micronutrient intake inadequacy was 1.8 times higher among children from mothers who had an unfavorable nutrition-related attitude than those from mothers who had a favorable attitude (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.02, 3.05). Inadequate intake of micronutrients was shown to be highly prevalent among children aged 6–23 months. Child age, paternal education, and maternal nutrition-related attitude were significantly associated with micronutrient intake inadequacy. Integrating community-guided nutrition interventions targeting nutrition-related knowledge and attitudes of parents is critical in addressing the inadequate micronutrient intake of children in the study community, where production is not a major problem.

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Multiple micronutrient supplementation improves micronutrient status in primary school children in Hai Phong City, Vietnam: a randomised controlled trial

Introduction.

The early stages of childhood are the most sensitive and crucial period of life where they have a unique window of opportunity that holds immense significance in their cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development 1 , 2 . The nourishment they receive during this crucial period is essential to meet their increased nutritional needs. It plays a vital role in ensuring the necessary growth and development while also shaping their future health and productivity. Even though micronutrients are needed in small quantities, they play a vital role in promoting healthy growth, supporting essential cellular processes, and ensuring overall well-being 1 , 3 , 4 .

Nutritional inadequacy refers to the inadequate consumption of essential nutrients necessary to meet the body’s nutritional needs for optimal health 5 . The consequences of this nutritional inadequacy can be both short-term and long-term, significantly impacting a child's physical growth, cognitive development, and immune system 6 , 7 , 8 .

The 2023 edition of the UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Group Joint Malnutrition Estimates showed that significant percentages of children worldwide suffered from malnutrition caused by inadequate nutrient intake 9 . Other studies conducted in Guatemala 10 , the Philippines 11 , China 12 , India 13 , Ghana 14 , and Tanzania 15 , 16 , showed that micronutrient intake inadequacies remained public health problems. A study conducted in the rural regions of southern Kenya revealed that children aged between 6 and 23 months did not reach the recommended levels of four to nine essential micronutrients, which varied based on their age sub-group and geographical location 17 .

A study conducted in Butajira District, South Ethiopia, showed that 84.4%, 33.8%, 27.0%, and 70.7% of children aged 12–23 months were at risk of inadequacy for vitamin B1, B2, B6, and B9, respectively, while none of them were vitamin A deficient. Furthermore, the prevalence of inadequacy of calcium and zinc was 76.8% and 67.30%, respectively 18 . A study conducted in Ethiopia's Tigray region revealed that the prevalence of vitamin A, B1, B3, B6, B12, and C intake inadequacy among children aged 12 to 23 months was 67.6%, 71.6%, 91.5%, 95.8%, 99.1%, and 90.1%, respectively. Furthermore, iron intake was 75% and zinc intake was 95.3%, respectively 19 . Approximately one to two-thirds of children aged 6–23 months in West Oromia, Ethiopia, do not consume enough vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and zinc. However, it is important to note that all children in this region meet the recommended iron intake 20 .

Adequate nutrition and stimulation are supported by policies, programs, and practices that promote and support nutritious diets and responsive feeding 1 . The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have objectives that have a direct impact on the essential services required for the optimal growth and development of young children, encompassing aspects like nutrition. Simultaneously, early childhood development plays a vital role in achieving many of the targets set by the SDGs 21 . As stated in Global Targets 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) has set global targets for improving the nutrition of infants and young children, and countries that are members have committed to achieving these targets 22 . The Ethiopian government has made significant strides in combating various forms of malnutrition. In pursuit of this objective, the government of Ethiopia has also crafted a comprehensive Food and Nutrition Policy (FNP) 23 . The Seqota Declaration reflects the commitment to ending undernutrition by 2030 24 , 25 .

