Running Head: Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

Felicia Beehner
Raymond Dixon, Ph.D.
EDCI 301
November 18th, 2015

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

Creativity is a key component in education. Creativity does not simply include the use of
the imagination, like people typically think, but in fact is much deeper. An article titled, The
Importance of Creativity in Education explains this well stating that creativity, signifies and
brings along novel, original, and valuable outcomes for the individual or society. While the
imaginative person is a dreamer, the creative person moves the world forward (Suciu). There
are hundreds of different definitions of creativity, but there are three components that typically
are used to understand what exactly creativity is. From the European Journal of Engineering
Education is an article called, How academic teachers perceive and facilitate creativity and it
shows that, creativity must include related cognitive activities such as decision-making, critical
thinking and metacognition (Bjorner, Kofoed). In the 21st century, creativity is once again
becoming important in education, for the reason that having creativity allows an individual to be
flexible and active in their life. Creativity allows people to prepare for, the unknown: jobs that
do not yet exist, technologies that are yet to be invented, and problems that have not yet been
anticipated(Nurturing Creativity in Education, Collard and Looney). Another important point is
made in the text Education Psychology, where it stresses that, Although we frequently associate
the arts with creativity, any subject can be approached in a creative manner (Woolfolk, 339).
As for how creativity comes about, it often happens at school, when students are engaged
in specific activities. In the article, The Importance of Creativity in Education it mentions that
the, factors that stimulate the creative process are: creative climate, composed of group and
mentor, collateral passions, any kind of games, contradictory discussions... (Suciu). Once again,
the classroom is a wonderful place to foster creativity and the text supports this saying,
Teachers are in an excellent position to encourage or discourage creativity through their
acceptance or rejection of the unusual and imaginative (Woolfolk, 342). Self-Regulatory

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

learning tends to be correlated with creativity, according to Bjorner and Kofoed. Self-regulatory
learning is connected to creativity by, the theory of self-regulatory learning as self-regulatory
behavior highly correlated with an individuals motivation to handle challenging assignments,
and with the pupils internal satisfaction from being engaged in a task that contributes more to
creativity (Bjorner and Kofoed). It used to be assumed as a trait and not a talent or skill that
could be nurtured. This is not true, as creativity involves a specific way of thinking outside of the
box, which anyone can do with varying difficulty, depending on how their creativity was
fostered, and it is the most easy to change the way children think. An important distinction in
creativity is divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the ability to think of many
different ideas or answers and convergent is the ability to identity only one answer (Woolfolk,
340). Divergent thinking includes, originality, fluency, and flexibility (Woolfolk 340) where
originality is a response given by only a few people, fluency is the different response number,
and flexibility the different categories.
In the article by Bjorner and Kofoed, it says that research supports, that when students
choose themselves and formulate their own problems (intrinsic motivation) it is associated with
great creativity than extrinsic motivation (Bjorner and Kofoed). This is why differentiation in
assignments and student choice is important, since they have personal motivation. Group work is
frequently talked about in fostering creativity, along with the teacher being a facilitator. In the
article, Nurturing Creativity in Education it suggests that we need to have new approaches in
assessment to allow for more creativity. Since creativity is so out of the box, it can cause a
teacher to defer a students creativity if it doesnt fit into what the teacher expects. This balance
is what makes creativity hard to implement, because we just dont have a standard definition of
creativity. All we can is try to not rid our students of creativity, but allow them to express it.

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

Self-regulated learning is a different concept altogether. The Educational

Psychology text describes self-regulated learning as, a view of learning as skills and will
applied to analyzing learning tasks, setting goals, and planning how to do the task, applying
skills, and especially making adjustments about how learning is carried out (Woolfolk, 412). So
creativity is a way of thinking, problem solving or creating and self-regulated learning is the
ability to plan tasks, set goals, and carry out those goals. They compare because creativity can be
part of self-regulated learning, but in contrast, one is a view of learning thought skills and the
other is the ability to produce something original. Both theories are focused on the individual and
how and each think and learn. Creativity and self-regulated learning arent the same for each
students, but vary as much as students do. Since skills and ability can be similar, they have more
in common than I originally thought. An article on formative assessment and how it connects to
self-regulated learning called, Formative Assessment: Assessment Is for Self-regulated
Learning says that, students may benefit from formative assessment by developing selfregulated learning (SRL) behaviors in the classroom (Clark). The same article discusses three
things to understand about self-regulated learning. They are that learners are need to be active
participants in their learning, that learners can control and regulate some parts of their own
motivations and behaviors and some parts of the environment, and that learners can reflect on
what they are learning to know what is working and what isnt.
Another article called, A Framework for Implementing Individualized Self-Regulated
Learning Strategies in the Classroom discusses three similar ideas to the previous article, saying
that self-regulated learning is a cyclical process that involves, three phases: planning,
performance, and self-evaluation (Ness and Middleton). Goals are always an important aspect
of self-regulated learning as they help the learner understand what they need to work towards.

