Beyond Creativity Scores: Exploring PRE–POST Differences in Teachers’ Semantic Networks After SCIP Training

Teacher creativity plays a central role in fostering creative learning environments. However, most evaluations of creativity training focus on performance outcomes and self-report measures rather than changes in underlying cognitive organisation. We examined PRE–POST differences in Austrian secondary-school teachers’ creative performance, semantic organisation, and professional mindsets during an eight-month certified teacher-training course based on the Scientific Creativity in Practice (SCIP) framework. Seventeen teachers completed PRE and POST assessments, including the Alternative Uses Task, Verbal Fluency, Word–Sentence–Construction, Behavioural Forma Mentis associations with valence ratings, and written reflections. We assessed AUT originality using two independent AI-based systems. Semantic and affective PRE–POST differences were examined using cognitive networks, mindset streams, and measures of emotional framing. At POST, teachers had higher AUT originality scores and generated concepts that differed substantially from those at PRE. They produced broader conceptual repertoires and larger semantic networks, although other structural changes differed across tasks. Affective changes were more modest. Positive valence predominated at both measurement points and became slightly more common, while negative valence declined. Separate PRE and POST mindset streams showed substantial pathway turnover but remained predominantly positive. Because the study lacked a control group and used the same tasks and cues at PRE and POST, these findings cannot be attributed specifically to SCIP. Rather, they illustrate how cognitive network analyses can complement traditional creativity assessments by revealing PRE–POST differences in semantic organisation and professional mindsets that are not captured by performance scores alone.