Impact of teaching methods and support measures on the development of creative thinking in primary school students.

Abstract

This reflective article discusses the influence of teaching and supporting strategies on the emergence of creative thinking in primary school students through a review of the strategies’ focus. The reviewed works prove that the strategies of problem-based learning, project-based learning, constructivism, metacreative pedagogy, advance organizers, computational thinking, and cognitive tools can be applied to foster different aspects of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration of creative thinking. Moreover, the cultural, cognitive, and personal characteristics of students and the need for a participatory, discovery-based, idea-oriented, and problem-solving educational environment are taken into account. From the perspective of reflection, the primary school teachers may note the necessity to change their traditional practices to make the pedagogical process more active, flexible, and personalized. In such a case, the teachers are considered to be guides and facilitators of students’ creative thinking development who provide the learners with the material, resources, questions, interactions, and opportunities to build their own understanding and express their ideas. Therefore, developing such aspects of creative thinking as flexibility, fluency, originality, and elaboration requires the teachers’ special attention, profound practical implementation of the strategies, and the corresponding evaluation to measure the students’ progress and actualize the following pedagogical interventions.