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THE IMPACT OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATIONON CREATIVITY

CADI AYAAD UNIVERSITYAS A CASE STUDY

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master of Linguistics

and Advanced English Studies at the Faculty of Letters

and Human Sciences – Cadi Ayyad University

Prepared by:

Wiame Sanaa

Academic Year: 2016 -2017

Cadi Ayyad University

Faculty of art and Human Sciences

Master of Linguistics and Advanced English Studies

Supervised by:

DR.Abdellah El Haloui

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Abstract

The ultimate goal of this paper is to investigate the importance of education- supporting –creativity with an eye to classroom

practice at Cadi Ayyad University. It attempts to investigate the affecting role of intrinsic motivation on creativity. Chiefly, the

study aims at unfoldingstudents` intrinsic motivation by means of enjoyment and interest in subjects. Intrinsic motivation is

commonly assumed to be enhanced by perceived self-determination, enjoyment, interest in subjects and reduced by perceived

constraints on autonomy, including rewards.Students entaila big deal of intellectual skills and motivation to ascertain their

academic goals. The current study provides a different perspective to explore students' intrinsic motivation. In a particular,

students of English department studies at Cadi Ayyad University. In this respect, the data collection instruments opted for in the

present study is quantitative in nature. The findings revealed that students` intrinsic motivation is low as the vast majority of

students stated that their ultimate motivator behind their learning is to obtain decent marks 21.88% and 20.67% of them purported

that recognition is one of the incentives that drives them to learn whereas 19.96% study to get scholarships. Rewards, has a

negative effect on the intrinsic motivation of students. It disturbs students’ achievement as well as creativity. Different forms of

intrinsic motivation can lead to school success namely, sustained interest in tasks, risk taking, curiosity, and the conquering of

new challenges whereas the presence of extrinsic motivation e.g., rewards, recognition along with other prizes can hamper

intrinsic interest in an activity. Additionally, the vast majority of students reported that they find grading assignments motivating

more than non-grading assignments. Most students (66%) admitted that they are more motivated when they approach grading

assignment than non-grading ones. Another important finding of this study is that more than 70% of the respondents purported

that they study in an authoritarian classroom -the micro-environment is not encouraging for the development of creative potential

ideas.Moreover, most students believed that the subject matters and assignments given by their professors focus on rote learning

rather than cultivating creativity. The findings also showed that a great number of students viz., 53% claimed that the feedback

they received by their professors is irrelevant as opposite to constructive motivational feedback. In addition to this, another

salient finding of this study is that66.50 % of students contended that they feel a little bit sense of belonging in the classroom.

Bearing in mind, micro-environment such as a classroom should foster a great sense of belonging so as students feel part of

learning community. Hence, show more motivation, engagement, and self-efficacy. Moreover, as a noticeable finding, the

majority of students (53.80%) stated that they do not feel comfortable voicing their questions and unusual ideas to their

professors, students should ask open-ended questions that stimulate curiosity and imagination. After presenting some of the

findings the application and usefulness of this study is to present an understanding overview of intrinsic motivation as a catalyst

to heighten students` creativity. Finally, the results of this study imply many suggestions of which we mention: the introduction

of critical thinking as an intellectual discipline in school curriculum, equipping trainee teachers with the methodological tools and

necessary skills as well as courses to develop an initial understanding on creative teaching and learning , dismissing standardized

testing so as to nurture creativity and to fuel curiosity as well as equipping classrooms with enough equipment that will facilitate

the learning and teaching processes. Embracing ICT can be fruitful decision in the learning process.

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DEDICATION

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Acknowledgments

There are a number of people without whom this research paper might not have been written, and to whom I am

greatly indebted. To these precious people I heartily dedicate this work.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Abdellah El Haloui for his

excellent guidance, caring, patience and for providing me with an excellent atmosphere for producing this humble

piece of work.

A special feeling of gratitude to my loving parents who -knowingly andunknowingly- showed a tremendous sense

of support, and whose words ofencouragements and push for tenacity in my ears kept me always persistent. My

treasured friends and brothers never left my side and are very special. Exceptional thanks to all of them.

I must finally thank my classmates in the Master program of ‘linguistics and advanced English studies’who, as

good friends, were always willing tohelp and give their best suggestions.

Special thanks to my dearest people; to Redouaneand Youness without whom it would have been a lonely

endeavor. I am very thankful to all of them for their willingness to help me.

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LISTS OF FIGURES

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: The revised structure of the intellect model. From Some Changes in the Structure-of- Intellect Model, by J. P.

Guilford, 1988, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 48, p. 3. (Cited in Starko, 2005).

Figure 2: The chart that demonstrates both divergent and convergent thinking (Amabile, 2012).

Figure 3: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom. (As cited in

Starko, 2005).

Figure 4: Componential Model of Creativity (Amabile, 2012).

Figure 5: An example of a basic Personal Learning Environment (PLE) (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013

Figure 6: An example of concept map.

Figure 7: Description of the respondents‘background information

Figure 8: Students` perception of the assignments and subjects matter

Figure9: Quality of feedback provided by Professors

Figure 10: Types of classroom environments

Figure11: The extent to which Cadi Ayyad University students feel comfortable to voice their questions and unusual

ideas

Figures 12: Students` incentives for learning purposes.

Figure 13: Intrinsically motivating academic subject matter.

Figure 14: Challenging learning activities versus easy learning activities.

Figure 15: The impact of freedom and discretion on students` motivation.

Figure 16: Students` involvement in decision making of subjects planning.

Figure 17: Students` sense of belonging in the classroom.

Figure 18: Persistence as a key trait of creative people.

Figure 19: The best courses taken in English department

Figure 20: The worst courses taken in the English department.

Figure 21 :Extrinsic motivation versus intrinsic motivation.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Introduction

People’s understanding of their own creativity is fundamental to the delimitation and definition of the concept of creativity.

Creativity is possible in all areas of daily life, namely the arts, sciences, at work, at play to name but only a few. Given this fact,

all individuals have creative abilities and we all have them differently. When individuals find their creative strengths, it can have

a huge impact on their self-esteem and overall achievement. Creativity plays a vital role in human being progress. It has become

both the driving force of economic progress and the decisive source of competitive advantage. We need to start thinking out of

the box and put creativity at the center of students` learning. When we foster one child’s creativity, we create a generation of

creative leaders. In the future, success will not solely depend on how much we know, but on our ability to think and act

creatively. If we value authentic and different ways of thinking, if we share and build upon those new ideas. We can prepare and

equip individuals to pursue a dream, start a business, learn a language, solve a problem, take risks and change the world.

Creativity is prominent for learning and life span in the twenty-first century. It has to do with non- conformity, impulsivity,

motivation, persistence, openness to new ideas, passion, curiosity, play and supportive environments. Creativity is undeniably

crucial in learning and teaching. It sparks the flames of imagination and enjoyment for both teachers and students. However, not

at all teachers may regard their teaching as a creative, or even teaching as a possible domain that could lead to creativity.

The increase growth and the importance of the seeds of creativity in education have considerably raised the need of an

academic research, and it has made the subject of creativity a researchable and an interesting issue. The hypothesis from which

the present study derives is that intrinsic motivation is more important than extrinsic motivation in enhancing students `creativity-

intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity and extrinsic motivation is detrimental. To confirm or refute the relevant

hypothesis, and provide a systematic reading to the data gathered, the present study strives to find answers to the following

questions:

What are the traits that underlie creative people?

What circumstances or experiences allow individuals to become more creative?

Do emotions impact our creative capacities?

What is the impact of motivation on creativity?

From where does intrinsic motivation come from?

What are the classroom activities, practices, and strategies that are supportive to creativity?

Is it valid that creative students are the result of creative teachers as well as creative receptive environments?

As a way of bridging the gap between theory and practice, the data collection instrument opts for in the present study is a

quantitative approach. As one of the most common data collection instruments used in the quantitative approach, a questionnaire

is used as it allows easy access to a large group of people in a short period of time. For the research objectives to be fulfilled, the

present paper is divided into three chapters namely, the review of the related literature, the methodology chapter and the data

analysis chapter. The review of the literature, which aims at providing the reader with some relevant concepts and theories held

by other scholars and researchers, is, in turn, divided into four sections. The first section attempts to provide an understanding of

the concept of creativity, its theories and the components surrounding it. The second section specifically sheds lights on the

relationship between creativity and motivation in the context of education and then the difference between extrinsic motivation

and intrinsic motivation following by the componential theory of creativity. The third section of the review is primarily devoted

to discussing the added value of technology in learning as well as its impact on fostering creativity. Least but not last, the forth

section of the review lies in some of the cognitive techniques that might be used in school environment to facilitate the

development of creativity.

The second chapter of this research is chiefly concerned with the methodology used in this study. More specifically, it

outlines the research purpose, hypothesis and questions. It also attempts to describe the target population, the research

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approaches, the data collection instruments and the data analysis techniques used in this study providing justifications and

explanations behind every single choice. Finally, the third chapter presents the findings of the study as well as a discussion and

analysis of Cadi Ayaad University students` intrinsic` motivation. Also, the chapter is an analysis of the reasons behind the

potential absence of motivation-supporting-creativity in the Moroccan education to finally come up with implications for

decision-making, for further research and for current ELT in Morocco for the purpose of teachers to be more innovative,

reflective and creative.

CHAPTER ONE

THE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

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Chapter One

- Review of the Literature -

1. The eminent theories that underlie the origin, nature, and systems of creativity

1.1 The concept of creativity

Before profoundly indulging in the academic aim of this research, an inclusive insight on the history of creativity is

required in order to have a clear-cut on the topic at hand. The literature review is replete with a number of definitions and

theories about creativity. In this regard, to start with, creativity is a culture where individuals have been empowered to broaden

their experience and imagination in such a way to generate novel ideas that are of a great value at a minimal cost (pc:

Abdellah.El Haloui). This definition is marked by originality or novelty that is useful at a minimal cost. Creativity can also be

viewed as the production of a novel and appropriate response, product, joke, work of art or solution to an open-ended task

(Starko, 2005). Another definition is that creativity can be defined as the ability to generate novel, and valuable, ideas.

