Fostering Creativity Through Educational Interventions in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Creativity has gained relevance over the years in education, and especially recently due to its consideration as a transversal competency in higher education, but there is still a lack of integration of knowledge. This qualitative systematic review explores literature on educational interventions designed to enhance creativity and investigates possible changes regarding the influence of COVID-­ 19. A pre-­ planned comprehensive search strategy was conducted across prominent databases (Web of Science, PsycINFO, and EBSCO). We used SANRA and ENTREQ as quality control. A total of 86 studies met our criteria. Our findings reveal no specific results regarding the influence of COVID-­ 19. Our results show a peak of the publications in 2016, the predominance of the USA, the prevalence of these interventions in Social Sciences, and the increase of the impact and reach of such scientific articles. In addition, our data reveals the relation between concepts such as creativity, higher education (HE), creative thinking, critical thinking, or creative training. Moreover, these outcomes suggest didactic methods to foster creativity such as project-­ based learning, problem-­ based learning, and experiential learning. The implications of this review are related to the design, implementation and evaluation of the teaching and learning process, alongside the didactic process in higher education.