Creating a Sound Garden: Transforming Recycled Materials into Objects for Learning

Abstract

This study focuses on the connection between creativity and learning by analyzing the different steps involved in the activity of producing (design and production) a technical object (Didier and Leuba 2011), as well as the creative process of elementary school pupils. In this study, we observe pupils’ creative processes, the succession of thoughts and actions that leads to a creative product (Lubart et al. 2015). We also examine the various steps engaged by the pupils to produce a concrete object, from design (Didier and Bonnardel 2020) to socialization and production (Didier et al. 2017). The process of producing a physical object entails several different phases – the pupil comes up with ideas, asks questions, makes decisions and assesses the results – and interactions with the material. Our study aimed to identify the learning that occurs during the situational-analysis and idea-seeking phases in the design and production of a concrete object. To allow the pupil to become aware of the activity of reflection that takes place during the idea-seeking and decision-making phases, we used the creative process report diary (CRD; Botella et al. 2017). This diary was used in this study as a way of raising pupils’ awareness about their own learning (Adé and De Saint-Georges 2010), and thus to provide them with access to effective activities. By relying on the multivariate approach to the creative process (cognitive, conative, emotional and environmental factors; Lubart et al. 2015), we can better understand the various types of learning that occur during the design and production of a physical object (Didier 2015). These types of learning require the observation, planning, evaluation and regulation of learning strategies (Fischer 2006; Perry et al. 2018). Furthermore, we analyze the process of the pupils becoming aware of the knowledge they have acquired by revisiting the activities of research, experimentation and production in the context of an artistic project carried out during the teaching of creative and manual activities in Francophone Switzerland. This research also identifies the role of new skills taught to pupils, such as the capacity to learn in situations that are unfamiliar, uncertain and without a preset procedure (OECD 2014). The development of creativity in pupils requires new multidisciplinary skills to be taught, such as the resolution of complex tasks without preset procedures, the use of analytical capabilities, problem-solving, the creation of hypotheses and the use of intuition and motivation in the context of real situations that require cognitive and manual skills (OECD 2014). In order to achieve our research goals, we employed the CRD, which provides access to pupils’ cognitive process, while also allowing the pupils themselves to understand their creative process and the types of learning in which they are engaged.