Valuable, here, is ambiguous in the sense it has several meanings; interesting, useful, beautiful, simple, richly complex, and so

on. Ideas are not solely restricted concepts, theories, interpretations and stories but also artifacts such as graphic images,

sculptures, houses, and jet engines. A response or product is creative and appropriate in a given domain or culture in which it

was articulated (Boden, 2009). Cultures, however, differ in their criteria of appropriateness. Creativity is also located by the

UK National Advisory as the following: “First, the characteristics of creativity always involve thinking or behaving

imaginatively. Second, overall this imaginative activity is purposeful: that is, it is directed to achieving an objective. Third,

these processes must generate something original. Fourth, the outcome must be of value in relation to the objective.” In other

words, in order for an idea or a product to be creative, it should be imaginative, purposefulness, original, and valuable.

Additionally, in her essay “Creativity and knowledge”, Margaret A. Boden urges that creativity and knowledge are not opposed

to one another and creativity cannot happen unless the thinker already possesses knowledge of rich and/or well-structured kind.

Acquiring Knowledge is prominent in creative thinking (Boden, 2009).

Throughout the history of creativity, there have always been attempts to understand the source of creativity. These

attempts have always been considered in the introduction of new theories, approaches and methods to approach the concept of

creativity. Recently, many scholars and researchers in the field capitalize on the features of creative individuals that distinct

them from other people. Other scholars put emphasis on the creative process by which individuals produce creative ideas. Still

others study the creative product itself. However, contemporary theories examine and embrace all the above mentioned aspects

of creativity. One of the compelling contemporary models of creativity that aims at describing and analyzing creative process is

Dewey's model of problem solving called “reflective thinking”. Dewey, whose ideas have been influential in education and

social reform, depicted the process of problem solving in five steps: (a) the difficulty is felt; (b) the difficulty is located and

defined; (c) possible solutions are considered; (d) consequences of these solutions are evaluated; and (e) one of the solu tions is

accepted (as cited in Starko, 2005).

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1.2. The aspects of creativity (product, person, and process)

1.2.1. Creative processes

In his book “Art of Thought”, published in 1926 .The early twentieth-century social psychologist Graham Wallas went

beyond Dewey's model of problem solving to immerse unconscious processing. He examined the writings of creative people

and came up with a series of four steps that elucidate the process by which an individual cultivates creative thoughts. Wallas

determined five stages of creativity, which are the following: Preparation, incubation, intimation, illumination, and verification

(later on intimation has become a sub-stage of illumination).The initial stage that Wallas defines is preparation: During this

stage, the person is gathering information, considering the problem from different perspectives, and coming up with the best

possible ideas. This includes the acquisition of knowledge for subsequent implementation. The second stage of Wallas’ process

of creativity is incubation, is the heart of the Wallas model, incubation occurs when a problem is internalized and the brain is

working through numerous potential solutions. In other words, the individual does not consciously think about the problem.

Wallas points out that this stage has two divergent elements: the “negative fact” that during incubation we do not consciously

deliberate on a particular problem, and the “positive fact” embodies of a series of unconscious, involuntary (or, as he terms it,

“foreconscious” and “forevoluntary”) mental events taking place. In his own words;

"Voluntary abstention from conscious thought on any problem may, itself, take two forms: the period of abstention may

be spent either in conscious mental work on other problems, or in a relaxation from all conscious mental work. The first kind

of Incubation economizes time, and is therefore often the better ". (As cited in Popova, 2013)

Finally yet importantly, Wallas’ third stage is illumination. It is the point at which ideas and solutions emerge from its

subconscious processing into conscious awareness. Often referred to as insight, or the “aha!” moment this is the point at which

a creative individual has emerged from the implicit or sub-conscious process to the explicit-or conscious process. Following

illumination is the verification stage in which an individual verifies the validity of the idea for effectiveness, and

appropriateness. Most importantly, these stages are interrelated and none of them exists in isolation from the rest. It should be

noted, that the implied theory behind Wallas' model is that creative thinking is a subconscious process that cannot be directed,

and that creative and analytical thinking are complementary.

In the same line of thought, the American theorist psychologist Joy Paul Guilford in his 1950 American Psychological

Association presidential address, which was titled “Creativity”, J.P. Guilford coined the Structure of Intellect theory (SOI),

which considers creativity as part of intelligence. In this model, 180 components which are mental abilities of thinking are

formed through combinations of types of content (the type of information), operations (type of mental activity performed) and

products (the form in which the information is represented). These mentioned types are features of intellectual tasks. Five to six

abilities are derived from these dimensions as it is shown below in the figure (1). Accompanied with transformation-the ability

to reread what one experiences or knows in order to produce a new form, these separate abilities work together to

produce different ways of thinking namely divergent thinking. 150 different ways total. It is important to note that divergent

thinking as well as the use of metaphors is derived from creative thinking (Cited in Starko, 2005).

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Figure 1: The revised structure of the intellect model. From Some Changes in the Structure-of- Intellect Model, by J. P.

Guilford, 1988, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 48, p. 3. (Cited in Starko, 2005).

In the same line of thought, it is of paramount importance to be aware and understand the integral cognitive skills and

processes underlying creativity. One of these crucial skills is “divergent production skills” (which renowned nowadays as

lateral thinking or divergent thinking skills). Guilford determined two categories of abilities associated with creativity. The first

is divergent thinking. He observed that creative people incline to show this type of thinking more than others. Divergent

thinking or “synthetic thinking” can be defined as the ability to generate multiple solutions to an open-ended problem; it is a

thought process or method used to articulate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions in a spontaneous and

unorganized fashion(but in a discipline way).

Divergent thinking is often contrasted to convergent thinking, which refers to thinking that conforms to a single correct

answer or solution (Figure 2).In other words, divergent thinking is a kind of thinking that does not intent to bring about

accurately correct answers, but rather to come up with a wide variety of unusual, novel, or even uncanny ideas. That is,

convergent thinking produces correct answers, but divergent thinking produces interesting, imaginative, and potentially

creative ideas. Divergent thinking embraces four components, each of which is typically scored separately on a creativity test:

1. Fluency is the ability to generate a large range of ideas or problem solutions, the aphorism, ''Your first idea is practically

never your best idea''.

2. Flexibility refers to the variety among the ideas one produces.

3. Originality refers to the ability to produce new, unusual ideas.

4. Elaboration refers to richness of details of an idea one generates in order to improve them.

Fluency often is the basis of activities designed to improve divergent thinking. The more ideas a person has, the more

likely it is that at least one of them will be a good idea.

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Figure 2: The above Hypothetical charts demonstrate both divergent and convergent thinking. In the chart of divergent

thinking, fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration are characterized by number of circles, circles with same color,

black circle with longest arrow, and size of the circles respectively. In the chart of convergent thinking (b), the correct

solution is represented by a black circle (Amabile, 2012).

Nonetheless, there are several worth mentioning problems with using divergent thinking tests as measures of creativity

chief among them is that divergent thinking is solely one part of creativity. Besides, divergent thinking is an undeniably crucial

contributor to creative thinking, but without skills in evaluative thinking, i.e. skills in selecting ideas that are actually useful and

appropriate in a given context one is far away from producing much that would be deemed as creative. Another drawback of

divergent thinking tests is the fact that such tests did not pay attention to the task specificity of creativity. Let`s consider the

following example to get a better picture about the task specificity of creativity. A person tends to sharpen divergent thinking

skills on one specific delimited task such as cooking. One the basis of task specificity hypothesis a person would pick up

several exercises within this one task domain including baking bread, grilling shrimp, sautéing vegetables, scrambling eggs, to

name but a few. The generic hypothesis, on the other hand, assumes that a person could hone his or her divergent thinking

skills regardless of what kinds of divergent thinking exercises one chooses such as teaching your dog to sit or inventing a

children’s toy (Kim, Kaufman, Bear and Sriraman, 2013).

It appears that people’s creativity differs from task to task. A person might be very creative vis-à-vis dancing, writing a

play, or even bringing up a child but not at all creative when it comes to planning a science experiment or drawing. In simple

words, creativity is a task-bound. Hence; divergent thinking is more task specific than generic.

In a similar vein, brainstorming is viewed as the most substantial method of producing divergent thinking. Brainstorming

is a process, which stimulates generating many details to spark off and enrich one’s ideas in a short period. The pioneer of

brainstorming is Alex Faickney Osborn, who also developed the CPS. The method was introduced in a book called “Applied

Imagination`` (As cited in Starko, 2005). Osborn described brainstorming as a conference technique by which a group attempts

to find a solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by its members. The ultimate purpose of

brainstorming is to arrive to divergent thinking and that in turn leads to a creative output. Brainstorming is a vehicle to an end,

divergent thinking is a kind of thinking, and is not a vehicle but an end in itself. Yet, the two are very firmly tied. However,

making use of brainstorming does not always warrant that a person will succeed in generating divergent thinking, just as one

can talk without succeeding in communicating.

There are four basic rules that make up brainstorming designated to increase one’s divergent thinking. These rules are

intended to lessen social inhibitions among group members (which prevented people from introducing ideas that they felt might

be considered “wrong” or “stupid”), incent idea generation, and increase overall creativity of the group.

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Firstly, focus on quantity of ideas: This rule is a means of enhancing divergent thinking production. The assumption is

that the greater the number of ideas generated, the greater the chance of producing a radical and effective solution.

Secondly, deferring criticism of ideas: In brainstorming, criticism of ideas generated should be deferred for a later critical

stage of the process. Instead, participants should concentrate on broadening or adding to ideas. By postponing judgment,

participants will feel free and confident to come up with unusual ideas, because judgment of ideas may hinder their

production.

