Thinking Skills and Creativity最新文献

{"title":"Children and adults differ in non-linear indicators of cognitive transitions solving of an insight problem","authors":"Sebastian Vásquez-Pinto ,&nbsp;Sofía Gálvez-Cienfuegos ,&nbsp;Diana Castillo ,&nbsp;Diego Morales-Bader ,&nbsp;Ralf F. A. Cox ,&nbsp;Ramón D. Castillo","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2026.102133","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2026.102133","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Recent research reported that the entropy and determinism of pupillary diameter fluctuations differentiated children who solved an insight problem from those who did not, particularly during the final stages of problem solving. Although these findings are novel, children remain understudied in a field where most investigations have focused on adults. Given the scarcity of comparisons between these groups, the present study aimed to examine differences in performance and eye-tracking metrics in both children and adults who either solved or failed to solve an insight problem. The sample of children from the previous study was compared with a new sample of 80 adults who attempted to solve the 8-coin problem. The frequency of solutions, the proportion of fixations, and measures of pupillary fluctuations (entropy, determinism, and <em>β</em>-scaling exponent) were compared across groups. Results showed that adults solved the problem more frequently than children. In addition, adults and solvers exhibited more focused and centralized fixation patterns across the problem setup, whereas children and non-solvers displayed broader and more disorganized observation patterns. Moreover, solvers were characterized by higher entropy than non-solvers in both children and adults during the final stages of problem solving. Determinism differentiated solvers from non-solvers only among children over time, but not among adults. Although adults’ <em>β</em> values were higher than those of children at certain windows, the <em>β</em>-scaling exponent for both groups was described by brown noise. Previous findings suggest that the anticipatory dynamics of pupillary fluctuations during insight problem solving unfold similarly in both children and adults. Nevertheless, adults exhibit more predictable and structured variability in pupillary fluctuations, accompanied by constrained yet efficient observation patterns that result in higher performance. In contrast, children display more entropic and variable pupillary dynamics, accompanied by unconstrained yet less efficient observation patterns, leading to lower performance than that of adults.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102133"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938624","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fostering thinking skills: Transitioning from routine to creative design spaces","authors":"Yi-Teng Shih,&nbsp;Luqian Wang,&nbsp;Chun Wang To","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102048","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102048","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many empirical studies on creativity focus on designers’ cognitive design processes. However, the existing research on design creativity outcomes does not provide sufficient information. This study addresses this gap by investigating the characteristics of award-winning student designs, which represent a recognized standard of creative excellence. Employing an inductive methodology, this research analyzed expert evaluations of student design work. A rigorous inductive thematic analysis, using a dual-coder protocol, was performed on 353 creative characteristics identified by experts across 100 assessments. This analysis yielded three primary variables for defining creative design outcomes: Aesthetic, Usability, and Impact. These variables were integrated into a visual pedagogical model adapted from Gero’s creative design space model. In a practical application of this framework, student participants subsequently secured 23 international design awards (e.g., Red Dot Award, European Product Design Award) between 2021 and 2024. The results indicate that the proposed model is an effective tool for enhancing student design creativity, team communication, and confidence. This research contributes a validated, outcome-oriented framework for design education, offering a structured approach for cultivating and assessing high-level design innovation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102048"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145442522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Innovative learning approaches to develop students’ Design thinking skills through digital technology and local wisdom in border patrol police schools","authors":"Parama Kwangmuang ,&nbsp;Sarisa Kosum ,&nbsp;Paritchaya Sarakan ,&nbsp;Lan Thi Nguyen","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102047","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102047","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Educational institutions in remote areas face significant challenges in providing quality education comparable to urban settings, particularly in developing design thinking skills essential for 21st century learning. This research addresses the issue by implementing creative learning strategies utilizing digital and local wisdom within the Border Patrol Police Schools situated in the Northeastern region of Thailand. The design and development process followed the Design and Development Research framework, specifically the Product and Tool research, including two phases: design and development process, and validation process. A learning innovation was developed, comprising of ten components: 1) Problem situation, 2) Learning mission, 3) Consult, 4) Related cases, 5) Sharing center, 6) Learning resource, 7) Practice design thinking center, 8) Search, 9) Scaffolding, and 10) Exhibition center. The evaluation shows strong positive outcomes for the tech-integrated, local knowledge-based learning approach. Components like Problematic situations (x̄ = 4.73), Related cases (x̄ = 4.80), and Sharing center (x̄ = 4.80) received high ratings. Internal validation by three experts yielded an average score of 4.55, confirming the model’s appropriateness. External validation from 24 students resulted in an average design thinking score of 4.61. This research highlights the value of combining digital tools with local knowledge to enhance design thinking in under-resourced schools, offering important implications for educators and policymakers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102047"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145442521","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparative analysis of structured and problem-based metacognitive scaffoldings in collaborative programming activities for primary school students","authors":"Haiyan Huang ,&nbsp;Mengmeng Cheng ,&nbsp;Yanan Zeng","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102062","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102062","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The