Even though worldwide efforts are being exerted, there is a lack of advancement towards achieving the 2025 World Health Assembly global nutrition targets in the reduction of wasting and stunting among children as a result of adequate dietary intake 22 . Additionally, there is a significant challenge in meeting the 2030 SDGs, specifically SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security, and improve nutrition 21 . This progress is lagging most in low- and middle-income countries, including Ethiopia 9 . Similarly, despite the diverse range of measures enacted by the Ethiopian government, progress in tackling malnutrition is moving at a sluggish pace, and a substantial number of children are still enduring the distressing consequences of malnourishment 26 , 27 , 28 . Micronutrient inadequacy poses a notable issue for the health and well-being of children, which is a matter of great importance to public health. In the northwest parts of Ethiopia, where there is fairly good agricultural productivity and a considerable sociocultural difference in dietary consumption practices compared to other regions of the country, Ethiopia, evidence is scarce regarding the inadequate intake of micronutrients among young children 29 , 30 . Hence, the objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy and identify its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months residing in the rural areas of North Mecha District of Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia.

Materials and methods

Study setting and study design.

The study was carried out in the North Mecha District of the Amhara Regional State, Northwest Ethiopia. This district is located 530 km away from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Agriculture plays a dominant role in the district, serving as a primary source of livelihood for 85% of the population. The district is renowned for its crop production, which includes teff, maize, barley, wheat, beans, and peas. These crops are cultivated through a combination of rainfall and irrigation methods 31 . Among the notable irrigation systems in the district is the Koga Dam, which can irrigate 7,000 acres of land. The Koga Irrigation and Watershed Management Project, initiated by the government, aims to enhance agricultural productivity and water management in the Koga watershed area of Ethiopia. This project specifically focuses on poverty reduction and improving food security. Its implementation is expected to positively impact food consumption and dietary practices, as well as foster human and economic development in the region 32 . To collect data for the study, a community-based cross-sectional study design was employed between February 1 and 18, 2023.

Population and eligibility criteria

The source population for this study consisted of children between the ages of 6–23 months who resided in the North Mecha District. The study population, on the other hand, comprised children within the same age group who lived in the specifically selected kebeles within the district. The study enrolled all the breastfed and non-breastfed children between the ages of 6 and 23 months who had been living in the designated study area for a minimum of 6 months before the survey and were living with their biological mother.

Sample size and sampling techniques

The sample size for the study was determined using a single population proportion formula. This calculation took into account the following assumptions: a 95% confidence level, a 5% margin of error, and a 78% pooled prevalence of inadequate dietary intake among children aged 6–23 months in Ethiopia, as determined by a systematic review and meta-analysis 33 . Applying a design effect of 1.5 and the inclusion of a 10% non-response rate gave a final sample size of 435. Seven kebeles (local administrative units) were selected randomly from a total of 38 kebeles using a lottery system. The sample size was proportionally allocated to each kebele based on the North Mecha District Health Office report. A systematic random sampling approach was employed to select the participants from the selected kebeles. The value of ‘K’ was calculated from N/n; where N = study population, n = sample size. Accordingly, every K-th child participated in the study.

Operational and term definitions

Recommended dietary allowances/reference nutrient intake (rni).

This represents the recommended daily consumption of nutrients that satisfy the nutritional needs of nearly all (97.5%) children between 6 and 23 months old 34 .

Nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR)

It refers to the ratio of a subject’s micronutrient intake to the current recommended daily allowance for each sex and age category 35 .

Mean adequacy ratio (MAR)

It is a comprehensive measure that serves as an indicator of overall diet quality. It was derived by dividing the sum of all Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) values by the total count of computed micronutrients 35 .

Micronutrient intake inadequacy

The occurrence occurred when children aged 6–23 months consumed less than 100% of the RDA for a specific micronutrient and the NAR for that micronutrient was less than one 35 .

Overall micronutrient intake inadequacy

The ideal MAR cut-off for nutrient intake inadequacy should be one (100%), which would mean that the intake of all 12 nutrients, namely vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B9, and vitamin B12, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium, is equal to or greater than the RDA and the requirements for all the nutrients are met. In this study, since there was only one participant who had a MAR score of 1, overall micronutrient intake inadequacy was operationalized to be < 0.75 35 , 36 , 37 .

Household Food Insecurity Accesses Scale (HFIAS) score

Each household's score was determined by the sum of the frequency of occurrences of the nine food insecurity-related conditions that occurred within the past four weeks. This score was then used to classify the household as either food-secure, mildly food-insecure, moderately food-insecure, or severely food-insecure 38 .