Thirdly, welcome unusual or wild ideas: in order to glean a long list of ideas, unusual ideas are welcomed. They can be put

forward by looking from new perspectives. These new ways of thinking may produce better solutions.

Fourthly and finally, combine and improve ideas: ideas may be built on each other ideas.

Osborn has come to the conclusion that the implementation of these relevant rules give rise to a greater quantity of ideas,

and that a greater quantity of ideas lead to a greater quantity of useful , surprising, appropriate and original ideas. Accordingly,

quantity produces quality.

Similarly, a significant component of creativity is creative problem solving (CPS). According to Jeffrey Baumgartner,

creative problem solving is not just brainstorming; it is actually well-defined process that can help a person from problem

definition to implementation of solutions. The CPS model is sometimes labeled the Osborn-Parners model after Alex Osborn

who is the inventor of brainstorming, and Sidney Parnes, who is a primary developer of this technique. The word “problem”, as

used in CPS, does not stand for how much we like or dislike a particular situation. It refers to any situation that we might like

to change or improve in some way to a desired state. One of John’s favorite slogans is: “Creative thinkers see opportunities

where others see only problems” (Cited in Bear and Kaufman, 2012. P94). CPS compensates of six steps which are mass-

finding:

1. To start with, exploring a situation means being opened to experience and conceive the situation at hand from different

perspectives.

2. Data-Finding means collecting information about the situation.

3. Problem -Finding refers to the process of defining the problem and it is very essential step, and one that is frequently

overlooked, one should take time to take into consideration different ways to conceptualize the problem.

4. Idea-Finding means generating possible solutions

5. Least but not last, solution –finding means choosing a solution

6. Eventually, action planning means developing a course of action (Bear and Kaufman, 2012).

On the basis of these details, divergent thinking and evaluative thinking are the nuts and bolts on each step of CPS. At

every single step in the process there is an alternation between imagination and judgment. By this we mean, a person first

diverges, opens themselves up to a wide array of ideas, and this is followed by deciphering and judging ideas, deciding which

ones are the most feasible at a given point in time or in a given context. Thus, an essential bit of every creative process is

evaluation. In a nutshell, CPS is an umbrella approach, which covers breaking down a problem to understand it, generating

ideas to solve the problem and evaluating those ideas to find the most reasonable appropriate solutions.

It is important to bear in mind that the CPS takes time and is not a static or rigid process. The burning question is whether

CPS is teachable for students in task specificity way of course. Broadly, studies have shown that it is hard for primary-grade

students to keep the full model in mind; it is preferable to model this kind of thinking by practice it through using CPS when

working with students in groups or individually to solve difficult problems, but without referring back to the model. For older

students CPS is teachable, one should introduce the model, illustrate each of its steps, and then allow students to implement

them to work on a difficult personal problem.

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Although psychometric approach to creativity provided us with an insight into the creative processes that trigger creative

products, many criticisms have been leveled against it. For instance, Weisberg criticizes psychometric approach to creativity,

namely divergent thinking, on the basis of his scientific research including reported studies, Weisberg concluded that divergent

thinking and creativity are not correlated. He analyses records of both artistic and scientific efforts namely Guernica1,

Beethoven Ninth Symphony2 and the discovery of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). In each case, increasing steps (initial

drawings, experimental themes, or unsuccessful models) can be identified leading from one idea to the following one.

Weisberg estimates that creativity is an ordinary thinking directed toward producing an original idea. He disagrees with the

idea of creative leaps or flashes of insight by stating that creative ideas do not emerge, in an unexpected leap of direction, but in

gradual increments based on past experience. In other words, novel ideas emerge as the outcome of long and evolving efforts.

He also proposes that a wide variety of experiences of problems in a given domain enable individuals to implement their

accumulated experiences to new situations and hence come up with novel solutions or ideas (as cited in Starko, 2005).

In his view, creativity can be sharpened in two basic ways: by increasing expertise (by building more experiences) and by

increasing commitment and persistence (by allowing the individual to keep on building when initial attempts fail).Moreover,

Weisberg states that knowledge has an impact on creative products. He added that immersion in a discipline is an internal locus

in creative behavior. On the basis of this believe, a novel solution or idea is simply a sound extension of existing ideas. Thus, it

is only our restricted knowledge that makes a given idea appears as a novel conceptual leap.

Additionally, in a review of research on creativity, conceptualized by Edward De Bono, the six thinking hats approach

aims to support group discussion and individual thinking through a structured process which assumes that the brain thinks in a

number of distinct ways. It is a simple, effective thinking process that helps people to be more productive, focused, and

mindfully involved. These are:

The White Hat calls for information known or needed. “The facts, just the facts.”

The Red Hat signifies feelings, hunches and intuition. When using this hat one can express emotions and feelings

and share fears, likes, dislikes, loves, and hates.

The black Hat is judgment -logic applied to identifying flaws or barriers; where things might go wrong, seeking

mismatch.

The Yellow Hat symbolizes brightness and optimism. Under this that a person explores the positives and probe for

value and benefit. Logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony.

The Green Hat focuses on creative thinking; the possibilities, alternatives, and new ideas. It is an opportunity to

express new concepts and new perceptions.

The Bleu Hat is used to manage the thinking process; it is the control mechanism that ensures the six thinking hats

guidelines are observed.-thinking about thinking.

Six thinking Hats is a fruitful approach or system of thinking that allows a person to get a more rounded view of a given

situation. Also, it enables a person to move outside their habitual thinking style, and to look at things from a wide array of

different perspectives. To cite an example, a person can look at it from an emotional, intuitive, creative or risk management

viewpoint. As cited by Edward De Beno: “you cannot dig a hole in a different place by digging the same place hole deeper”.

De Beno argues that the dominant form of thinking in Western culture is represented by the black hat of negative judgment

(logic).

1.2.2. The cognitive characteristics of creative individuals

1 Guernica: was painted by the Cubist Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso in 1937.The title `Guernica` refers to the city that was bombed by Nazi planes during the Spanish Civil War.2 Beethoven Ninth Symphony: is the final complete symphony composed from 1822to 1824 by the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

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Psychologists have put forward several theories to account for why creative people are creative. Some of those theories

have examined the longitudinal development3 of creativity across time. According to Psychoanalytic theories, creativity can be

explained largely by preconscious processes, human behavior, development, and personality traits as shaped by powerful

unconscious processes. They endeavor to reveal the internal needs that spur individuals' actions, usually looking to childhood

events to have an insight into adult behaviors.

A psychodynamic approach4 to understanding creativity was held by Sigmund Freud. He claimed that human

behavior could be explained by examining conflicts between unconscious desires and acceptable external behavior.

He defined three aspects of human personality: the ego (logical conscious mind), the id (primitive unconscious drives), and the

superego (a conscience- like force that acts as mediator between the other two). Freud suggested that creativity arises as a result

of frustrated desires for fame, fortune and love, with energy that was previously tied up in frustration and emotional tension in

the neurosis being diverted into creativity activity. He linked creativity to the sublimation of drives deriving from the id. If an

individual cannot freely express his or her desires, those desires must find release in other ways or be sublimated (to direct

those desires into something productive and creative). He maintained that only unhappy people experienced daydreams and

fantasies; these are prominent parts of the creative process. "Unsatisfied wishes are the driving power behind fantasies; every

separate fantasy contains the fulfillment of a wish, and improves and unsatisfactory reality" (Freud, 1908.Cited by Gotaz and

Mondejar, 2005 .P238).Briefly, Freud emphasizes on the importance of the experiences that an individual accumulates through

his or her life, he also believes in the unconscious mind in articulating creative production.

Whereas psychoanalytic theorists look at the interaction of conscious and unconscious drives in order to understand

human behavior. Associationist psychologists or what it is also known as behaviorists, on the other hand, approach the

production of ideas as the result of stimuli and response as resulting from a series of stimuli and responses. Endeavors of this

perspective take into account observable behaviors rather than internal desires. The most renowned advocate of this trend was

B. F. Skinner. He believed that individuals' actions were determined solely by their history of reinforcement. If actions were

followed by pleasant consequences, they were likely to be repeated. If the consequences were not pleasant, it was less likely the

individual would try a similar action again (Cited by Starko, 2005).

In the same line of thought, another associationist theorist is Mednick. He concurs with Skinner on the view that the

productions of ideas are the result of stimuli and responses, but he added that creative ideas are the result of the creative

combination of remote, unrelated ideas. Accordingly, subjects who frequently associate remote ideas together tend to produce

creative ideas than others. Humanist theorists do not rely on either neuroses or reinforcement as influential variables in human

production. But rather, they take into account normal growth and the development of mental health. Humanist theorists

consider creativity as the result of well-adjusted mental development. The pioneer of the humanist psychology is Maslow

(1954), as it is illustrated by the pyramid below (figure3), he proposed a hierarchy of human needs which injects the most basic

physical needs, needs for safety and security, love and belonging, self-esteem, and self- fulfillment to the most advanced needs

of self-actualization. He purports that creativity and a healthy, self- actualizing human go hand in hand. “My feeling is that the

concept of creativeness and the concept of the healthy, self-actualizing, fully-human person seem to be coming closer and

closer together, and may perhaps turn out to be the same thing”. (Maslow, 1963.Cited by Seaward, 2012, P .116).However,

Maslow realized that he had to revisit his hypothesis- that mental health and creative productivity are consistent.

Psychologically unhealthy people such as Wagner and Van Gogh were counterevidence for his hypothesis. For this reason,

Maslow (1968) posited two types of creativity. The first, special talent creativity of the genius type is “independent of goodness

or health of character”. This is Creativity with a “big C”. It is the universal heritage of every human being that is born with co-

varies with psychological health. To put it differently, the mental health and creativity are deemed as separate variables.

3 A longitudinal study: is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time.4 A psychometric approach: is a field of study based on direct measurement of creativity and/or its perceived correlates such as knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits in individual.

