Matching Items (40)
Description
The demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution require a workforce prepared to collaborate on the creation of new products, processes, and services in a rapidly changing economy. Driven by this context, higher education is challenged to prepare graduates with the requisite transferable skills they will need to succeed in their careers. The purpose of this action research study was to better understand how co-curricular leadership educators can prepare undergraduate students with the transferable skill of group creativity. An innovation, the Creative Leadership Design Studio (CLDS), was designed using the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of play and improv comedy to introduce students to group creativity. A design studio application allowed students to collaborate to creatively address a problem in their organizations. Through a qualitative multiple case study design, the CLDS was delivered to two groups of undergraduate students. Four sources of data were used to answer the research questions including video observations, written student reflections, researcher journal, and semi-structured interviews. Major findings suggest that the innovation helped students identify and practice the skill of group creativity. Furthermore, play and improv comedy were viewed positively as a way for students to strengthen group bonds and improve creative thinking. In reflection, students indicated that the innovation held relevance to their future careers in preparing them with multiple transferable skills including collaboration, creativity, communication, confidence, and adaptability. These findings indicate that co-curricular leadership workshops using play and improv comedy can positively influence student’s transferable skills growth.
ContributorsHill, Jessica (Author) / Marsh, Josephine (Thesis advisor) / Henriksen, Danah (Committee member) / Homayoun, Sogol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
This action research project was a concurrent mixed method case study design The purpose of this action research study was to begin to understand how an institution of higher education can best support creativity and innovation of university staff members. More specifically this study looked at the influence of a design thinking workshop on university staff perceived creative and innovative ability. Additionally, this study looked at the influence of individual attributes on staff creativity, and the influence of organizational attributes on staff innovation. Amabile and Pratt’s Dynamic Component Model of Creativity and Innovation in Organizations informed this study. Participants for this study were recruited from the Educational Outreach and Student Services division of Arizona State University at the Downtown Phoenix campus. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using a Creativity and Innovation Survey (CIS) and individual interviews. The Creativity and Innovation Survey was distributed to staff before and after they participated in a two module design thinking workshop. Interviews with staff occurred after the conclusion of the workshops. In responses to the CIS and in interview staff had a strong belief in their ability to be creative and innovative in the workplace. A correlational analysis of CIS data indicated that a positive and significant relationship existed between creativity and individual attributes, as well as between, innovation and organizational attributes. Staff also expressed these relationships during interviews. The themes of collaboration, supervision, and resources each emerged from the interview data as important influencers of staff creativity and innovation. Although staff expressed there was a value in the design thinking workshops during interviews, a significant difference was not found in staffs’ perceived creativity and innovation after participating in the design thinking workshop. Implications for practice and for future research are discussed.
ContributorsMorgan, Chad William (Author) / Judson, Eugene (Thesis advisor) / Kim, Jeongeun (Committee member) / Anderson, Derrick (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
In this three-article dissertation, I explore what it means for teachers to be designers in three different ways. Each article can stand on its own, but taken together, they paint a rich and nuanced picture of the relationship between teachers and design. The first article is an analysis of a decade of literature on teachers and design seeking to answer the question, “What does it mean for a teacher to be described as a designer, or for the act of teaching to be considered an act of design?” The analysis combined an interpretive content analysis of central terms and constructs with a network analysis of co-authorship and citation practices. The results highlighted 10 strands of literature around teachers and design, each describing a different perspective on what, how, when, and why teachers design.
The second article focuses on a design-based professional development (PD) program I conducted with four teachers in a rural junior high school. The program was designed to support teachers in approaching problems of practice in designerly ways, including exploring problems using various epistemic perspectives. Using an embedded case analysis approach, I found that although each teacher interpreted the program differently, all described outcomes related to coming to know in new ways, developing a deeper understanding of students, and being impacted at a personal level. These outcomes could be interpreted as a type of sensemaking, where teachers came to re-interpret the past and present in ways that allowed them to shape the future. Sensemaking was supported through epistemic diversity and the acts of framing common in design practice.
