Group creativity: Divergent and convergent thinking during an inquiry- and design-based project in secondary education

Abstract

This study addresses group creativity of adolescents (aged 12 to 14 years). The aim is to shed light on their divergent and convergent thinking processes during an inquiry- and design-based project in secondary education. To meet this aim, we examined how divergent and convergent thinking emerged in students’ group conversations. Audio-recordings of 11 student groups over a one-hour session were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. Our findings reveal that within a single lesson in which ideas were generated and visualized, instances of both divergent and convergent thinking patterns were found across student group conversations throughout the lesson. Regarding divergent thinking, students collaboratively expanded upon one another’s ideas, often engaging in a process that involved supporting, criticizing, rejecting or providing arguments for ideas. In addition, by clarifying the context, adolescents stimulated each other to generate or elaborate ideas. Convergent thinking patterns mostly included agreeing with each other’s ideas, and metacognitive utterances that involved stimulating one another to write down or draw ideas. Rejecting each other’s ideas appeared more difficult. As divergent and convergent thinking patterns often overlapped, the findings in the current study imply that divergent and convergent thinking cannot be considered separate stages, but ongoing and intertwined processes of generation and evaluation of ideas. Teachers are advised to address adolescent creative group processes by stimulating students to take into account end-users during divergent thinking, and to openly communicate their opinions during convergent thinking in secondary education.