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The second type of creativity that Maslow delimits is self-actualizing creativity. This is creativity with a “little c”. He

postulates that creativity of this type and mental health are interrelated. It has to do more with the personality. Self-actualizing

creativity does not solely cover the traditional creative arts, but also any aspect of human behavior as well as every moment

presents a chance to be creative. His supportive example is one woman, uneducated, poor, a full-time housewife and mother,

and yet was a marvelous cooker, mother, wife and homemaker. With little money, her home was somehow always beautiful.

She was a perfect hostess. Her meals were banquets. Her taste in linens, silver, glass, crockery and furniture was impeccable.

She was in all these areas original, novel, ingenious, unexpected, and inventive. Accordingly, “a first-rate soup is more

creative than a second-rate painting ... cooking or parenthood or making a home could be creative while poetry need not be; it

could be uncreative” (cited in Starko, 2005, P.60).

Conforming to Maslow`s view, individuals who fulfilled a high level of self-actualizing creativity are likely to do

everything creatively. They are characterized as more spontaneous, less inhibited and controlled in their behavior and open to

experiences as well as expressive than average people. Maslow views them to be bold, more self-accepting, and less concerned

with others' opinions. He purports that personal qualities like boldness, courage, freedom, spontaneity, perspicuity, integration,

self-acceptance all of which contribute to the emergence of SA creativeness. The ability to express ideas freely without self-

criticism is very important aspect of self-actualization creativity. Maslow analogizes the personality characteristics of this type

of creativity with the innocent, happy creativity of secure children. These personality characteristics are the nuts and bolts of

self-actualizing (SA) creativity (Starko, 2005). Accordingly, Maslow describes creativity as

“a fundamental characteristic, inherent in human nature, a potentiality given to all or most human beings at birth, which

most often is lost or buried or inhibited as the person gets enculturated” (Starko, 2005,P.57).

The endeavors of this theory emphasize on the personality rather than its achievement, considering these achievements to

be epiphenomena occurred by the personality. To put it differently, the humanistic psychologist Maslow approaches creativity

as the result of healthy human growth. By the way, Maslow formulated the traits of this profile on the study of creative

geniuses like George Washington Carver, Albert Einstein, Baruch Spinoza, Martin Buber, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John

Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Browning, Walt Whitman, Aldous Huxley, Pierre Renoir, and Franz Joseph Haydn.

Figure 3: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom . (As cited in Starko, 2005).

Similarly, a humanistic psychologist Carl Ransom Rogers also focuses on personality variables to account for creativity.

For Rogers, novel ideas rise through the interaction of an individual and the environment in which he or she lives. He believes

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that the characteristics tied to creativity facilitate this interaction to take place. Accordingly, the first characteristic rests in

openness to experiences. Unlike Freud who believed that that creativity is a psychological defense. Roger urges that a creative

individual is someone who is free of psychological defenses that would keep them from experiencing their environment. In

other words, openness to experiences allows individuals to contemplate and come up with new ideas as well as to tolerate

ambiguity. The second characteristic is reliance on one's own judgment in order to evaluate his or her creative products.

Eventually, Rogers's third characteristic manifests itself through the ability to play with elements and concepts by being able to

imagine impossible combinations as well as articulate wild hypotheses. The confluence of these three characteristics enables

creativity to emerge smoothly (Starko, 2005).

Furthermore, the relationship between creativity and intelligence has traditionally been a fringe subject for decades.

Intelligence can be defined as the ability to acquire and utilize knowledge. In testing circumstances, an Intelligence Quotient

(IQ) is gauged by one’s ability to utilize information gained historically. Nevertheless, this relationship varies from one theory

to another depending on the description and measures used to account for both creativity and intelligence. Presumably, an

often-cited example is the threshold theory, which assumes that there is a strong correlation between creativity and intelligence

(those individuals; the more intelligent the person, the more likely he or she is to be creative. However, the tents of this theory

are not always valid in the sense that intelligence does not always predict or warrant creativity; a highly intelligent person may

be highly or only moderately creative. The relationship between creativity and intelligence is more of an overlap of skills or

abilities instead of a dependence on one another (Starko, 2005).

1.2.3. The characteristics of creative products

Creative Systems Theory presents a profound framework for understanding the notion of creativity in macro-

environment. Dean Keith Simonton, Professor of Psychology at UC-Davis, views creativity as an interaction between the

individual and the outside world. In such theory, the mechanisms of the mind are not enough to describe the creative process.

They should be located in the context of an external environment. According to Simonton (1988) Creativity cannot be properly

understood in isolation from the social context, for creativity is a special form of personal influence i.e., the effective creator

profoundly alters the thinking habits of other human beings (cited in Starko, 2005). It should be noted that this approach-

system theory is developmental and systematic; it approaches creativity as developing over time, it studies extraordinary

creativity and it claims that the external environment plays a major role in the production and the usefulness of a given creative

product as well as it views creative activity as interactive, affected by historical context, interpersonal relationships, and

professional collaborations. In other words, creativity can be improved through collaborative thinking within a specific

domain. Individuals go through internal transformations as their cognitive systems respond to interactions with the world.

Feldman as a system theorist, he recognized the factors that come into play in interactions. He focused on extraordinary

creativity. He claimed that the seeds of creativity grow along these multiple factors. These factors allow high-level creativity

to function. He cited seven dimensions that may influence creative processes:

1. cognitive processes

2. social and emotional processes

3. family aspects-growing up and current processes

4. education and preparation-formal and informal

5. characteristics of the domain and field,

6. sociocultural contextual aspects

7. Historical forces, events, and trends

In the same line of thought, Csikszentmihalyi views creativity not as an interaction among person, product, and

environment. For him, cognitive, flexibility, motivation, and inspiring life experience enable individuals to produce creative

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products in the information gained from the culture in which they live (cited in Starko, 2005). As an illustration, accordingly, a

playwright would not be able to create a piece of work without knowledge about the rules of theater and script writing.

Individuals are not creative in a vacuum but rather in a given field or culture. To put it differently, creativity entails a

knowledge-base in some domains. And it occurs within a domain that exists within a context. This model pushes us to ask

where creativity is, instead of asking what creativity is.

2. Creativity and motivation in school environment

2.1. Creativity and emotions

The impact of positive and negative affect on cognitive processes has been used as a variable to predict creativity. It is

believed that tasks of creative thinking are mood sensitive. For example, positive affect enhances cognition of associative and

semantic priming, increasing analytical processing, casual reasoning, and reliance on systematic processing, and negative affect

narrows the focus of attention. Ashby, Isen, and Turken (as cited in Moore and Oaksford, 2002) noted that: “It is now well

recognized that positive affect leads to greater cognitive flexibility and facilitates creative problem solving across a broad

range of settings”(p. 245-287).

To put it another way, a positive mood state leads to increasing dopamine neurotransmitters5 levels in the brain that in

turn leads to a greater cognitive flexibility, hence, enhanced performance on certain cognitive tasks. To illustrate, when

students find things they are good at or invigorate them, they tend to perform better because their confidence is up as well as

their attitude is different. It is a fundamental human truth that people perform better when they are keen on what they do

(Moore and Oaksford, 2002).

After having given a brief overview of the impact of effects on cognitive processes, it is of a great value at this phase to

have a profound insight into motivation as a catalyst for learning. Toward this end, going back to the original Greek word

motivation. Motivation derives from the Latin word "movere" which means to move. Broadly, motivation injects inner forces,

enduring traits, behavioral responses to stimuli, and sets of beliefs and affects. The study of motivation can be considered from

two main categorical theories: behavioral and cognitive theories. Behavioral theories view motivation, as a change in the rate,

frequency of occurrence, or form of behavior as a function of environmental events and stimuli. In comparison, cognitive

theories put emphasis on the internal structures and processing of information and beliefs. Cognitive theories count on

competence, values, affects, goals, and social comparisons when measuring motivation (Taylor, 2012).

Throughout the history, psychologists have added a wide array of information to our understanding of motivational

learning including Freud’s work on psychotherapy. Freud conceptualized motivation as psychical energy which could be

expressed or repressed for various reasons. Conditioning is another psychological breakthrough which explains one’s

motivation. Pavlov’s dog is the famous example here (Pavlov 1927, as cited in Taylor 2012). In the light of classroom, teachers

can make use of either positive or negative reinforcement to incent certain behaviors. Many studies illustrate how the behavior

of teachers influences a student’s level of motivation. For instance, Clark and Yinger (1979) claim that specifying learning

objectives, organizing activities, and delineating evaluation methods can enhance students` motivation. Also, instruction

delivery and monitoring student performance play an immense role in influencing student motivation. According to Lantos

(1997) (As cited in Taylor, 2012), students’ thinking, attitude, and performance are conditioned by a professor’s attitude.

Lantos presents nine principles for motivating students: (1) pragmatic, problem-solving, and participation-provoking; (2)

reward-dispensing and reinforcing; (3) Objectives-oriented and Outcomes-achieving; (4) flexible and fluid; (5) enthusiastic and

5 dopamine neurotransmitters: is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families that plays several important roles in the brain and body.it functions as

both an inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitter depending upon where in the brain and at which particular receptor site it binds to.

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encouraging; (6) satisfier of students’ needs and desires and salesman-minded, (7) sincere and ethical, and straightforward; (8)

on top of things and on the cutting edge; and (9) rapport-establishing and relationships-building.

Additionally, classroom management is crucial to fostering a healthy level of students` motivation; the way in which

teachers ask questions, provide feedback, administer rewards and punishments, praise and criticize, respond to students’

questions and requests for help, and offer assistance when students experience difficulties play an undeniable role in

determining how motivated a student will be to learn a subject matter. (As cited in Taylor, 2012) Rosenshine and Stevens

(1986) introduced the following list of instructional functions: (1) review, check previous day’s work, reteach as necessary; (2)

present new material; (3) give students guided practice, check for understanding; (4) provide feedback, reteach if needed; (5)

give students independent practice; (6) review at spaced intervals. Also, the atmosphere a teacher creates in his/her classroom

has also an impact on students` behaviors. Students who are given classroom activities that meet their interests including new

and interesting ideas are more likely to be intrinsically motivated.

