Creativity

Learner Variable · All learner variables
Evidence · 89 claims (61 show a difference, 22 mixed, 6 no difference) · 44 studies (13 causal, 11 review, 11 associational, 4 quant-synthesis, 3 design, 2 theoretical), q1–q3 · 10 of 44 report an effect size · 87 claims rest on one study

Description

Creativity as a learner characteristic is the ability to produce ideas that are both new and fitting. It is most often measured with divergent-thinking tests (how many and how varied the uses someone can find for an object). It correlates with intelligence and with achievement, including in mathematics, where generating several solution paths may deepen understanding. Creativity can also be an outcome that instruction aims at; this page is about learners who differ in it.

How strongly it relates to achievement

Mathematics. These are correlations across meta-analyses (Breit et al. 2025, a systematic review of 30 meta-analyses; overview [+W]): how strongly learners who differ on this characteristic differ in mathematics achievement, not how much changing it would change achievement. Many of these characteristics are correlated with one another, and the review is about mathematics only.

• Creativity r = .47 (k = 30), .51 in elementary and middle school against .39 in high school. Claim [+W]

Implications

Context

• Open-ended tasks with several solution paths give creative ability room to show.

Target Learners

• Learners whose strengths do not show on convergent tests.

Target Learning Objectives

• Problem solving and achievement.