Wealth Index

The household wealth index was calculated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) by taking into account various household assets, housing conditions, access to services, and other variables adapted from the 2019 Ethiopian Mini Demographic and Health Survey 26 , 39 , 40 .

Nutrition-related knowledge and attitude

The nutrition-related knowledge and attitudes of the children's mothers were assessed using a questionnaire developed by FAO 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 . The details of the analysis can be found in the article that was published earlier 40 .

Data collection tools and procedures

An interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-demographic and economic factors; water sanitation and hygiene; household food security; knowledge and attitude of mothers on nutrition; and health-related factors. The mothers of the selected children were interviewed, and the data were gathered using the Kobo Tool Box, an electronic data collection toolkit. The FAO-standardized tool was used to assess the dietary data and nutrition-related knowledge and attitude data 41 , 45 . A team of 10 skilled data collectors, along with two expert supervisors with backgrounds in public health nutrition, were actively engaged in data collection and supervision.

24-h dietary recall assessment

Market inspection and home surveillance were done before actual data collection to collect data on the types of foods eaten, cooking methods, and household utensils used in the study area. During the surveillance, photographs of household utensils and food portions were taken, and each item was assigned a code. In the nutrition laboratory, food serving utensils were standardized by weighing food portions and measuring water using a digital food portion weighing scale and a graduated cylinder.

During the process of collecting the actual data, the children's mothers were asked about the specific utensils they utilized based on the photographic atlas. Visual aids in the form of photographs featuring various household utensils such as spoons, ladles, cups, glasses, and plates were used to aid the participants in recalling and determining the types and portion sizes of the items their children had consumed. To quantify the amount of food consumed, household utensils and numerical units (such as oranges, bananas, mangoes, potatoes, etc.) were employed. Foods that were expressed in numerical terms were categorized as either large, medium, or small and were subsequently gathered as such. This was done through the implementation of an interactive multiple-pass 24-h recall method.

Data quality control

To ensure consistency, the questionnaire was written in English, translated into Amharic, and then back into English. The data collection tool included FAO-developed standard questions as well as questions adapted from other sources and added to the tool after validation by field experts. Any necessary changes were made in response to their recommendations.

A pretest was conducted on approximately 5% of the sample. Supervisors and data collectors received training. The data collection process was closely supervised, and the completeness of the data was verified as required. To assist participants in recalling and identifying the types and quantities of food they consumed, photographs of food portions and household utensils such as spoons, ladles, cups, glasses, etc. were utilized. A multiple-pass 24-h recall was conducted with three passes to collect dietary intake data. The multiple passes consisted of three sequential stages: a "quick list," a "detailed description of food and beverage items consumed," and a "review."

Data processing and analysis

After collecting the necessary data, the food consumption data were transformed into nutrient intake data in NutriSurvey software. To determine the nutrient values per 100 g of each food item, the Ethiopian food composition tables were used 46 , 47 . In cases where specific food items were not listed in the Ethiopian food composition tables, alternative tables from other African countries, such as Kenya 48 and Tanzania 49 , were used for reference. The volume of breast milk intake of study participants was estimated using the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis that incorporated a total of 167 studies to provide global breast milk intake estimates 50 . The analysis was carried out using SPSS version 25, specifically utilizing NutriSurvey 2007 software for the nutrient intake analysis.

To determine the nutrient intake inadequacy of selected 12 micronutrients (vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B9, vitamin B12, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium), both the Nutrient Adequacy Ratio (NAR) and Mean Adequacy Ratio (MAR) were calculated. The details of the analysis used to assess nutrient intake inadequacy in this study were similar to those described in a previously published article 40 . The adequacy of micronutrient intake data was assessed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk tests of normality. The findings, which were obtained from a skewed distribution, were presented using the median and interquartile range.

To determine the factors associated with inadequate overall micronutrient intake in children aged 6–23 months, bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression analyses were performed. The variables identified in the bivariable binary logistic regressions with a p-value of ≤ 0.25 were included in the multivariable analysis to assess their independent effects. The fitness of the model was evaluated using the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test. A p-value greater than 0.05 suggests that the multivariable binary logistic regression models are a good fit. In the multivariable binary logistic regression analysis, variables with a p-value less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. To measure the strength of the relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables, the Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with a 95% Confidence Interval (CI) was used. The final results were presented through text, tables, and graphs.

