Creativity is recognised as a critical skill that’s at the heart of innovation, yet in many educational institutions around the country, it is typically confined to the arts and skips other areas of the curriculum.
But as National Science Week (10-18 August) begins, new research from the University of South Australia confirms that creativity not only motivates students to continue their studies in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM), but also positively influences related career choices beyond school. The findings also make it clear that encouraging greater creativity in Australian classrooms helps plays a vital role in engaging students into STEM to start with.
The research is important for educational design – particularly given the STEM skill shortages driven by an underrepresentation of women in STEM, as well as the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
With school students’ results in maths and science stagnating or declining compared to international counterparts, Australia’s STEM crisis looks set to continue. Currently, less than 10 per cent of students study higher level maths, while gender equity in STEM has a long way to go. Women make up 37 per cent of enrolments in university STEM courses, nationally, and just 15 per cent of STEM-qualified jobs are held by women.
The study was conducted by a team of UniSA researchers, including PhD student Maria Vieira, Dr John Kennedy, Professor Simon Leonard, and Professor David Cropley –
Because the researchers worked with an unusually sizable longitudinal dataset, they were able to track how students’ attitudes changed towards different subjects throughout high school. The results showed that, when it came to influencing subject choice, the students’ sense of connecting to creativity was a significant factor.
Addressing the gender gap
Vieira says integrating creativity across STEM subjects at school is a proactive move to encourage greater engagement, retention, and career pathways in STEM. Although this approach benefits both female and male students, it can serve as a useful tool to address the gender gap that persists in these fields.
“As the world becomes more reliant on AI and automation, the importance of STEM is undeniable. Yet there remains a distinct gap between the education system and the skills being demanded by employers,” Vieira says.
“Educating future generations in STEM is vital to help solve the problems of the future, but we need more students, and more diverse students, to study STEM throughout their school and university careers to meet future work demands. We also need to nurture ‘21st century skills, uniquely human skills like creativity, that cannot be replaced by AI.”
She says this research combines both.
“By incorporating creativity into STEM subjects, we’re ensuring students can feel creative, which motivates and encourages them to continue with STEM and hopefully take up STEM career pathways.”
Encouraging complex capabilities
However, with NSW ushering in a new school curriculum that focuses on direct instruction (known as explicit teaching) – learning essential knowledge with detailed and specific content – the risk is that student motivation will drop further, says co-researcher, Professor Simon Leonard.
““Of course, direct instruction is necessary to build important skills, like numeracy and literacy, but it is not sufficient to prepare children to thrive in the world of tomorrow, and to make it a world worth thriving in,” he says.
“As AI takes over the mundane, we need education to become good at working with complex capabilities like creativity.”
Leonard says humans “like to be and to feel creative”, adding that it is a strong motivator for success.
“We need policy makers, school leaders and researchers to really open up to the idea that creativity is at the heart of motivating students, and it can make the difference in graduates choosing to study in a STEM field.”