The third article is a scholarly essay arguing that the PD program and its implementation suggest design is not only about creating things but is also about seeing and addressing the indeterminacy inherent in complex situations of practice. Designers interact with this indeterminacy through imposing a frame on the situation and interpreting the results. When teachers are designers, they are empowered to integrate their personal and professional selves with the design situation, all while maintaining a form of skeptical optimism within complex and shifting contexts.
ContributorsWarr, Melissa (Author) / Mishra, Punyashloke (Thesis advisor) / Anderson, Katherine (Committee member) / Jordan, Michelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
There is a long, ongoing search for the best way to measure and promote creativity. In this study, participant’s self-reported interdependence with elicited members of their social life (Same-Sex Best Friend, Same-Sex Acquaintance, Sibling (or Relative), and Enemy) were collected alongside their performance on several iterations of J.P. Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task. It was predicted that higher scores obtained on the fitness interdependence scale would predict higher scores on the creativity tasks, and lower scores on the former would also predict lower scores on the latter. Ultimately, the results did not support our hypothesis that creative efficiency is predicted by an individual’s self-reported interdependence with members of their social circle. Although higher scores on the Same-Sex Best Friend Interdependence, Sibling (Relative) Interdependence, Acquaintance Interdependence, and Enemy Interdependence categories were found to significantly predict a higher number of alternative uses submitted in a creativity task, the fact that these four subcategories predicted the Total Volume score and not the Total Originality score shows that a better design, and more robust methods, must be used to investigate the relationship between interdependence and creative outcomes.
ContributorsTavarez, Aaron (Author) / Aktipis, Athena (Thesis director) / Munoz Castro, Andres (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Bipolar disorder will affect an estimated 4.4% of adults in the U.S (Bipolar Disorder, 2017). This study addresses the hypothesis that individuals endorsing mania symptoms also tend to show increased creativity. There has been some empirical support linking mania and creativity, as well as anecdotal evidence of highly creative individuals posthumously being diagnosed with some form of bipolar disorder. To our knowledge, however, no prior studies have sought to link specific symptoms of mania with creativity. Participants in this study completed two separate creativity tasks, measuring convergent and divergent thinking, respectively; the Remote Associates Test (RAT) and the Alternate Uses Test (AUT). Two questionnaires followed: The Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Scale (BIS/BAS; Carver & White, 1994) with subscales for Drive, Fun Seeking and Reward Responsiveness and the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS; Stanton, McArtor & Watson, 2017) with subscales for an individual’s level of Modesty, Charisma, Activation, Intellectual Confidence and Lability. Multiple regression analyses revealed that scores on Activation, Intellectual Confidence, and Modesty significantly predicted creative test scores. Future studies may seek to replicate the study with a different community or use different measures of creativity.
ContributorsBreiten, Riley (Co-author, Co-author) / Shiota, Michelle (Thesis director) / Presson, Clark (Committee member) / Gruber, June (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Objective: A recent electroencephalogram (EEG) study of adults with dyslexia showed that individuals with dyslexia have diminished auditory sensory gating compared to typical controls. Previous studies done involving intoxication and its effect on sensory gating and creativity have shown that there is a positive correlation between creativity (divergent thinking problem solving) and sensory gating deficiency. With previous study findings, the link between dyslexia and sensory gating deficiency and the link between sensory gating deficiency and creativity have been shown, but not the link between dyslexia and creativity. This pilot study aims to address this knowledge gap using event-related potentials.
Methods: Two adults with dyslexia and 4 control adults participated in an auditory gating test using tone pairs. Latencies and Amplitudes for the N100 and P200 responses were recorded and analyzed. Participants were also administered the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA), a test of creative ability designed to evaluate divergent thinking in individuals. Results were averaged and compared.
Results: The averaged difference in measured N100 amplitudes between tone 1 and tone 2 was significantly larger in the control group compared to the difference observed in the dyslexia group. In particular, one participant with dyslexia who had low scores on a task of rapid word recognition also showed no evidence of gating at the N100 component, whereas the other participant with dyslexia with good word recognition scores showed evidence of intact gating. The averaged difference in measured P200 amplitude between tone 1 and tone 2 was larger in the dyslexia group compared to the control group; however, the difference was small enough to be considered insignificant. The total average ATTA score for the control group was higher than the average of the dyslexia group. This difference in total average was less than one point on a 106-point scale.