Ethical declarations

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Ethical Review Board of the College of Medicine and Health Science at Bahir Dar University (protocol code: 631/2023 and date of approval: February 2, 2023). Amhara Public Health Institute (APHI) provided a letter of permission, and the North Mecha District administration office offered a formal letter of cooperation to the chosen kebeles. Before the data collection, the children's mothers were asked for their informed verbal consent. The confidentiality of the data and the privacy of the study participants were maintained.

Socio-demographic and socioeconomic characteristics

A total of 430 children aged 6–23 months participated in the study, with a 98.8% response rate and a mean age of 10.9 ± 3.5 months. A little below half (48.8%) were males. The mean number of under-five children in the household and maternal parity were 1.3 ± 0.5 and 3.9 ± 2.0, respectively. Eighty-six (20.0%) children were from households with the poorest wealth index (Table 1 ).

Nutrition-related knowledge and attitude and household food security

Seventy-six (17.7%) and 288 (67%) children’s mothers had adequate nutrition-related knowledge and a favorable nutrition-related attitude, respectively. Only two (0.47%) children were not breastfed. One hundred nine (25.4%) of the children were from food-insecure households (Table 2 ).

Micronutrient intake inadequacy of children

Only one child meets the recommended levels of all 12 nutrients (MAR of one). The overall prevalence of micronutrient intake inadequacy, MAR < 0.75, was 64.7% (95% CI 59.9, 69.2) (Fig.  1 ).

MAR of micronutrient intake among children aged 6–23 months in North Mecha District, Northwest Ethiopia, 2023 (N = 430).

The median intake of vitamin A and calcium among participants was 463.0 μg (IQR: 93.9) and 232.4 mg (IQR: 124.6), with an inadequacy prevalence of 22.3% (95% CI 18.5, 26.6), 7.0% (95% CI 4.8, 9.8), and 89.1% (95% CI 85.7, 91.9), respectively. The median NAR of nutrients ranges from 0.3 to 1.4. Of all studied nutrients, the highest prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy was encountered in zinc inadequacy among 92.1% (95% CI 89.1, 94.5) participants; in contrast, vitamin C intake inadequacy was the lowest that was encountered among 7.0% (95% CI 4.8, 9.8) participants (Table 3 ).

Factors associated with micronutrient intake inadequacy

Child age, paternal education, and maternal nutrition-related attitude were significantly associated with micronutrient intake inadequacy (MAR < 0.75). The odds of micronutrient intake inadequacy were 2.8 times higher among children aged 6–8 months as compared to children aged 9–23 months (AOR = 2.80, 95% CI 1.71, 4.59). Children with paternal education of unable to read and write and able to read and write were 3.1 (AOR = 3.12, 95% CI 1.26, 7.70) and 2.4 (AOR = 2.40, 95% CI 1.01, 5.73) times more likely to have micronutrient intake inadequacy than children with paternal education of primary school completed and above, respectively. The likelihood of micronutrient intake inadequacy was 1.8 times higher among children from mothers who had an unfavorable nutrition-related attitude than those from mothers who had a favorable attitude (AOR = 1.76, 95% CI 1.02, 3.05) (Table 4 ).

Micronutrient inadequacy poses a notable issue for the health and well-being of children. This matter is of great importance to public health. In the northwest parts of Ethiopia, evidence is scarce regarding the inadequate intake of micronutrients among young children. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of micronutrient inadequacy and identify its associated factors among children aged 6–23 months residing in the rural areas of the North Mecha District of the Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia.

This study revealed that only one child met the recommended levels of all 12 nutrients (MAR of one). The overall prevalence of micronutrient intake inadequacy, MAR < 0.75, among children aged 6–23 months was 64.7% . The significant occurrence of inadequacy in the intake of essential nutrients can be attributed to various factors. One of these factors is the excessive consumption of cereals like teff, maize, sorghum, and others, which have a low concentration of vital micronutrients. Additionally, there is an inadequate consumption of food items from diverse food groups, such as animal-source foods, pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. These food groups are rich in crucial micronutrients necessary for a healthy diet 51 .

