Creative Mindset+Design Education

Qualitative research: Teaching a creative mindset in design education

Creative mindset concept map

Abstract

Mindsets create powerful intrinsic motivations within people as antecedents to their behavior. The idea of a mindset is that the most basic qualities can be developed through people’s effort. Creativity is one of the most basic qualities in human beings, and according to the mindset concept, even though some people may exhibit lower levels of creativity, or may not use it as much as others, they can actually be creative if they work toward acquiring a creative mindset. This article addresses what factors influence students’ creative mindset, and how educators can teach a creative mindset to students. A qualitative approach is used from semi-structured interviews with graduate students in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. The key finding is that focusing on active learning such as real-world problem-based learning and opportunities to support peers’ creative works help promote students’ interest, enjoyment and curiosity in their learning which can increase their creative mindset.

Purpose of the Study

Mindsets create powerful intrinsic motivations within people as antecedents to their behavior. My research interest began with the notion of mindsets. Carol Dweck (2006) generated the idea of a mindset, arguing that they can be developed. According to Dweck, there exist a growth mindset and a fixed mindset. In the fixed mindset, people believe that their basic qualities, such as their intelligence or talent, are fixed characteristics. They also believe that these inborn talents and intelligence lead to their success without effort, so they spend their time proving their intelligence or talents instead of developing them. In the growth mindset, however, people believe that their most basic qualities can be developed through their efforts (Dweck, 2006). A growth mindset creates a love of learning and a flexibility that are essential for great performance and achievement. Creativity is one of the basic qualities of human beings that can be improved through effort. This means that even though some people may exhibit lower levels of creativity, or may not use it as much as others, they can actually be creative if they work toward acquiring a creative mindset. In particular, design areas require high level of creativity; therefore, every time individuals undertake creative projects, they need to have a creative mindset. How, then, can design students have (develop) a creative mindset? 

Questions

1. How can educators teach a creative mindset? (What kinds of relationships exist between teaching style and changing a creative mindset?) 

2. What factors influence students’ creative-mindset in an educational context? 

3. How does a creative mindset affect students’ performance in the classroom? (Are there any differences in mindsets between low and high creative performance?) 

QualitativeResearch_creativeMindset.pdf

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