Conclusions: Neural sensory gating occurs approximately 100 ms after the onset of a stimulus and is diminished in adults with dyslexia who also have deficits in rapid word recognition. There is a difference in creativity, in terms of divergent thinking, between those with dyslexia and those without (controls scored higher on average); however, the difference is not significant (less than one point). Dyslexia scores were more consistent than controls.
Methods: Two adults with dyslexia and 4 control adults participated in an auditory gating test using tone pairs. Latencies and Amplitudes for the N100 and P200 responses were recorded and analyzed. Participants were also administered the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA), a test of creative ability designed to evaluate divergent thinking in individuals. Results were averaged and compared.
Results: The averaged difference in measured N100 amplitudes between tone 1 and tone 2 was significantly larger in the control group compared to the difference observed in the dyslexia group. In particular, one participant with dyslexia who had low scores on a task of rapid word recognition also showed no evidence of gating at the N100 component, whereas the other participant with dyslexia with good word recognition scores showed evidence of intact gating. The averaged difference in measured P200 amplitude between tone 1 and tone 2 was larger in the dyslexia group compared to the control group; however, the difference was small enough to be considered insignificant. The total average ATTA score for the control group was higher than the average of the dyslexia group. This difference in total average was less than one point on a 106-point scale.
Conclusions: Neural sensory gating occurs approximately 100 ms after the onset of a stimulus and is diminished in adults with dyslexia who also have deficits in rapid word recognition. There is a difference in creativity, in terms of divergent thinking, between those with dyslexia and those without (controls scored higher on average); however, the difference is not significant (less than one point). Dyslexia scores were more consistent than controls.
ContributorsDuran, Isaac (Author) / Peter, Beate (Thesis director) / Daliri, Ayoub (Committee member) / Rogalsky, Corianne (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The work environment can have a measurable impact on the extent to which a person generates new and potentially useful ideas. The present study tested a comprehensive model of personality and employee creativity, moderated by the work environment. I proposed moderation effects that physical and social-organizational elements in the work environment as well as workplace flexibility may have on employee creativity. Participants (N = 81) were invited to take an online survey examining personality traits, the work environment, and creativity. Results showed that openness to experience was a significant predictor of employee creativity. Findings also suggested that the relationship between personality and employee creativity is altered by social-organizational elements in the work environment. Specifically, employees with high levels of openness displayed more divergent thinking and creative behavior in the office work environment when levels of realized social-organizational elements were high. Additionally, employees with high levels of extraversion engaged in less creative behaviors in the home work environment when levels of realized social-organizational elements were very low. The relationship between personality and employee creativity is also altered by the perceived importance of social-organizational elements in the workplace in general. Findings revealed that employees with high levels of openness displayed more creative behavior and ideational behavior when the perceived importance of social-organizational elements in the workplace in general was high. Conversely, findings revealed that employees with high levels of extraversion displayed less creative behavior and ideational behavior when the perceived importance of social-organizational elements in the workplace in general was low. Given the lack of research exploring moderating effects of the work environment on creativity, further research is recommended to investigate the impact of both physical and social-organizational elements and workplace flexibility on employee creativity, the ability to generate novel and potentially useful ideas.
ContributorsDongell, Christine (Author) / Trinh, Mai P. (Thesis advisor) / McCain, Kate (Committee member) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This novel study on children investigates separate constructs of child development: adjunctive behavior, curiosity, and creativity. The hypotheses were that there would be 1) a positive correlation between overall levels of adjunctive behavior and curiosity; (2) a positive correlation between appropriate adjunctive behavior, creativity, and curiosity; and (3) a negative correlation between inappropriate adjunctive behavior, creativity, and curiosity. The study took place over two visits via Zoom, split into two testing sessions. Eighteen children, ages 3.5-6.5, with ranging demographics (race, bilingualism, and exposure to another language) participated in the study. The children played an online aquarium game in the first session (50-85 minutes). They explored five different fish tanks to search for sea creatures. In the second visit (65-100 minutes), children completed thinking and drawing tasks, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Lifespan Self-Esteem Scale. Caregivers received a $10 online gift card for their child’s participation. The data showed no significant correlations but trends between adjunctive behavior, curiosity, and creativity. The study lacked a greater sample size, which may have caused lower correlations. For future studies, adjunctive behavior could be studied within the school setting and focus on how children can use their adjunctive behavior to maintain their creativity and curiosity.