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

Some students struggle with self-regulated learning for several reasons, including not setting
reasonable or realistic goals or planning efficiently, which results in procrastination. Weve all
seen procrastination in action, and its usually due to lack of planning or goals. Students who
struggle with performance are, unable to accurately monitor their progress and performance on
a task (Ness and Middleton). Self-evaluation involves looking at ineffective learning strategies
as opposed to a lack of effort.
The article, Measuring the complexity of upper primary school childrens self-regulated
learning: A multi-component approach discusses that the view we stuck to before we embraced
self-regulated learning was the view that, young children are unable to self-regulate their
learning (Keer, Rosseel, and Vandevelde). We apparently believed this for quite a while, until it
was shown through research that view wasnt correct. It seems now we understand that young
children (preschool- early primary grades) actually do and are able to engage in self-regulated
learning. Once again, this article mentions that self-regulated learning isnt an easy skill to learn,
since many students struggle in learning this method and using it effectively. To promote SRL in
the classroom, teachers have to be considerate of the differences in each students self-regulated
learning strategies. One concept that was being promoted to help with SRL was the acronym
MARS. MARS stands for materials (bring writing utensil/paper/book to class), anticipate
(prepare for barriers of learning), ready to learn (be seated and focused on the teacher), and stay
on task (Ness and Middleton). The main point of all this is that SRL is really determined by the
self. Its getting yourself to set goals and carry out those goals, and having the personal
motivation to do that. Many students struggle with this, but the better they can get at it, the easier
it is to not procrastinate and to learn more effectively. Self-regulated learning allows for control
by the student, especially if the teacher promotes choice. When a teacher allows a student to

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

make choices in their learning and the assignments and tasks that they offer, teachers, invite
them to take responsibility for learning (Woolfolk, 421).
Now Im going to talk about an educational event that my brother experienced. My
brothers name is Adrian, and hes my young brother at 20. Early in Adrians elementary school
years, he experienced attachment issues with being left at school by our mother. He would cry
and want to go home with her. Often I was called to the principals office to calm him down. As
the years went by, he was smart, but not very invested in the early elementary grades. Something
happened in 4th grade for him that changed the way he learned from there on out. For getting all
As on this report card, mom bought him a video game. He was so happy, that he worked hard
again to get the same reward the next report card. By 5th grade, his hard work was becoming a
habit, and he didnt care so much about the video game anymore. By 6th grade, the reward was
maybe once a year. By 7th grade, he wasnt getting anything. By then, he didnt complain. In
middle school, he made the honor roll all 3 years. He graduated high school 5th in his class with a
very high GPA. He is a computer science major now, with nearly a 4.0 GPA.
So how he did have time to play video games, and still get such good grades? You often
hear how video games are bad for kids, but somehow in his case, they helped him. He would do
the same thing after school; track practice if the season, homework, play video game, or have a
friend over, eat dinner. Having that break to do something fun in his day made all of the
difference to him. He has excellent problem solving skills, and is more self-regulated than nearly
anyone I have ever met. He went from a kid who didnt really care about school, to one who
worked hard to complete every assignment and study for every test. This is a kid who has never
gotten a C on any final grade, and even Bs are rare. The good thing is my brother and I have
similar learning strategies, and we have the same grades despite our differences. I think we

