Creative Learning Environments in Education--A Systematic Literature Review.

By D. Davies, D. Jindal‐Snape, C. Collier, R. Digby, P. Hay, A. Howe. 2013

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This paper reports on a systematic review of 210 pieces of educational research, policy and professional literature relating to creative environments for learning in schools, commissioned by Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS). Despite the volume of academic literature in this field, the team of six reviewers found comparatively few empirical studies published in the period 2005–2011 providing findings addressing the review objectives. There was, however a reasonable weight of research evidence to support the importance of the following factors in supporting creative skills development in children and young people: flexible use of space and time; availability of appropriate materials; working outside the classroom/school; ‘playful’ or ‘games-bases’ approaches with a degree of learner autonomy; respectful relationships between teachers and learners; opportunities for peer collaboration; partnerships with outside agencies; awareness of learners’ needs; and non-prescriptive planning. The review also found evidence for impact of creative environments on pupil attainment and the development of teacher professionalism. LTS intend to use the review as a basis for recommendations to Scottish schools in promoting creativity within Curriculum for Excellence. However, the findings of the review and methodological gaps in the reviewed studies have implications for policy, practice and research internationally.

Subfields: Education, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bcbee47af0f2bd52fbedfb5eeae55a473713dc58

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In Education

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Approaches to Measuring Creativity: A Systematic Literature Review (2017, background): “In a systematic review of studies relating to creative learning environments, Davies et al. (2013) determined key characteristics of school environments that enhance creativity, including an appropriate physical environment, availability of various materials, using outdoor environments, an exciting…”
Creative Learning: A Fresh Look (2016, background): “Although researchers (e.g., Davies et al., 2013) have identified features of the classroom environment that tend to support creative expression, additional research is needed to continue to understand how teachers can design the kinds of creativity-supportive learning environments that will support…”
Classroom contexts for creativity (2014, background): “Davies et al. (2012) provided a synthesized definition used specifically for understanding the creative learning environment.”
Learning environments that support student creativity: Developing the SCALE (2018, background): “This includes the psychological, pedagogical, and physical factors of any place where learning occurs, including virtual and non-traditional spaces (e.g. museums or gardens) (Jindal-Snape et al., 2013).”
STEAM-Project-Based Learning Integration to Improve Elementary School Students' Scientific Literacy on Alternative Energy Learning (2020, background): “Davies et al. (2013) states that knowledge formed through learning science supports the literacy of students involved in practice.”
Creative potential in educational settings: its nature, measure, and nurture (2015, background): “High expectations, mutual respect, the modelling of creative attitudes, flexibility, and dialogue are among the most important features of the teacher–learner relationship for creativity (Davies et al. 2013).”