In regards to teachers` feedback, teachers may provide performance, motivational, attributional, or strategy comments.

The climate a teacher creates in his/her classroom will also influence student behavior. Lewin, Lippitt, and White (1939)

demonstrated three types of classroom leadership: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. Group productivity was highest

with the authoritarian and democratic forms of leadership. Classroom management is crucial to fostering a healthy level of

student motivation. Kounin (1977) listed “withitness” (demonstration by teachers that they know what is going on at all times;

“overlapping” (ability of teachers to attend to more than one issue simultaneously; “movement management” (strategies

designed by teachers to initiate, sustain, and alter activity flow in the 3 classroom; “group focus” (extent to which teachers keep

students attentive to the learning task; and “programming to avoid satiation” (how well teachers minimize boredom due to

repetition of material) (Cited in Taylor, 2012).

2.2 The causal relation between creativity and motivation

Motivation seems to boil down to creativity. Motivation has an influential impact on creativity. Creative icons express

what drives their motivation in different ways. The hard worker novelist John Irving utters ( as cited in starko,2005) urges that

the reason behind his hard working at his writing is that he loves what he does; it is not work for him. For others is about the

challenge, curiosity, and the intellectual `flow`. This is referred to as intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation includes self-

determination (evaluation), competence, task involvement, curiosity, enjoyment, freedom, and domain interest (recognition).

Extrinsic motivation is. On the other hand, characterized by rewards e.g. money, and people constraints.

A large body of studies has proven that extrinsic motivation i.e. doing things for rewards (such as grades or money) or

for avoiding punishments (such as verbal or physical) tends to minimize intrinsic motivation i.e. doing things because we enjoy

doing them. It may be surprising to learn that offering rewards leads not only to increase extrinsic motivation, but also to

decrease intrinsic motivation. In this regard, since intrinsic motivation is linked to creativity, decreasing the level of intrinsic

motivation (by increasing the level of extrinsic motivation) does, in fact, decrease creativity.

A research study has revealed and illustrated the hidden costs of rewards. In one preschool, children choose willingly

drawing as one of their own activities; they spent, on average, about 16% of their time drawing. Afterwards rewards were given

for drawing during this-free choice period. Children were still free to opt for whatever activity they are interested to do, but if

they choose drawing, they would gain a reward, which was a certificate with a gold seal and ribbon. As a result, the amount of

time spent on drawing highly increases. The problem was that after the reward for drawing was discontinued. When researchers

observed the children in the preschool a week or two later, they realized that the number of students who chose drawing

incredibly decreased; only about 8% of the time far less than the 16% rate before rewards had been briefly introduced. Children

thought drawing was something people did for pleasant but it turned out to be as a paid work. They liked the reward as

everybody else and they were ecstatic to draw in order to earn the reward, but once there is no reward, they stopped drawing

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and they would rather do something fun. (Kim and Kaufman and Bear and Sriraman, 2013).To put it differently, while rewards

do increase how often people perform rewarded behaviors; rewards also tend to undermine the intrinsic interest of a task. Thus,

one could not enjoy a task for its own sake and be motivated by reward at the same time.

Moreover, a number of investigators have studied the effects of expected reward on creativity. For instance, Kruglanski,

Friedman, & Zeevi (1971) demonstrated that high school students who expected rewards for their work wrote less creative

stories and story titles than did students who simply asked to do the work. In simple words, individuals tend to be more creative

when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself – and not by

extrinsic motivators (As cited in Amabile, 1985).

In the same line of thought, Teresa Amabile, a Baker foundation Professor and Director of Research at Harvard Business

School, has focused on individual creativity. Amabile was not only interested in characteristics of creative individuals, but also

in "creative situations" notably motivation .She figured out the social environment that can have impact on creativity which

lead her to introduce her componential theory which It will be tackled profoundly in the following part.

Briefly, extrinsic motivation can combine synergistically with intrinsic motivation. Another facet of extrinsic motivation

is non-synergistic extrinsic motivators. Non-synergistic extrinsic motivators might lead the person to feel under control, which

in turn hampers intrinsic motivation. Where a reward is perceived as control, creativity will be reduced. In other words,

different types of motivation play a role in different parts of the creative process. Novelty goes hand in hand with intrinsic

motivation. If the emphasis is on persistence synergistic extrinsic motivators come into play. In the educational contexts,

according to Amabile (1985) the impact of praise or grades as a reward for schoolwork should be reviewed in light of their

impact on creativity. She proposes that if assessment is necessary, using it as informational-as a tool for improvement, rather

than as a judgment, may reduce the feeling of external control. Thus, increases the intrinsic motivation. External rewards are

unlikely to produce more creativity.

In the same line of thought, as described earlier the basic notion behind the intrinsic motivation theory of creativity is

that people are more creative when they find something intrinsically interesting. Taking this into consideration psychologist

Theresa Amabile in her book “Managing Creative People” describes the results of her study in which she invites some

renowned art experts to evaluate the work of 29 professional artists. Experts were not aware of the fact that each artist had been

asked to submit 10 commissioned works and 10 non-commissioned works .Most of the experts rated the non-commissioned

works as being more creative than the commissioned pieces. This study proves that the intrinsic motivation and creativity are

strongly linked. The research findings have driven Amabile to create “the intrinsic motivation principle of creativity”-people

will be most creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself-not by

external pressures. These external pressures even embody ‘positive’ incentives such as money, since as Amabile points out that

a cash reward can’t magically prompt people to find their work interesting if in their hearts they feel it is dull (Amabile, 1985).

Interestingly, as cited in (Bear and Kaufman, 2012) another study that was held by Amabile is the following: Amabile

has asked 72 young adult to write two brief poems that were assessed by experts for creativity. First Amabile had each subject

to write a haiku on a “snow theme”. Then subjects read a short story for 15 minutes. Finally, they wrote another haiku poem,

this time on the theme “laughter”. Before writing the second poem, subjects were asked to fill out a short questionnaire .The

latter was designated to have them focus on either their intrinsic motivation (e.g. “enjoying the opportunity for self-expression

and liking the play with words), or extrinsic motivation (e.g. enjoying or hoping for public recognition or having been

encouraged by teachers or parents to go into writing The third group, the control group, was not encouraged in either direction.

On the first poem (‘snow), there was no difference in the average creativity ratings of the poems. The three groups all had mean

creativity ratings of approximately 18.4(on a 40-point scale). On the second (“laugher) poems, however, there were remarkable

differences among the third three groups. The control group had a mean of about 18.9 (on the same 40-point scale), the intrinsic

group was about one point higher, and the extrinsic group had a mean rating more than three points lower than the control

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group (and four points lower than the intrinsic group). The above mentioned studies illustrate, first, a straightforward

confirmation of the intrinsic motivation theory of creativity.

Concerning the same aspect, one of the most fundamental theories underlies motivation is Self-Determination theory

(SDT). The pioneers of (SDT) are Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan. Accordingly, people have three innate psychological

needs or factors e.g. competence, relatedness, autonomy, that are considered as universal necessities. To illustrate:

1. Competence: it is thought that students like to feel competent. If they are to be motivated, they cannot be made to

feel foolish or incompetent. Therefore, teachers should present appropriate level of challenges and improvement in

order to elevate motivation.

2. Relatedness: teachers should make students feel accepted and part of learning community .The more they feel

respected and cared for by the teacher, the more likely they are to decide to share their ideas and views.

3. Autonomy: for a student to be motivated, they need to feel independent .Several studies have shown that

instructors who supported students’ sense of autonomy increased students’ curiosity, intrinsic motivation, and

desire for a challenge. (cited in Bear and Kaufman, 2012)

The aforementioned factors help students become more intrinsic and goal-motivated learners that in turn support learning

as well as creativity.

2.3. The componential theory of creativity

A large body of theories has been emerged to understand profoundly creativity. To cite an example, the

componential theory of creativity (the social psychology of creativity) which was articulated by Teresa Amabile in

1983. Componential theory is a model of the social and psychological components essential for an individual to produce

creative work. As it is demonstrated below by the figure 4. This theory embraces three components as significant for any

creative work – and one component outside the individual – the social environment in which the individual is working:

domain-relevant skills ranging from the social environment in which the individual is working, factual knowledge

about the domain and technical skills. If an individual wants to be creative in dancing or cooking, he or she must be

knowledgeable about these activities. (Expertise in the relevant domain or domains), creativity-relevant skills (cognitive

and personality processes conducive to novel thinking) initially called creative thinking and working skills. It lies in

cognitive style and has to do with how people approach problems and depends on personality and thinking or working style.

Amabile suggests that key aspects of creative thinking are: Comfort in disagreeing with others and trying solutions that depart

from the status quo. Combining knowledge from previously disparate fields. Ability to persevere through difficult problems.

Ability to step away from an effort and return later with a fresh perspective (incubation).These might contain considering

situations from different points of view instead of jumping into conclusions, using metaphors, or exploring and

problem finding. The final component that was identified by Amabile is task motivation; chiefly intrinsic

motivation (has to do with the involvement in the activity out of interest, enjoyment, or a personal sense of

challenge). Creativity-relevant skills are task specific and they embrace heuristics for generating creative ideas, as

well as cognitive styles, working styles, and personality traits. Concisely, Motivation is seen as an important factor in

creative outcome, and the most important motivators are intrinsic passion and interest in the work itself (Amabile, 2012).

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Figure 4: Componential Model of Creativity (Amabile, 2012).