Vitamin A intake inadequacy was prevalent among 22.3% of children aged 6–23 months, according to this study. This is comparable to a study conducted in Ghana 14 . In contrast, this study finding is lower than studies conducted in the Tigray region, Ethiopia 19 , Butajira District, Ethiopia 18 , Tanzania 15 , and Guatemala 10 , and higher than reports from studies conducted in the Oromia region, Ethiopia 20 . Potential disparities in the production and consumption of foods abundant in vitamin A, such as green leafy vegetables, may offer a rationale for the observed variability.

This study showed that among certain B vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, and B12), the prevalence of micronutrient intake inadequacy ranges from 28.6 to 86.0%. Inadequate intake of vitamin B1 was found to be consistent with a study conducted in Butajira District, Ethiopia 18 . Except for vitamins B3, B6, and B12, which had lower levels of inadequacy compared to a study in the Tigray Region, Ethiopia 19 , and vitamin B12, which also had lower levels compared to studies in Ghana 14 and the Philippines 11 , this study revealed that inadequate intake of all six vitamins studied was more prevalent in the rest of the results compared to reports from studies conducted in Butajira District, Ethiopia 18 , Ghana 14 , the Philippines 11 , and Guatemala 10 . Dietary consumption habits and the lack of compulsory enrichment of basic food items have a significant impact on vitamin intake, resulting in a high prevalence of inadequacies and variations from other study findings. Staple foods in the area consist mainly of cereals and grains, with a significant portion of meals being made with maize, which is low in tryptophan and niacin. Consumption of animal-source foods, dark green leafy vegetables, and fruits is relatively low in the designated study area and many parts of Ethiopia 2 , 52 , 53 , 54 .

Vitamin C intake inadequacy was prevalent among 7.0% of participants, which represents the lowest proportion among all the vitamins studied. This is lower than studies in the Tigray region, Ethiopia 19 , Oromia Region, Ethiopia 20 , Ghana 14 , Tanzania 15 , the Philippines 11 and Guatemala 10 . The differences in the consumption of fruits and vegetables and the references used to estimate the volume of breast milk could explain this discrepancy.

Inadequate calcium intake was observed among 89.1% of study participants. The result was lower than the study results in the Tigray region, Ethiopia 19 , Ghana 14 , and higher than the study results in the Oromia region, Ethiopia 20 , Butajira District, Ethiopia 18 , Tanzania 15 , the Philippines 11 and Guatemala 10 . The potential discrepancy could be attributed to variations in the intake of dairy products and other foods that are abundant in calcium, which were found to be low in this study area.

In this study, about 59.1% of the children had inadequate iron intake. This finding is lower than studies in the Tigray region, Ethiopia 19 , Ghana 14 , Tanzania 15 , the Philippines 11 and Guatemala 10 . However, this finding exceeds the research findings conducted in the Oromia region of Ethiopia 20 . Teff and millet are staple foods that are often consumed in the study area and are rich sources of iron. The significant differences in these food intakes may be an explanation for the variation.

This study revealed that zinc intake inadequacy was 92.1%. It aligns with the study conducted in Tanzania 15 and Ghana 14 , but is lower than the study conducted in the Tigray region of Ethiopia 19 and Guatemala 10 . This finding surpasses the findings of studies conducted in the Oromia region 20 and Butajira District of Ethiopia 18 , as well as in the Philippines 11 . The reason behind this difference could be associated with the variances in food choices across different regions, resulting in corresponding variations in zinc levels.

In the current study, it was found that there was a high prevalence of selenium intake inadequacy among 61.2% of children. This percentage is significantly greater than what has been reported in previous studies conducted in the Philippines 11 and Guatemala 10 . The significant difference in prevalence suggests that there are distinct factors contributing to this disparity. One potential explanation could be variations in dietary practices and selenium availability across geographical regions. Factors like soil composition, agricultural practices, and local food preferences can have a significant impact on the selenium content of food sources that children consume.