Claims

• AI dependence is negatively associated with self-reported creativity among Chinese college students, with a residual direct effect after motivational mediators are controlled [+W] — instruction changes it
• AI-supported inquiry-based learning significantly improved secondary students' creative mathematical performance compared with traditional instruction [+M] — instruction changes it
• Both functional and existential GenAI dependence are positively associated with research creativity, each with significant direct and total effects [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Collaborative prompt use mediated the regulated-AI group's advantage over the general-AI group in independent originality [+W] — instruction changes it
• Critical thinking and human–AI collaboration quality jointly form a significant serial indirect pathway from GenAI dependence to research creativity, larger for functional than existential dependence [+M] — instruction changes it
• Critical thinking is the dominant indirect pathway linking functional GenAI dependence with research creativity, accounting for approximately 85% of its total indirect effect [+W] — instruction changes it
• Field-dependence-independence and figural creativity significantly predict spatial recall accuracy in both high school and college samples [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Free ChatGPT use boosts originality on the assisted creative task but the advantage disappears when assistance is removed [~W] — instruction changes it
• Functional dependence shows a substantially stronger positive association with graduate students' research creativity than existential dependence (β = 0.457 vs β = 0.147) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• GCLA use enhances higher-order thinking skills—critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity—compared with traditional ChatGPT use [+M] — instruction changes it
• Gen-AI's effect on HOT is strongest for problem-solving ability (g = 0.745), followed by critical thinking (g = 0.691), with a smaller effect on creativity (g = 0.444) [+M] — instruction changes it
• GenAI use in creative contexts tends toward regression to the mean: less skilled users improve while higher skilled users decline [~W] — instruction changes it
• GPT feedback in VR markedly improved problem-solving and critical thinking but had limited impact on creativity [-W] — instruction changes it
• In the SEM, GenAI dependence is positively associated with critical thinking (β = 0.492), human–AI collaboration quality (β = 0.538), and research creativity (β = 0.064), with satisfactory model fit [+W] — instruction changes it
• Intervention cohort scored significantly higher on creativity thinking, design skills, and problem solving, but not on presentation or attendance [+M] — instruction changes it
• Interviews with three science teachers corroborated the quantitative results, reporting perceived improvements in analytical reasoning, conceptual integration, inquiry-based exploration, and creative scientific thinking [+W] — instruction changes it
• Learner-level challenges of ChatGPT in STEAM IBL include over-reliance, inaccurate or irrelevant feedback, conceptual confusion, and diminished creativity [+M] — instruction changes it
• Learning with a ChatGPT-based flipped learning guiding approach significantly improves students’ performance, self-efficacy, learning attitudes, intrinsic motivation and creative thinking in a courseware project [+M] — instruction changes it
• LLM access boosts individual story creativity while significantly homogenising output across writers (review attribution) [~M] — instruction changes it
• LLM assistance can enhance employees' creativity, especially for those with skills to reflect on AI use [+W] — instruction changes it
• Male Chinese HSS students reported higher perceived GenAI gains in independent thinking, creativity and motivation, with minimal gender difference in performance [+W] — instruction changes it
• Most architecture students in the studios reported that the GenAI models used positively affected their creativity during the design process [+M] — instruction changes it
• Multi-step AI operations, not AI use alone, are positively associated with creativity of final design work [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Only about a third of design students report reduced creativity or project ownership from GenAI use [~M] — instruction changes it
• Overreliance on AWE may lower learners' critical thinking and creativity [~M] — instruction changes it
• Perceived effects of GenAI on independent thinking and creativity are polarized among Chinese HSS students, with substantial minorities reporting declines [~M] — instruction changes it
• Perceived gains in creativity, independent thinking and motivation rise sharply among students with more than three years of GenAI experience, though the comparison is cross-sectional [+W] — instruction changes it
• Primary studies report possible benefits of GenAI for children's divergent thinking, narrative creativity and creative self-efficacy, without confirmed efficacy [~M] — instruction changes it
• Prior research found CREACT significantly improved creative performance on poem and story tasks but had a low effect on a paradox task [~M] — instruction changes it
• Relative to traditional PBL, the AI-IVE-PBL model improves vocational students' design ability and creative ability [+W] — instruction changes it
• Short-term creativity interventions can be effective in changing creativity positively [+W] — instruction changes it
• Students perceive peer assessment-based game development as fostering deep learning in in-depth thinking, creativity and motivation [+W] — instruction changes it
• The regulated 'think first, ChatGPT later' group outperformed both other groups in independent originality on the unassisted task despite no assisted-task advantage [~M] — instruction changes it
• The regulated-AI group sustained originality across tasks while both other groups declined from the easier to the more complex task [~W] — instruction changes it
• The study's findings suggest AI-supported inquiry-based learning mainly supports creativity and affective development, with limited effect on problem-solving skills [+W] — instruction changes it
• Twenty-three 5th graders' creativity scores rise after nine CREACT drawing-arts lessons in a one-group pretest-posttest study without a control group (effect size .71) [+M] — instruction changes it
• After controlling for children's level of intelligence, only shifting and inhibition make a significant contribution to creativity [~M] — instruction changes it
• Creativity (divergent thinking ability) is predicted by both updating and inhibition, but not by shifting ability. [~M] — instruction changes it
• Creativity, crystallized intelligence, fluid intelligence and executive functions are all correlated in children aged 8 to 13 [+M] — instruction changes it
• Executive functions and intelligence play an important role in creative thinking, but the relationship in children had been under-studied [+W] — instruction changes it
• Executive functions substantially account for the latent intelligence–creativity correlation, leaving a reduced but still positive residual of r = .34. [+M] — instruction changes it
• In children, shifting is a more powerful predictor of creativity than fluid and crystallized intelligence [+M] — instruction changes it
• Men scored higher than women on rated divergent thinking creativity in this sample, with no sex differences in fluid intelligence or the executive functions. [+M] — instruction changes it
• Openness to experience predicts creativity but not fluid intelligence, and further reduces the residual intelligence–creativity correlation to a trend. [+M] — instruction changes it
• The effect of crystallized intelligence on children's creativity is mediated by shifting [+M] — instruction changes it
