Transformational Creativity in Education

Creativity is often discussed as having transformational potential. In contrast to the lay meaning of transformation equaling disruption, we define transformational creativity as directed toward the attainment of a common good (Sternberg, Philosophies, 6(3), 75, 2021). The chapter discusses how transformational creativity can be built in education in four sections. First, we apply the ecological systems model to examine development of transformational creativity across contexts (Bronfenbrenner, The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press, 1979; Ecological models of human development. In T. Husen & T. N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), International encyclopedia of education (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 1643–1647). Pergamon Press and Elsevier Science, 1994). The next two sections illustrate development of transformational creativity using examples of specific programs aimed at students (inspirED) and teachers (makeSPACE). We describe the nature of these programs, the rationale of their design, the ecological contexts in which they operate, and the effects they may have on those who are directly enrolled in them (i.e., students or teachers), but also on others (e.g., school communities). In the final section, we discuss key questions for future directions in research and programming toward transformational creativity in education.