In a wider context, a variety of factors might contribute to the diversity shown in research findings regarding micronutrient intake in children. These include variations in the measurement of dietary intake, the methods used for assessment, and the thresholds for indicator scores; population characteristics that are explained by variances in demographic traits like socioeconomic status, cultural practices, and education levels; regional variations in the kinds of food produced and consumed; and nutrient concentration in the soil.

The odds of micronutrient intake inadequacy were 2.8 times higher among children aged 6–8 months as compared to children aged 9–23 months. The delayed introduction of complementary feeding could be part of the explanation, and this in turn may be attributed to various factors such as knowledge, attitude, culture, and beliefs. The transition from exclusive breastfeeding to semi-solid or solid food can also pose challenges for both the child and the caregiver. Infants at this stage are often cautious about consuming certain foods, have small appetites, and are exploring new flavors and textures. This can result in insufficient nutrient intake, and in some cases, the introduction of solid foods may lead to a decrease in milk consumption. This is supported by other studies conducted on the dietary intake of children 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59

Children with paternal education of unable to read and write and able to read and write were 3.1 and 2.4 times more likely to have micronutrient intake inadequacy than children with paternal education of primary school completed and above, respectively. The education level of parents is associated with limited knowledge about nutrition, parenting habits, and socioeconomic issues. Parents with low levels of education might not possess the necessary understanding of proper dietary requirements for their children and might be less likely to provide a balanced and nutritious diet. An educated parent may readily accept and practice the IYCF counseling and education services offered by healthcare providers. Financial difficulties and food insecurity are common problems for families with lower educational attainment, which may restrict their access to a wide variety of wholesome dietary options. Additional studies on children's dietary intake support this 56 , 59 .

The likelihood of micronutrient intake inadequacy was 1.8 times higher among children from mothers who had an unfavorable nutrition-related attitude than among children from mothers who had a favorable attitude. The attitude of mothers towards nutrition greatly influences their children's dietary habits and choices. Mothers may unintentionally overlook key nutrients needed for the growth and development of their children. Moreover, the eating habits and attitudes of mothers can influence their children's food preferences and behaviors.

The present study presents a comprehensive overview of the intake of essential micronutrients among children aged 6–23 months. The quantity of these nutrients consumed by children during this period plays a crucial role in their growth, development, and future well-being. Nonetheless, relying solely on a single recall spanning 24 h may introduce certain inaccuracies at the individual level due to day-to-day and seasonal variations in dietary patterns and memory biases. However, to address this potential bias, great efforts were made to incorporate standardized quality-control procedures throughout the entire study, involving highly trained nutrition experts. In addition, the study does not include dietary intake data from the days of special events. For low- and middle-income countries, the validity of this method has been established 60 .

Conclusions

Inadequate intake of micronutrients was shown to be highly prevalent among children aged 6–23 months. This problem can have a significant short- and long-term impact on the overall health and development of these young individuals since these specific micronutrients play a crucial role in various body functions. Child age, paternal education, and maternal nutrition-related attitude were significantly associated with micronutrient intake inadequacy. Integrating community-guided nutrition interventions is critical to address the issue of inadequate intake of micronutrients. To empower parents to make informed choices regarding their children′s dietary habits, it is critical to raise their nutrition-related knowledge and attitude toward better nutrition.

Data availability

The datasets discussed in this article are currently inaccessible as they are required for additional analysis. However, upon a justified request, the data set containing particular variables will be provided. For inquiries about accessing the datasets, kindly reach out to YM at [email protected].

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Healthy Food Africa project for providing the funds to cover the study costs. We also appreciate the efforts exerted by the supervisors and data collectors to collect reliable data. The information that study participants contributed at the cost of their time is also greatly appreciated. We also express our sincere gratitude to the Faculty of Food and Chemical Engineering at Bahir Dar University, where standardization was implemented.

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, but not for authorship and/or publication of this article.

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Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia

Yonatan Menber & Netsanet Fentahun

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YM: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. TB: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing. NF: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing.

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Menber, Y., Belachew, T. & Fentahun, N. Micronutrient intake inadequacies in Northwest Ethiopian children aged 6–23 months. Sci Rep 14 , 20732 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-68381-z

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Received : 19 April 2024

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Published : 05 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-68381-z

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• Dietary intake
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• Northwest Ethiopia

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