Reimagining creativity in education through design theory: experimental learning to break cognitive fixation in schools

Abstract

This study investigates how tools derived from design theory, particularly C-K theory, can be used to foster creativity in children by mitigating cognitive fixation in school settings. Conducted with 123 children aged 8–11, the study compared four pedagogical methods: use of fixation examples, use of expansive examples, brainstorming and a novel “defixation” intervention based on C-K theory. Over a 5-week intervention, children participated in structured creative workshops aligned with the school curriculum. Creativity was assessed through fluency, flexibility, fixation and expansion scores during idea generation tasks, including a pre- and post-test using the egg-drop task. Results showed that while example-based methods increased idea fluency, they also reinforced fixation and reduced flexibility. Brainstorming led to high fluency but did not significantly enhance originality. In contrast, the C-K-based intervention successfully increased both flexibility and the number of expansive ideas. This research demonstrates the potential of design tools in education, offering a scalable and theoretically grounded approach to enhancing creativity in classrooms. It also underscores the limitations of commonly used methods, such as brainstorming and example modeling, when used without attention to fixation dynamics.