ContributorsJohnson, Nicole (Author) / Lucca, Kelsey (Thesis director) / Kupfer, Anne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
Creativity is increasingly cited as an educational goal in many international contexts and as a facet of academic and economic success. However, many myths surround creativity that impede its facilitation in the classroom: it is an individual talent, not teachable, and not relevant to adult life outside of artistic domains. Further, perceptions of creativity are largely informed by treatment in North American contexts. In second language instruction, linguistic creativity in particular faces greater hurdles for recognition and value, as language learners’ creative language use is often treated as error. In this paper, I argue that creative pedagogies and second language instruction can inform each other; creative pedagogy can lead to greater recognition of the creative power of language learners, and second language research can provide a cultural lens through which to gain understanding of how creativity is enacted in language. To argue that creativity facilitates language learning and is a necessary component of proficiency, I employ B. Kachru’s (1985) notion of bilingual creativity to demonstrate the ubiquity of linguistic creativity in the lives of bilingual language users. With support from Carter (2016) and G. Cook’s (2000) works on everyday creative language and language play, respectively, I demonstrate the value of linguistic creativity for language learning and language socialization. I end by suggesting five guidelines for second language instructors interested in implementing a creative pedagogy framework: (1) promote reflection and noticing in learning and creativity, (2) offer authentic models of linguistic creativity, (3) provide emotion language and multiple methods for emotional expression in interaction, (4) allow for a fusion of L1 and L2 linguistic and cultural knowledge, and (5) respond actively to opportunities for collaborative creativity.
ContributorsWinemiller, Carolena Isabel (Author) / Matsuda, Aya (Thesis advisor) / Gelderen, Elly van (Committee member) / James, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Experiential learning has gained the attention of higher education institutions, specifically business schools, as a way to bring the business world into the classroom. It has become a fundamental methodology for designing business schools' curricula that promotes 21st-century skills like problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork. This study evaluates an experiential learning-based undergraduate business program and its signature entrepreneurship course. The goal is to understand how the entrepreneurship course and its experiential learning component, design sprint, influence first-year students' entrepreneurial mindset, creative self-efficacy and teamwork self-efficacy. Additionally, this study aims to understand the perceptions of first-year undergraduate students of their experiential activities and how they make sense of these experiences.
This action research study draws from theories of learning and psychology, such as Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) by Kolb (1984, 2015); mindset theory by Dweck et al. (1995) and Dweck (2006); self-efficacy by Bandura (1977, 1997); and figured worlds by Holland et al. (1998). These theories support the research questions by emphasizing the collaborative nature of learning, how beliefs about learning, intelligence, and capabilities influence an individual's behavior, and how the environment shapes an individual's interpretation of the world.
This mixed-methods action research study combines quantitative data in the form of a pre and post-intervention survey. The qualitative data was gathered from interviews that focused on understanding the experiences of participating students and their perceptions of their learning after the intervention workshop. Additionally, qualitative data included a feedback survey after the workshop to learn students' perceptions of the intervention activities.
The results of this study suggest that experiential learning activities support students' growth of their creative skills and help them view entrepreneurship from a user-centered perspective. Additionally, results suggested that short-term experiential projects tend to inhibit students from growing in their teamwork skills as they focus all their attention to their project. Lastly, results suggest experiential learning programs can become a space for collaboration, skill development, and motivated students. However, it can also lead to students feeling frustrated and alienated due to the professional codes permeating experiential settings. The study concludes with several implications for practitioners.
ContributorsFrias Vargas, Alfonsina (Author) / Carrillo, Juan (Thesis advisor) / Henriksen, Danah (Thesis advisor) / Mishra, Punya (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023