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

helped each other by both of us doing our homework at the same time after school, when we
were in school together. I think this case shows how big of a difference a little motivation can
make, and how long reaching the effects can be. He eventually motivated himself and didnt
need any outside reward or praise to do his best.
Creativity applies to this situation I described. My brother didnt necessarily have
creativity as a talent he was born with, but through exercising the way he was thinking, he was
able to learn in a flexible and deep way. I would say that its nearly impossible to get through
school without any creativity. Sometimes I hear people say that they just arent creative, but I
feel like with enough encouragement and work, a people can learn to think outside of the box.
He became creative through creating things around home and by making assignments and tasks
matter to him specifically or making it interesting. For example, he wrote ten pages on the effects
of violent video games, with an interview source and thorough research two years ago in a
writing class. He did a great job, got a good grade, all because he was interested in the choice of
the topic. He was allowed to write about what interested him, which is really, where he thrives in
writing. This makes sense because in the article I described by Bjorner and Kofoed it says that
extrinsic motivation doesnt measure up to the motivation that students receive from making
their own problems, making it an intrinsic motivation. That personal choice seems to make all of
the difference, and that seems to be backed up by the enforcement of differentiation in education,
Who knows why exactly creativity happens and what exactly triggers it. Some people
have it as a natural skill and others have to craft that way of thinking for themselves. Sometimes
we view it as an abstract thing, but I think that if we view it as something to be practiced and
learned, then it becomes a more tangible thing that we cherish and use instead of killing it, in a
way, in school. Creativity has varying definitions, so its not really clear what it is. I do think,

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

however, that my brother showed creativity in his life and it made him a more successful and
motivated students, even if he doesnt think he has creativity himself. He says he isnt creative,
but he always assumes it in an artistic way. He has problem solving skills and unique answers so
he does have creativity, just in a form that we dont typically consider.
I feel like self-regulated learning is what truly shows in the situation I described. To go
into deeper depth about my brother for a minute, I will describe how he never has turned in an
assignment late, and its usually early. He analyzes what he needs to do, writes down a list for the
week and the due dates, figure what he should do and accomplish each day, and does the tasks.
Once he finishes the task, he highlights the task, to shows he accomplished it. This follows the
almost exact pattern that Woolfolk describes in the text. Creativity is a way of thinking a doing
tasks, while self-regulated learning is where you plan and accomplish those tasks. Self-regulated
learning is more focused on planning and goal setting. Due to my brother having self-regulated
learning, he has never struggled in online classes or accomplishing things on time. I think his
case shows
He makes sure to take the time to have fun, so maybe that free time replaced the physical
reward he got early in his education. He still gets a reward, free time for accomplishing a task,
but he is not reliant on it. He doesnt have to have free time if he is too busy. Hell do what needs
to be done. He went from relying on extrinsic rewards to regulating his own self. Choice also
plays into self-regulated learning, just like in creativity. Choice lets students take responsibility
for themselves, which is a good thing, but doesnt work for all students. This is why not all
students are self-regulated learners and are instead procrastinators. My brother learned selfregulated learning for himself, so it would be different learning it all though school. I do think
its possible to learn to self-regulate learning, since it just involves setting goals, carrying out

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

goals, and reflecting on how it went. Its an organized way of thinking that helps students plan,
which is always better than not planning at all.

Creativity and Self-Regulated Learning

10

References
Bjrner, T., & Kofoed, L. B. (2013). How academic teachers perceive and facilitate
creativity. European Journal Of Engineering Education, 38(5), 556-566.
Clark, I. (2012). Formative Assessment: Assessment Is for Self-regulated Learning. Educational
Psychology Review, 24(2), 205-249.
Collard, P., & Looney, J. (2014). Nurturing Creativity in Education. European Journal Of
Education, 49(3), 348-364.
Ness, B. M., & Middleton, M. J. (2012). A Framework for Implementing Individualized SelfRegulated Learning Strategies in the Classroom. Intervention In School & Clinic, 47(5),
267-275.
Suciu, T. (2014). THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY IN EDUCATION. Bulletin of the
Transilvania University of Brasov.Economic Sciences.Series V, 7(2), 151-158.
Vandevelde, S., Keer, H., & Rosseel, Y. (2013). Measuring the complexity of upper primary
school childrens self-regulated learning: A multi-component approach. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 38(4), 407-425.
Woolfolk, A.E. (2013). Educational psychology (12th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education Inc.