Componential theory urges that the confluence of all these components is mandatory for creativity. It also claims that

extrinsic constraints can influence aspects of performance related to creativity. In other words, accordingly, creativity is

achieved when an intrinsically motivated individual with high domain expertise and high skills in creative thinking works in an

environment high in supports for creativity. A central tenet of the componential theory is the intrinsic motivation principle of

creativity. With consistent of Amabile`s theory on motivation, apart from the studies conducted by Amabile that I have

discussed in the previous part , a large body of studies have demystified that extrinsic constraints can minimize creativity. In

one, for example, women who did artwork under the expectation of external evaluation produced work that was judged by

artists as lower in creativity than that produced by women who did not expect evaluation.

In the same line of thought, motivational orientation towards a task appears to be a fundamental variable. As it has been

mentioned earlier individuals who overwhelmingly rely on an intrinsic orientation in their work or learning tend to be more

creative comparing to those who adopt an extrinsic orientation. Although the concept of motivational orientation has been

heavily used by many theorists in their work. Yet, it is difficult if it is not possible to find definitions of motivational

orientation. Harter (1978, 1981) has suggested that five aspects of classroom learning are hints of intrinsic or extrinsic

motivational orientations in young children: (1) learning motivated by curiosity versus learning in order to please the teacher;

(2) incentive to work for one's own satisfaction versus working to please the teacher and get good grades; (3) preference for

challenging work versus preference for easy work; (4) desire to work independently versus dependence on the teacher for help;

and (5) internal versus external criteria for determining success or failure (As cited in Bear & Kaufman, 2012).

Equally important, teaching motivation management as a metacognitive skill is integral. Learning when and how to

monitor one’s own motivation is a significant metacognitive skill that should be taught to students so as to complete tasks that

they do not find intrinsically interesting. One should bear in mind that most children in the upper grades of elementary school

face a great deal of difficulty applying metacognitive strategies on their own. Young children can learn how to use such

strategies, but they often need to be recalled each time it is appropriate to use them. Older children, on the other hand, cannot

solely learn to use these self-talk strategies to manage their motivation; they can also understand why such management is

helpful for their task to be done (Bear and Kaufman, 2012). To cite an example, one should tell, show , and remind students of

the interesting and enjoyable aspects of whatever activity students will be undertaking that in turn will somehow help students

to become creative people who find a great deal of joy in the things they do.

3. Creativity and school curriculum

Countries throughout the world are re-visiting and re-organizing their education system by reviewing some of the basic

principles or assumptions on which education so far has been grounded. Education is approached as the prominent way of

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enabling individuals and nations alike to meet economic and social changes. Education is supposed to prepare members of

society for the work world and for economic independence; to help them to adapt in a rapidly changing society. Perhaps most

significantly, we expect education to provide activities and spaces in which learners face difficult challenges, where they need

to come up with collaborative and creative solutions. Education should produce leaders who are equipped with critical

analytical thinking skills. According to UNESCO, “the encouragement of creativity from an early age is one of the best

guarantees of growth in a healthy environment of self-esteem and mutual respect-critical ingredients for building a culture of

pace.” For the welfare of societies, policy makers must understand and recognize the creative potential every human being

carries. However, most of educational systems around the world undergo a low quality of education, especially in the third

world. Teachers often approach creativity as undesirable or misguided, because it displays change. Change may be conceived

by busy teachers (and senior managers) as costly in time and effort. Besides, creative teachers are rarely publicly welcomed. In

this respect, Coats (2000) urges that learners feel pressured to be compliant and act strategically in playing the “academic

game”: aware of the importance and pressure to conform in order to succeed on their assessments and performance, or worse

still aspiring only to survive the course. They are averse to being found to be `wrong` but also with increasingly strident

expectations of their teachers` role to provide a learning space and experiences that will enable them to succeed.

Creative capacity is a valued attribute for forward-looking. Creativity in education necessitates nurturing and scaling up

the creative potential of students. Teachers should use creative, inspiring approaches to incent curiosity and raise students` self-

esteem and confidence. However, it should be capitalized that teachers cannot nurture or develop the creative abilities of their

students if their own creative abilities are themselves not highlighted or are overlooked. Carolyn Edwards and Kay Springate in

their article “The lion comes out of the stone: Helping young children achieve their creative potential” list the following

suggestions on how to encourage students’ creativity.

1- Give students extended, unhurried time to explore and do their best work.

2- Don’t interfere when students are productively engaged and motivated to complete tasks in which they are fully

engaged.

3- Create an inviting and exciting classroom environment.

4- Provide students with space to leave unfinished work for later completion and quiet space for contemplation.

5- Provide an abundant supply of interesting and useful materials and resources.

6- Create a classroom climate where students feel mistakes are acceptable and risk-taking is encouraged. Appropriate

noise, mess, and autonomy are accepted. (Morris (2006, p. 6).

In the same line of thought, educational psychological researchers have along claimed that the creative potential of

students should not be viewed as independent from the academic subject matter “extra-curricular”. Rather, everyday moments

of the classroom serve as a crucial opportunity to nurturing student creativity. Creative icons (e.g., artists, musicians,

photographers, scientists) capitalize on the creative potential of micro-moments. As it has been elucidated in the second chapter

of the book Creatively Gifted Students are not like Other Gifted Student, Creativity enhancement every day or extra-

curricular?, creative moments can be conceptualized as brief, surprising moments of creative potential that emerge in everyday

routine, habits, and planned experienced. To cite an example, in the classroom context, creative micro moments, which has

implications for the development of students’ creative potential , occurs whenever a student comes up with an unexpected ideas

or respond in unexpected ways to known answer questions. In this way, teachers are confronted with a micro moment decision.

Taking this into consideration, there are two ways whereby teachers respond to unexpected answers. Either by trying to

understand the potential relevance of students’ unexpected answers. By doing so, teachers engage in a form of open-ended

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“dialogic pedagogy”6 in which teachers are willing to explore responses that may lead to uncertain outcomes (Bear and

Kaufman, 2012).

The second way that teachers may follow is attempting to be understood. When teachers opt for this option they try to

redirect students to understand the response that they as teachers, expected to hear. By doing so, creative ideas may be

disregarded. This pattern of classroom talk has been called the Initiative Respond Evaluative (IRE) (Mehan, 1979).

Consequently, students learn that the goal of a class discussion is not to try to work out their own interpretation or

understanding, but rather attempt to puzzle-out or guess to answer expected by the teacher (Bear and Kaufman, 2012).

In the same line of thought, there are several common ways to academically dismiss a student’s novel or unexpected

ideas (potentially creative idea) like to redirect the students to go “back on track”. This is referred to as a “Soft dismissal”.

(Beghtto, 2009). Kensdey (2005), for example, has declared that “Soft dismissal” strategy is heavily used among the

elementary teachers. They make use of this method by responding to students “off script” comments with statements such as,”

we’ll talk about this later” (P.20). As a result, soft dismissal strategy has an impact on students’ confidence in their ideas.

(Cited in Bear and Kaufma, 2012)

Besides, some dismissals are transmitted in a harsh manner. This in turn, can result in the experience of “creative

mortification” (Beghetto, 2010. As cited in Bear and Kaufman, 2012). These harsh dismissals have serious effects on student`s

self-esteem and confidence. A student who aspires to be a creative icon such as a poet may quit writing poetry after having

received particularly harsh and shaming evaluative feedback from his or her teacher.

Concerning the same aspect, Beghetto has pointed out that in the context of the classroom, a potentially creative idea

may first appear as unexpected idea. This implies that unexpectedness is one of the most distinguishing features of a creative

notion. Yet, this does not necessarily mean that every unexpected idea is potentially creative idea. In order for an idea to be

creative, it should meet three conditions which are unexpectedness or novelty and meaningfulness, usefulness or

appropriateness in a given context .In this way, teachers should evaluate students’ unexpected answers so as that to know

whether and how the idea is meaningful, and hence creative. In simple words, Classroom micro- moments provide a platform

for teachers to allow students to sharpen both their creative self-efficacy (creative confidence) as well as their creative

metacognition (which embraces both self-knowledge and the contextual knowledge). It is; therefore, considerably significant

that teachers should take dual responsibility of making sure that students are learning academic subject matter and, at the

same time, allowing their students to express their creative ideas and evaluate as well as receive feedback on those ideas.

That is, creative education involves a balance between teaching knowledge and skills, and encouraging innovation.

Creativity can be taught. Teachers can and should be creative in their own teaching; they can also promote and nurture the

creative abilities of their pupils. The roles of teachers are to recognize young people`s creative capacities and to provide the

particular conditions in which they can be realized. We must change the concept of creativity from being something that is `added

on` to education, skills and training and make sure it becomes an indispensable part of education curricula. According to de Beno

there is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and

we would be forever repeating the same patterns.

3.1. Modern learning and creativity

The increase growth of technology has raised considerably the focus and the importance of the integration of technology

into education. Technology in the modern age has altered the way we retrieve and share information. It is transforming how

people think, work, play and connect. The field of education requires an incredible change in instructing so as to integrate ways

which students are familiar with and also to enable young people to make their way with confidence in a world that is being 6 dialogic pedagogy: is a term used by a growing number of scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to describe learning processes in which teacher and pupils critically interrogate the topic of study, express and listen to multiple voices and points of view, and create respectful and equitable classroom relations.

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shaped by technology .Today’s students are already connected. Teachers do not solely have to be aware of what students come

across on the Internet world but they have also to learn and implement advantages of new technologies in teaching students to

be creative and critical users of information. Instructors should integrate simulations and game-based learning activities into

classroom instruction such as code.org, Kodu Game Lab, Appinventor.org, GameSalad, Codecademy, PowerPoint, the weakest

Link, mock Trials, drawing, and animation etc. To be creative users of information students should not take information at face

value .They need to be equipped with analytical and critical thinking skills. To put it differently, students should have the

competence to decipher between what is knowledgeable and what may be serious or simply not academic. That is, while

knowledge is information, the reverse is not always true.

