Teaching Practices for Creativity at University: A Study in Portugal and Brazil

Abstract

Creativity is nowadays seen as an essential feature in higher education. Nevertheless, there is a discrepancy between the need for creativity and what higher education classrooms provide. This study assessed the perceptions of 1599 higher education students from two countries (1059 Brazilian and 540 Portuguese students), from two academic domains (Sciences and Technologies -Sc&T; Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities -SScA&H), about the presence of creativity in their teachers' instruction and evaluation practices. The study's findings evidence interactive effects between the variables country and academic domain for most of the assessed factors: encouragement of new ideas, climate for the expression of ideas, and interest in students' learning. Brazilian Sc&T students presented more negative perceptions of their classroom environments when compared to SScA&H students; Portuguese students showed opposite patterns of results. Some hypothetical explanations are discussed and future directions for research are presented.Keywords: higher education, creativity, teaching work, students, culture Práticas Docentes para Criatividade na Universidade: Estudo em Portugal e no BrasilResumo: Criatividade é atualmente tomada como aspecto essencial na Educação Superior. Há, contudo, discrepância entre a necessidade de criatividade e o que a universidade proporciona. Este estudo avaliou percepções de 1599 alunos universitários de dois países (1059 brasileiros e 540 portugueses), de duas áreas curriculares (Ciências e Tecnologias -Sc&T; Ciências Sociais, Artes e Humanidades -SscA&H) sobre a presença de criatividade nas práticas docentes, instrucionais e avaliativas, de que são alvo. Os resultados mostraram efeitos interativos significativos entre as variáveis país e área curricular para a maioria dos fatores avaliados: encorajamento de novas ideias, clima para expressão de ideias e interesse pela aprendizagem dos alunos. Os estudantes brasileiros de Sc&T mostraram percepções mais negativas da sala de aula, comparados com os de SScA&H; os alunos portugueses obtiveram padrões opostos nos resultados. Algumas hipóteses explicativas são discutidas e são apresentadas orientações para pesquisa futura.Palavras-chave: ensino superior, criatividade, trabalho docente, estudantes, cultura Prácticas Docentes para Creatividad en la Universidad: Estudio en Portugal y BrasilResumen: La creatividad está actualmente considerada como aspecto esencial en la Educación Superior. Sin embargo, existe discrepancia entre la necesidad de creatividad y lo que la universidad ofrece. Este estudio evaluó percepciones de 1.599 estudiantes universitarios (1.059 de Brasil y 540 de Portugal) de dos áreas curriculares (Ciencia y Tecnología -Sc&T; Ciencias Sociales, Artes y Humanidades -SscA&T) acerca de la presencia de creatividad en las prácticas docentes, instructivas y evaluativas dirigidas a ellos. Los resultados mostraron efectos de interacción significativos entre las variables país y área curricular para la mayoría de los factores evaluados: foment...

“I would be more creative if...”: Are there perceived barriers to college students’ creative expression according to gender?

“…The Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity, originally developed in Brazil by Alencar (1999), in its adapted version to Portugal (Morais, Almeida, Azevedo, Alencar, & Fleith, 2014) was applied. This inventory identifies dimensions that affect creative expression, starting from the formulation "I would be more creative if ....".…”

The role of creativity in graduate education according to students and professors

“…In this sense, the school is seen as a privileged context of opportunities to be developed. As it is in this environment that individuals spend most of their lives, it makes sense that several authors emphasize the importance of the implementation of creative skills, in several knowledge domains, throughout the school trajectory (Alencar & Fleith, 2016;Alencar, Fleith, & Pereira, 2017;Cropley, 2016;Morais et al, 2017;Omdal & Graefe, 2017;Souza, Witter, & Araújo, 2014). In Brazil, according to Nakano and Wechsler (2007), most of the studies carried out have been conducted in the context of basic education, compared to the research carried out in the higher education context.…”

Avaliação de Estudantes quanto a Práticas Docentes para Criatividade na Pós-graduação

“…Most research has been conducted in the context of basic education, in contrast to the small number of studies in higher education, especially in Brazil, according to Nakano and Wechsler (2007). The research involving creativity in the university environment focuses largely on undergraduate education (Alencar & Fleith, 2010;Fadel & Wechsler, 2011;Hosseini, 2011;Jackson et al, 2006;Morais et al, 2017). Also relevant is to examining the place of creativity in stricto sensu graduate education.…”