Teaching creativity to undergraduate engineering students

Abstract

Over the recent years, it has become more and more apparent that creativityis a skill equally important for both technical and artistic careers. However,methods for teaching creativity that work for arts students are not alwaysappropriate for engineering students. The present study outlines theadaptation of a creativity development session from an artistic degreecurriculum (Mascarenas, 2019), to make it suitable for teaching toengineering students. The session was run three times with 1st and 2nd yearengineering students at a Russell Group university in the north of England,and both qualitative and quantitative feedback was collected from studentsafter the session. The main findings indicate the importance of a trustingrelationship between students and the educator, the need for balance betweendelivering a memorable experience and offering support, and the significanceof subsequent reflection.