3.2. Information and communication technology (ICT) and its advantages to learning

Information and communication technology (ICT) has been a crucial subject in the work of educational technology

researchers. Information technologies are transforming how we think, how we communicate, how we work and how we play. A

number of researchers have indicated that internet is a crucial tool in education. According to Pelgrum (2001) (as cited in

Fatmi’s thesis, 2012, 2011) “ICT is not only the backbone of the Information Society, but also an important catalyst and tool

for inducing educational reforms that change our students into productive knowledge workers”( P.163). In addition, Jonassen

(2000) focuses on the use of computer application as mindtools. He claims that mindtools are computers applications that

(semantic organization tools, dynamic modeling tools, information interpretation tools, knowledge construction tools and

conversation and collaboration tools), when used by learners to represent what they know, necessarily engage them in critical

thinking about the content they are studying. Which implies that mindtools require students to think deeply about what they

know in different, meaningful ways such as to think about causal relationship between ideas or to describe the dynamic

relationship among ideas .In other words, it is a way of using computer application program to engage learners in a

constructive critical thinking; it allows learners to think more productively. When students use the internet for learning

purpose, they become socially aware through online sources, and independent learners, as well as critical thinkers and good

problem solvers.

In the same vein of technology and the genuine offer that ICT offers to the classroom in enhancing the degree of

learning to students, Ennaji (1998) in a paper presented at the 18th MATE conference, Moroccan association of teachers of

English, stated that there are many arguments that support the idea of Computer Assisted Language learning (CALL) because it

does serve students` needs to learning also teacher and curriculum designer and all those who take part in the process of

learning and teaching can benefit from the way computer promotes and proliferates the degree of learning in different contexts.

To cite an example, blended learning, also known as e-learning hybrid, integrative or mixed-mode courses, which is a term

increasingly used to describe the way e-learning is being combined with traditional classroom methods and independent study

to create a new, hybrid teaching methodology. Traditional education tends to place an emphasis on delivering information or

knowledge by way of a lecture, while in a blended learning model lectures can be videotaped ahead of time so the student can

watch on their own time. In blended learning the classroom is viewed as an environment for interaction, collaboration and

exercises that stress the application of the curriculum to solve problems or work through tasks.

As we have seen, students today tend to be creative in their academic as wells non-academic lives. One may assume that

it would be seamless transition to integrate these skills (creative technology tools) into the classroom realm; however, this has

not been the case in regard to implementing technology tools for creative purposes. Digital illiteracy of instructors is one

obstacle to realizing this transition; there is a “digital disconnect” between student and the teacher. Besides, some teachers

might be reluctant to use the Internet as a teaching means. Their attitudes towards the Internet can be an obstacle for using it for

learning purposes. They prefer to learn in a traditional environment “teaching by telling” rather than using the Internet as a

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facilitator tool. The concern that creativity enhancement through technology is done at the cost of academic curriculum is

another.

Teachers in typical schools seem more oriented towards avoiding the potential invalid or irrelevant knowledge gathered

online rather than towards facilitating creative engagement with the Internet and the variety of Web tools. Learning, rather than

simple information gathering, comes from the interaction of the student with an instructor and others that should be embedded

in the learning environment. It is an opportune time to revisit Web technologies and creative activities of the digital natives (the

generation of youth as opposite to digital immigrants) and bring them into the classroom, as a collaborative learning

environment, for creative and academic goals. In this regard, policy makers and educational leaders should spend a great deal

of money and efforts for the purpose of integrating technology including Internet in education, because it helps learners to

become active and supports critical thinking as well as knowledge construction in higher education. However, learners should

deal with information and ideas that they come across on the Internet critically and rationally not passively and slavishly.

Additionally, dissociating creativity from personality traits has been the concern of many researchers. Several

researchers in artificial intelligence look for algorithms that incent creativity mechanically. To cite an example, computational

cognitive models or ``computational psychology`` which has been cultivated by the Annual Conferences of the Cognitive

Science Society in 1970’s. Mathematical cognitive models for accounting for human cognition present relationships between

variables using mathematical equations. Verbal-conceptual models describe entities, relations, and processes in informal

languages. Componential cognitive modeling immersed descriptions of cognition in computer algorithms7 and programs, based

on computer science. It can be said that they attempt to understand creative processes, human creativity and produce machine

creativity.

Computational models are typically process based theories. Each model without taking its genre into account might be

viewed as a theory of whatever phenomena. It is possible to constitute theories of the same phenomena through so called

“product theories” which is also known as black box theories -rely on stimulus and response in terms of inputs and

outputs. There can be a wide array of “modeling” in this regard, as discussed in Starko (2005). The correspondence of a model

with human cognition can be in terms of qualitative namely non-numerical and relative, or quantitative namely numerical and

exact. There may even be based on abstracting general ideas from observations of human behaviors and then developing them

into computational models. This theory has witnessed a lot of consideration because it offers a variety of modeling techniques

as well as methodologies and supports practical applications of cognitive theories.

It would be meaningless if we discussed computational cognitive theory without referring back to one of the most

eminent figure within this framework. (As cited in Starko, 2005) Margaret Boden (1990). In her theory, she

represented computational model of psychology in which the semantic nets (in terms of computer systems) and

systems of artificial intelligence can be used to display models of human thought. For her, creativity is more than just novelty-

producing thought, but rather of novel exploration of and creation of mental representations adding that the restructuring of

conceptual spaces are important for an act to be truly creative. She argued that conceptual spaces are just as mental spaces.

They embrace all domains of thought ranging from chemistry to choreography, from pottery to poetry and they allow us to

produce works that are creative.

By the same token, Boden categorizes three types of creativity that occur in conceptual spaces: combinational,

exploratory, and transformational. To begin with, combinational creativity includes unfamiliar and valuable combinations of

familiar ideas that were previously presented. This type of creativity is significantly used in science as well as art .To cite an

example, Analogy poetic imagery, collage in visual art, and mimicry of cuckoo song8 in a classical symphony. The second type

which was elucidated by Boden is exploratory creativity immersing using existing styles or rules to articulate novel ideas

7 Algorithms; in mathematics and computer science, an algorithm is an unambiguous specification of how to solve a class of problems. Algorithms can perform calculation, data processing and automated reasoning tasks. 8 Cuckoo song; is a traditional English folk song, also sung in the USA, Canada, Scotland and Ireland.

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which have not achieved before the exploration undertook. The last type is transformational creativity. In transformational

creativity, the space or style itself is transformed by altering one or more of its key dimensions. Consequently, totally new ideas

can be articulated. The second type and the third type call for more explanation (Cited in Starko, 2005).

According to Boden, exploratory-transformational creativity (ET-creativity) can be measured on the basis of conceptual

space which is a method of assessing a given non-combinational creative product. Exploratory creativity rests on some

conventionally accepted style of thinking, or “conceptual space.” such as style of painting or music. The space is defined by an

array of generative rules (grammar rules). Usually, these rules are largely, or even wholly, implicit. Every single structure

generated by following them will fit the style concerned, like any word string produced by English syntax will be a

grammatically acceptable. In exploratory creativity, the person moves through the space to explore both the potential and the

limits of the space which may lead on to the third form of creativity. Transformational creativity, can lead to a total transform

and change things at all levels, the space or style itself is transformed by shifting one or more of its defining dimensions. As a

result, novel ideas can be generated that merely could not have been generated before the change. Briefly, creativity for

here results wholly from search through and transformation of conceptual spaces.

Computer models spur creativity by using heuristics, or other specific technique to guide and look for a problem space of

a particular topic or issue. Heuristics can be seen as the network of information and associations available for a particular

issue.  For instance, a computer model labeled BA CON was equipped with useful data, such as distance from the sun and

period of revolution. It was also equipped with three heuristics:

1. If the values of a term are constant, then infer that the term always has that value.

2. If the values of two numeric terms increase together, then consider their ratio.

3. If the values of one term increase as those of another decrease, consider their product. (As cited in Starko, 2005).

Many criticisms have been leveled against computational theory chief among them is that computational creativity

suffers from the common sense knowledge problem. Martin Heidegger, an American philosopher and professor of philosophy

at the University of California, Berkeley , claimed that lived experience must necessarily forego the having of knowledge. In

other words, having concepts must first be preceded by a concernful engagement with the world so as a given phenomenon can

be grasped as something. Our cognitive information and skills function upon such an intuitive background and understanding

of the world .Therefore, creativity cannot be approached in vacuum but it is rather occurred in our concernful activity, customs,

and practices. To illustrate, Picasso’s Guernica, a painting about the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil

War, Picasso must first have been able to have knowledge and common sense understanding about such an event in order to

produce such a piece of work . Another criticism is that Boden’s theory dismisses the mechanism of motivation (Cited in

Starko, 2005).

3.3. Personal learning environment (PLE)

It is in the personal learning environment that information are created and recreated. The importance of the PLE is

gaining interest in education and is deemed as an emerged technology. PLE reflects connectivism, which was coined by

George Siemens. The theory of connectivism refers to a “Learning theory of the digital age” which explains how Internet

technologies e.g. Web browsers, emails, wikis, online discussion forums, social networks, YouTube along with others have

offered new opportunities for people to learn and share information across the World Wide Web and among themselves.

According to connectivism learning is more critical than knowing. Knowledge is the connections among the information; that

is, the connections create new knowledge. Nodes of information are connected to other nodes of information, creating a

“personal learning center” (Siemens, 2006b). This process leads to creativity, if it embraces openness, collaboration, and

experimentation rather than acquisition of structure content (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

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Accordingly, creativity is seen as one’s ability to see new associations in the connections formed. That is, the process of

creativity involves connecting, and then making sense, followed by analyzing the credibility and reliability of a given

information. Guilford (1959) and Mednick (1962) have viewed creativity as associative process. Mednick (1962) has suggested

associative theory of creativity, defining creative thinking as the process of forming associative elements into new

combinations, which either meet specified requirements or are in some way useful. Guilford (1959), before Mednick, has also

proposed that remote associations result in originality from divergent thinking. Similarly, Wallach and Kogan (1965) have also

considered the creative process as producing multiple and associative contents. The creation of knowledge is a “process of

network formation” comprised of making meaningful networks, connecting those networks, and linking the pieces of

knowledge (Siemen, 2006b). Thus, based on these perspectives and Siemens’ connectivism, it can be deduced that remote

associations represent original or unique relationships among associative elements that result in creative ideas. In other terms,

the PLE has a prominent role in fostering creativity (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Collaboration is a defining characteristic of creativity .The social network allows creators to share their products and new

ideas with others in a short period. They can improve their ideas and gain acceptance of their products, which not only

encourages creativity, but also strengthen creative self-efficacy. That is, the sharing of creative works is an important

component for fostering creativity. As it is depicted below in figure 4, PLEs represent a platform where individuals can share

as well as improve their creative ideas. Also, collaborate with competent individuals with creative abilities. As an example, The

Internet has given a chance to many creative talents in various areas to be discovered like on YouTube dancers demonstrate

their dance skills, and stories , poems , and essays are published in blogs.