evidence supporting how metacognitive scaffolding effectively fosters collaborative programming is increasing; however, the specific type of metacognitive scaffolding most beneficial in this context remains unclear. To further investigate this, the present study utilized a quasi-experimental design to compare the effects of structured and problem-based metacognitive scaffolding on collaborative programming among primary school students. Their impact on students’ metacognitive behaviors during learning, as well as on learning outcomes (metacognitive abilities and programming project scores), was examined, which included retention of any improvements in metacognitive abilities after the removal of scaffolding. The findings reveal that both structured and problem-based metacognitive scaffolding significantly enhanced students’ metacognitive abilities (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.05), with no significant difference in the retention of these abilities. Neither type of scaffolding enhanced students’ programming project scores. However, the problem-based metacognitive scaffolding group demonstrated more metacognitive behaviors than the structured group (282, 56.9% vs. 214, 43.1%) (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01), in particular, in terms of enacting strategies (163, 58.8% vs.114, 41.2%) (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) and monitoring and controlling (61, 63.5% vs. 35, 36.5%) (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.01) metacognitive behaviors. Guidelines for designing collaborative programming activities were developed based on these findings and are discussed in this study.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102062"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145579746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Augmenting EFL learners’ writing performance and perceptions: the pedagogical efficacy of teacher-mediated peer assessment","authors":"Alemayehu Leta Abo,&nbsp;Hailu Wubshet Degefu,&nbsp;Berhan Demeke Abeba","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102117","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102117","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Different studies designate the application of peer assessment is well-known within educational contexts. However, scholarly analysis into its pedagogical usefulness remains inconsistent, particularly within EFL writing environment. Consequently, this study investigates the efficacy of teacher-m<strong>e</strong>diated peer assessment in enhancing EFL students’ writing performance and perceptions. A non-equivalent control group pre-test and post-test quasi-experimental design was employed to address the research inquiries. The study involved two intact groups comprised 60 second-year students majoring in economics. These intact groups were assigned into experimental group (<em>N</em> = 30) and the other as the control group (<em>N</em> = 30) through a lottery method non-randomly. The students in the experimental group engaged in writing exercises focused on paragraph composition while receiving teacher-facilitated peer assessment, whereas their counterparts in the control group performed identical writing tasks but were exclusively evaluated through teacher assessment. Data were collected via pre- and post-writing tests. Moreover, Peer Assessment Perception Questionnaire (PAPQ) was administered to the experimental group participants to complement the data from the tests. The data from the tests were analysed using adjusted mean, one way MANCOVA with follow up ANCOVAs, whereas the PAPQ data were analyzed through descriptive statistics using mean and standard deviations. The results revealed that teacher-m<strong>e</strong>diated peer assessment significantly improved the experimental group students’ writing performance in terms of content (partial <em>ŋ2</em> = 0.38) and grammar (partial <em>ŋ2</em> = 0.36). However, the improvements in paragraph organization, vocabulary, and mechanics were statistically insignificant suggesting longer-term interventions and more directed strategies to considerably influence these writing aspects. The survey results also disclosed teacher-mediated peer assessment enhances students’ writing, critical thinking, and social skills while fostering reflective, self-regulated, and collaborative learning, signifying the integration of teacher-mediated peer assessment into the writing curriculum.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102117"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145883799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Patterns in perceptions of learning to draw with guidance and conceptual scaffolding: Insights from a multi-cohort self-reported study","authors":"Vicente Lopez-Chao","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102053","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102053","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study explores how a multi-cohort sample of students perceived learning to draw in a first-year course on environment drawing and concept art, taught from the field of architectural graphics within a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Creation, Animation, and Videogames. The course applies a scaffolded, theory-integrative approach in which analytical case studies precede visual production, and drawing is developed through phased workflows that mirror professional design processes. A mixed-methods, multi-cohort analysis was conducted with 245 undergraduate students across five academic years, based on post-course self-reports of perceived starting competence in drawing, motivational engagement, and the perceived value of structured drawing and the relevance of theory in drawing practice. Using clustering and ANOVA, three exploratory perception-based learner profiles were identified: Enthusiastic Experts, Conceptual Learners, and Low-Engagement Learners. Students who began with lower self-assessed competence but placed greater importance to theoretical guidance and phased process reported the highest perceived drawing improvement, suggesting that reflective interaction with theory and workflow shapes how learning through drawing is experienced. While findings are limited to retrospective self-reports, the study provides exploratory evidence of how learner perceptions align with scaffolded and theory-integrative drawing pedagogy. These insights contribute to understanding drawing as a cognitive and reflective practice, offering an empirical basis for adaptive and perception-informed strategies in early-stage design education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102053"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145527138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shaping students’ creative problem-solving skills through cognitive activation strategies: The mediating role of mathematics anxiety and perseverance","authors":"Shengqing He ,&nbsp;Chunxia Qi ,&nbsp;Leifeng Xiao ,&nbsp;Jinsi Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102083","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102083","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the intricate relationships among cognitive activation strategies, mathematics anxiety, and perseverance in shaping students’ creative problem-solving skills. Using structural equation modeling to analyze survey data from 20,052 students in 72 secondary schools in China, this study reveals that (1) Cognitive activation strategies have a direct and significant impact on students’ creative problem-solving skills; (2) Mathematics anxiety and perseverance act as mediators in the relationship between cognitive activation strategies and students’ creative problem-solving skills, with perseverance exerting a more pronounced influence than mathematics anxiety; and (3) Mathematics anxiety and perseverance act as sequential mediators in the relationship between cognitive activation strategies and students’ creative problem-solving skills. The findings of this study shed productive insights into understanding the intricate relationships among pedagogical approaches, creative skills, and emotional and volitional factors. The implications of these findings for mathematics education practice are discussed, and possible avenues for future research are suggested.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102083"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145623969","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Teacher support and adolescent creativity: The mediating effect of MAOB methylation","authors":"Jinghuan Zhang ,&nbsp;Da Li ,&nbsp;Zekun Shen ,&nbsp;Xiaolei Yang ,&nbsp;Shun Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102097","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102097","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although teacher support has been regarded as an important social contextual factor affecting adolescent creativity, the exact biological mechanism mediating this effect remains unknown. In a sample of Chinese male adolescents, by employing figural divergent thinking tasks as a measure of creativity, this study examined whether DNA methylation of the monoamine oxidase B gene (<em>MAOB</em>) mediated the effect of teacher support on adolescent creativity. The results showed that <em>MAOB</em> gene-body methylation partially mediated the relationship between teacher support and creativity. These findings demonstrate the first evidence for the biological mechanism mediating the link between social context and adolescent creativity. It is expected that the findings of this study could provide new insights in understanding how social context becomes biologically embedded in adolescent creativity development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102097"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145747203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Corpus-assisted counterargumentation instruction: cultivating critical thinking via argumentative writing","authors":"Fulan LIU ,&nbsp;Mengchen ZOU ,&nbsp;Wenyun LUO","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102120","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102120","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Counterargumentation, the ability to consider and refute opposing viewpoints, is fundamental to critical thinking and argumentative writing, yet studies have consistently identified deficiencies in students’ counterarguments and have noted the insufficient pedagogical emphasis in this area. This quasi-experimental study investigates whether corpus technology, which facilitates inductive learning through exposure to authentic linguistic and rhetorical patterns, can enhance English-as-a-foreign language (EFL) learners’ counterargumentation, critical thinking, and argumentative writing. Participants were assigned to a control group receiving standard instruction and an experimental group utilizing corpus technology. An analysis of pre-/post-test essays using mixed methods revealed that the experimental group had significantly greater gains than the control group in argumentative writing (<em>d</em> = 0.73 vs. 0.40; <em>p</em> &lt; .001), critical thinking (<em>d</em> = 0.73 vs. 0.54; <em>p</em> &lt; .001) and the production of high-quality counterarguments/rebuttals (<em>p</em> &lt; .001). Post-test correlations further indicated that both the quality of counterarguments/rebuttals and their quantity were significantly associated with critical thinking (<em>p</em> &lt; .001 for both) and argumentative writing performance (<em>p</em> &lt; .001 for both) for the experimental and control groups. These results underscore the pedagogical value of corpus-assisted instruction for systematically developing counterarguing skills to enhance EFL learners’ critical thinking and writing proficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102120"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Validating LLM-based alternative uses test scoring across ages","authors":"Eran Hadas,&nbsp;Ben Avital-Lev,&nbsp;Arnon Hershkovitz","doi":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.tsc.2025.102066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Most creativity tests still rely on human raters, which makes large-scale assessment slow and expensive. We examined whether general-purpose large language models (LLMs) can replace human scoring for both flexibility and originality in Guilford’s Alternative Uses Test (AUT) across childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Three previously collected datasets—106 Grade 3–4 children answering for “chair,” 119 Grade 9 participants for “disposable cup,” and 618 adults for “brick” and “paperclip”—were rescored for flexibility (idea categories) and originality (rarity) using OpenAI’s GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, and O3 models. Using our suggested protocol, the automatic scores were compared with expert judgments. A domain-specific fine-tuned baseline (OCSAI) provided an additional benchmark. LLMs reproduced human flexibility scores with very high agreement (mean <em>r</em> = 0.87, ICC =0.92); automatically generated flexibility categories overlapped 75–85 % with human taxonomies. Originality agreement reached <em>r</em> = 0.78 in children, 0.73 in adolescents, and 0.80 in adults, matching or exceeding the fine-tuned model. Score distributions for both constructs followed theoretical developmental patterns and showed no detectable gender bias. These findings show that current off-the-shelf models can deliver accurate, unbiased AUT flexibility and originality scores from elementary school through adulthood without finetuning, enabling scalable classroom feedback and large-cohort creativity research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47729,"journal":{"name":"Thinking Skills and Creativity","volume":"60 ","pages":"Article 102066"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2026-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145579743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}