• Updating ability, together with openness, explains a substantial part of the shared variance between fluid intelligence and creativity. [+M] — instruction changes it
• A 50-minute metacognitive strategy instruction produced positive effects on secondary students' fluency, flexibility and originality of ideas in both cohorts [+M] — instruction changes it
• Regression analysis showed creativity score was not dependent on active play [-M] — instruction changes it
• Students' geometrical creative thinking improved in all conditions, with no difference between MACE and regular geometry lessons [+M] — instruction changes it
• 21% of the ADHD sample scored at or above the 70th percentile on the overall creativity index [+M] — instruction changes it
• Anthropometric variables, body composition and hand grip strength show no correlation with creativity components in this sample [-M] — instruction changes it
• In a multiple regression model, vigorous physical activity significantly accounts for 4.5% of variance in overall creativity [+M] — instruction changes it
• Light and moderate physical activity and sedentary behavior show no significant relationship with any creativity component or overall creativity [-M] — instruction changes it
• Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity correlates positively with fluency, originality, flexibility and overall creativity, though less significantly than vigorous activity alone [+M] — instruction changes it
• Unmedicated children with ADHD obtain a higher overall TTCT Creativity Index than controls [+M] — instruction changes it
• Unmedicated children with ADHD score higher than controls on TTCT Creative Strengths [+M] — instruction changes it
• Unmedicated children with ADHD score higher than controls on TTCT-Figurative Originality [+M] — instruction changes it
• Vigorous physical activity is positively and significantly correlated with fluency, originality, flexibility and overall creativity in 10–11-year-old children [+M] — instruction changes it
• Vigorous physical activity significantly predicts originality, fluency and flexibility in regression models, but not elaboration [~W] — instruction changes it
• Open inquiry enhances students' scientific and thinking skills, including metacognitive and creative thinking [+M] — instruction changes it
• Creativity-supportive school climates combine autonomy, psychological safety, teacher encouragement, and rich resources [+M] — instruction changes it
• Developmental patterns are less pronounced for the originality subdimension of creativity in open-ended fragmenting tasks [~W] — instruction changes it
• Explicit creativity training programs are effective in fostering creativity in formal schooling [+M] — instruction changes it
• Ideation-based interventions are a robustly implemented explicit approach that improves creative performance [+M] — instruction changes it
• Implicit pedagogical approaches—inquiry, open-ended tasks, cross-disciplinary and student-centered learning—contribute significantly to creativity development [+M] — instruction changes it
• Individual engagement with an educational robot yielded greater divergent-thinking gains than pair work [+M] — instruction changes it
• Systemic barriers—rigid curricula, limited teacher training, and innate-creativity misconceptions—marginalize creativity in mainstream education [+M] — instruction changes it
• Generative AI use shows divergent effects on creativity: weakened creative writing but increased creative problem-solving and idea quality [~M] — instruction changes it
• Forest preschool attendance is associated with improvements in creative thinking in preschool children, with only forest-school groups improving on all creative dimensions [+M] — instruction changes it
• Effects of nature exposure on divergent thinking are mixed: five of eight reviewed studies showed significant effects while others found null or partial effects [~M] — instruction changes it
• Nature exposure at work did not significantly predict employee creativity in a longitudinal study where job autonomy and workload were the significant predictors [-M] — instruction changes it
• Qualitative studies identify potential mechanisms linking nature and creativity, including solitude, relaxation, inspiration, and disconnection from technology [~W] — instruction changes it
• Wilderness immersion experiences improve convergent creative thinking, with reported gains including a 50% increase on the RAT after four days in nature [+M] — instruction changes it
• A seventh-grade slump in divergent thinking is observed at the overall and indicator level [+W] — instruction changes it
• Divergent thinking shows an overall upward developmental trend across Grades 1–12, peaking in Grade 9, with significant drops in Grades 7, 10, and 11 [+W] — instruction changes it
• DT test and country of study significantly moderate the Grade 3–4 originality trend, with a drop for WKCT and for eastern-country samples [~W] — instruction changes it
• Intellectual giftedness significantly moderates the Grade 3–4 fluency trend: gifted subjects tend to increase while non-gifted subjects tend to decline [~W] — instruction changes it
• No general fourth-grade slump in divergent thinking: Grade 4 shows a plateau relative to Grade 3 [-W] — instruction changes it
• Task content domain significantly moderates the Grade 3–4 DT difference, with a positive SMD for figural tasks and a negative SMD for verbal tasks [~W] — instruction changes it
• The seventh-grade slump is moderated by DT test, task content domain, and gender, with larger drops for WKCT, figural tasks, and a higher proportion of males [~W] — instruction changes it
• Children attending alternative schools (Montessori, Steiner) outperform mainstream-school children on figural divergent and convergent thinking measures [+M] — instruction changes it
• Classroom activities and targeted interventions—peer collaboration, mind mapping, storytelling, and perspective-taking—improve children's divergent thinking [+M] — instruction changes it
• Divergent-thinking-based creativity is positively linked with academic achievement, with stronger effects for psychometric than self-report measures [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Research-led creativity training for teachers enhances children's divergent thinking and moves teachers' conceptions closer to researchers' definitions [+M] — instruction changes it
• Dyads showing more Listen/understand and Extend/revise behaviour produced more original ideas regardless of dyad type, while no social-emotional perspective-taking measure was significantly associated with originality [+M] — instruction changes it
• Children's age, general intelligence, and divergent thinking positively predicted tool innovation performance, while executive function measures predicted only ideal manipulation [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Task difficulty moderated the facilitating effect of flexibility on ideal manipulation only, with the effect more salient for harder tasks [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Learner Variables

Examples

• Top scoring: students self-select their top three ideas for a fluency-independent creativity rating

Key Sources

• Breit, M., Schneider, M., & Preckel, F. (2025). Mathematics achievement and learner characteristics: A systematic review of meta-analyses. Learning and Individual Differences, 118, 102621. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102621

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	learner-variable
id	creativity
title	Creativity
description	A learner's ability to generate novel and useful ideas, usually measured as divergent thinking: the fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration of ideas produced for an open-ended problem.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by claude/unspecified on 2026-10-16
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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