Many educators are committed to democratic education. However, practitioners who have experienced hierarchical learning structures may unconsciously replicate these norms in their own teaching methods. Through honest reflection, teachers can reckon with their formative experiences and use the resulting insights to transcend ingrained behaviors or…

Broad exploration is often the best way to solve complex problems because the best solution might not come to mind first. Consequently, creative thinking, like simulated annealing, begins with a "hot" exploratory phase of broad solution search and gradually "cools" to exploitation and narrowing the search space. In solving…

As schools continue to focus on outcome-based instructional practices, less emphasis is placed on the creativity and reasoning necessary for students to become effective critical thinkers. As a result, students struggle to demonstrate creative problem-solving skills in the classroom. This study examines how the facilitation of an instructional…

This quantitative study examined the relationship between well-being and stages of the creative process, including problem identification and construction, idea generation, and idea evaluation among gifted young adults (n = 173). A sample of college honors students responded to multiple measures of well-being, creative problem-solving tasks, the…

We are currently experiencing unprecedented waves of forced migration (UNHCR, 2022a), leading to an increase in anti-refugee rhetorics which in turn fuel policies that have life or death consequences for refugees (Gotlib, 2017). In this context, refugee voices are urgently needed in scholarly, public, and political realms, yet these perspectives…

The following self-study examines the role of creativity, the creative process, and aesthetic awareness among the life of an artist. The study further examines the relationship between creativity generation and drawing. This self-study is motivated by three fundamental questions: How is creativity developed within an individual? How is creativity…

The purpose of this study was two-fold; first, to uncover the social, psychological, and cognitive factors core to the entrepreneurial individual; and secondly, to provide accurate data to be used in curriculum development to fill the existing educational gap that exists in the current literature regarding understanding the inner workings of the…

This study explores the strategic thinking and strategic planning efforts in a department, college and university in the Southeastern United States. The goal of the study was to identify elements of strategic planning processes that meet the unique organizational features and complexities of a higher education institution. The study employed a…

This dissertation utilized a multiple case study design to explore how advanced learners synthesize information about ill-structured topics when reading-to-learn and reading-to-do on the Web. Eight graduate students provided data in the form of think-alouds, interviews, screen video, digital trails, and task artifacts. Data analysis was based on…

Since the early 1980's, the number of picture books that present Queer characters and themes has grown. Correspondingly, the number of challenges to these books has also increased. "And Tango Makes Three," the true story of two male penguins who hatch and raise a chick in New York City's Central Park Zoo, is one such picture book that has received…

Problem finding is a creative process whereby individuals develop original ideas for study. Secondary science students who successfully participate in authentic, novel, open inquiry studies must engage in problem finding to determine viable and suitable topics. This study examined problem finding strategies employed by students who successfully…