Creativity in Action: University Students Use Metacognition When Completing Creativity Exercises

Abstract

Abstract This qualitative study examines whether students used metacognitive strategies during creative action when completing a series of exercises designed to cultivate creativity. Twenty-three Honors students from the University of Washington, enrolled in a twelve-week interdisciplinary writing class entitled “What We Know and How We Know it,” participated in this study. Students completed fourteen interactive creativity exercises and wrote reflections about their experiences. I examined data generated from reflections about five foundational exercises using Glaveanu’s “Framework for Creativity” and Schraw & Dennison’s “Metacognitive Awareness Inventory.” I organized reflections from each exercise into separate activity systems and divided reflections into Thought Units (TUs). Then I coded and analyzed TUs using both frameworks. Based on the themes that emerged, I developed a third dataset. Analyzing co-occurrences across datasets enabled me to examine where students used metacognition within each activity system. To show creativity in context, I describe one exercise (Exercise #12 - Object Connections) as an activity system, highlighting students’ use of metacognition. This data helped me answer the questions a) does metacognition occur in creative activity systems, b) what type of metacognition occurs, and c) how does metacognition facilitate the interrelationship between elements in activity systems? Results indicated that students used metacognitive strategies (primarily “Monitoring Creative Activity”) across all elements of these creative activity systems. Findings suggest that metacognition would enhance Glaveanu’s “Framework of Creative Activity.” This has implications for formal and informal instruction, providing support for innovative programs designed to cultivate creativity as diverse student populations grapple with complex, ill-defined problems. Key words: creativity, metacognition, education, design thinking, abductive reasoning