Figure 5: An example of a basic Personal Learning Environment (PLE) (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Furthermore, there are several ways whereby a person can improve their creative thinking. Creative thinking can be

taught with Web 2.0 tool. To cite an example, Bubbl.us which is an individual tool that enables students to create concepts, or

mind maps. Students can print, save, or share their maps with others. A part of creative thinking is being able to determine the

connections between concepts. Brainstorming can be visually displayed in a concept map of ideas and connections .Moreover,

students are often tasked with creating PowerPoint presentations. Learning to present information in non-linear format such as

in Prezi.com (a presentational tool) also contributes to enhancing critical and creative thinking.

In the same line of thought, art can be used to foster creativity talent. Art Education 2.0 website specifically for artistic

creativity. Art Education 2.0 strives to provide a global community of art educators at all levels with a site to use digital

technologies to transform art teaching and learning experiences and encourage joint creative work. The links to other sites

provided the images of students` artwork on school blogs or webpages allow educators to share their ideas for increasing art

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with digital media. They can share examples of students work and lesson plans and communicate with Art teachers from

around the world. Also, it enables teachers to develop and maintain online collaboration as well as learn new approaches to

teaching. One of the examples is a new collaborative project with the goal of promoting how creativity is being taught in

schools. The ultimate goal of Art Education 2.0 is to foster creativity in both teaching and learning. If students are not

encouraged to be creative and are not taught creative thinking skills, they can easily fall behind in this age. Schools should

make use of technology, Web tools, for learning purposes (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

3.4. Techniques of enhancing creativity inside the classroom

In the same vein, the purpose of “cultivating creativity” is explicitly noted throughout all the chapters in ``Teaching

Creatively and Teaching Creativity ``. What I Found eminently striking in this book is that how authors carefully illustrate

various techniques teachers can use to proliferate creativity of their students, as well as ways to enhance teachers` creativity.

Markedly, Apara Ranjan and Liane Gabora consider how teachers can promote creativity by outlining key ideas, and using a

course project assignment for illustration. Ronald A.Beghetto puts emphasis on the ways teachers respond to students

comments play a significant role in encouraging or inhibiting creative ideas (referred to as “teaching in the micro-moments”).

In the same way, Leonard Annetta and his colleagues outline the serious educational games program they developed for high

school students. They shortly point out outcomes, such as that students’ creativity stimulates the development of the games

(Gregerson, Synder and Kaufman, 2013).

Furthermore, Solomon reviews his development of his non-traditional approach to teaching undergraduate psychology

courses that he labels,” sequential hierarchy of multimodal interdisciplinary recursive experiences” This approach sheds lights

on the restrictions of the courses as typically taught where they embody incoherent topics and are disengaged from other

disciplines. He puts forward that a given course should be progressive/recursive and characterized by several different modes

of activity e.g. he makes use of art examples. He uses this creative approach to instruct introduction to psychology and plans to

study its effects on learning and creativity (Gregerson, Synder and Kaufman, 2013).

Correspondingly, (As cited in Gregerson, Synder and Kaufman, 2013) Reva Friedman, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor

of curriculum and teaching at the University of Kansas, comes up with her creative approach to address her students (potential

teachers) beliefs and biases concerning teaching diverse students. She integrates a spiral approach, a means that is used

in teaching or textbooks where first the basic facts of a subject are learned, without worrying about details, to conceptualize her

three steps (based on synectics, narratives, and Playback Theater). The first step is synectics, a problem solving methodology

that stimulates thought processes of which the subject may be unaware; this step aims at examining implicit values where

students a map titled “who are my people”. Then students reflect in a focused fashion by applying their personal insights to

examples of situation in the lives of eminent creators. The final step uses playback theater techniques for their students to

consider the lives of eminent creators and how these examples can apply to themselves.

Moreover, Heather T.Snyder (2013) combines between classical pedagogy and innovative conceptualization models to

enable students to foster their creative attitude and aptitude. Unlike traditional assignments that require students to parrot

aspects of texts they read. Heather suggests creative assignments she developed for her course on creativity. Heather discussed

concisely, regular creative journal assignments ways to facilitate the learning of course concepts, and a course creative project

as a method to implement course concepts to students’ personal creativity. They can benefit students by enhancing reflection,

facilitating critical thought, expressing feelings, and writing focused arguments. However, John Baer explicates two issues

faced by instructors who tend to infuse and defuse creativity: Whether training should be domain specific to induce intrinsic

motivation even when evaluation is needed. He claims that training should be domain specific, and that teachers should provide

some assignments that are ungraded (not divided into separate levels) so students can draw upon their intrinsic motivation and

take the risks needed to develop creativity.

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Lumping together the creative skills of the digital natives with the instruction objectives of classroom education is the

challenge that educators face. Although e- learning, distance learning, Web-based learning, and virtual distance schools are

expanding in today’s world, classroom teachers have opportunities to use their classroom instruction to promote creative

thinking in students by using tools already familiar to students. However, for teachers to promote creativity in the classroom

creativity needs to be recognized and valued, and changes in educational processes should occur, beginning with innovation in

curricular to encompass creativity.

4. Incorporating creativity in school curriculum

4.1 Techniques for fostering creativity

Yet technology still holds an unsure place in today’s educational environment, the application of modern Web-based

technologies in the classroom is undeniably fundamental in today’s world. Fostering creativity through these technologies is

the most challenge in digital world. There are, however, promising signs that creativity in education is gaining attention and

value. For instance, in USA “The Creativity Crisis” described in the July 19, 2010 issue of Newsweek attracted attention to the

long-ignored issue of creativity (Kim, 2011).

There is a misconception that creativity may not play a role in teaching and learning STEM9. In fact, creativity and

STEM education are closely tied to the economic success of the country (Britt, 2010). President Obama launched his “Educate

to Innovate” campaign on November 23, 2009 as a partnership with organizations to increase the focus on STEM education in

innovation (Office of the Press Secretary, 2009). The Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation initiatives sponsored by the

U.S. Department of Education, are designed to increase creative thinking in the classroom in support of the president’s call for

greater emphasis on innovation in schools. The Race to the Top program signed by President Obama February 17, 2009, offers,

in part, high dollar grants to schools willing to bring creativity to the classroom, especially in STEM subject areas. Investing in

innovation is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to support local schools to introduce, or further

develop, innovative programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2009b). The aims of these programs are tied closely to

technological innovation (as being a part of school reform) and to developing future talents. It is a bright hint for U.S. schools

that the country is taking into account the great value of creativity and is supporting creativity and innovation with funding (As

cited in Kim,Kaufman,Baer,Sriraman,2013). Another initiative worth mentioning is the European Union Year of Creativity and

Innovation 2009, which designated to raise awareness on the importance of creativity and innovation for personal, social and

economic development; to disseminate good practices; to stimulate education and research, and to promote policy debate on

related issues. (European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009, 2009). The EU published the Manifesto, which embraces

Provision 1, “Nurture creativity in a lifelong process where theory and practice go hand in hand” and Provision 2, “Make

schools and universities places where students and teachers engage in creative thinking and learning by doing” (European

Ambassadors for Creativity and Innovation, 2009, p. 2). The activities of the European Union Year of Creativity and

Innovation 2009 target a range of diverse groups namely young people, educators, firms and policy makers as well as general

public. (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Concerning the same aspect, another example is the national program to bring creativity to schools in the United

Kingdom (UK), which was a predecessor to the EU program. Economic concerns have been the reason force for the national

program for creativity in schools in the UK. The UK implements a national program to bring creativity into the classroom

beginning in 2002, with emphasis on investment in human capital. Simply put, “creativity is identified as a key disposition for

learners operating in creativity, technology, and instruction 29 the knowledge economy” (Thompson, 2009, p. 39). The

9 STEM: an acronym for the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, subjects.

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“Creative Partnerships” program introduced in 2003 in the UK was one approach to foster creativity in the everyday classroom.

Recognized artists, from a number of fields, were hired to work with students. Art (portraits), writing, and dance were included

in the elementary schools under the guidance of artists, not educators. The teacher was present but allowed the artist to be

responsible for the pedagogy (Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Hall and her colleagues (2007) found that the most effective strategy is a partnership with the teacher and the artist,

finding that the program helped students explore talents and self-expression. In other words, creativity and innovation

contribute to economic prosperity as well as to social and individual well -being. Incorporating creativity into school curricula

is essential for students’ life success. The economy demands creativity, which creates a wealthier society, which, in turn,

creates an individual asset. Maslow (1970) alluded that creativity is not only for a few people whose creative talent will reach a

profound level, such as Einstein, but is manifested in the everyday activities of everyday people. Creativity can be achieved in

this age as the Internet and Web tools allow students in classrooms and out-of-classrooms to hone their creative thoughts and to

collaboratively publish their creative products (Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

In the same line of thought, numerous techniques sometimes called tools for creative thinking, have arisen to help

students in articulating novel, surprising and appropriate ideas. While some of these techniques stimulate the cognitive

processes that trigger creativity. Other techniques help students to learn the content well as well as develop attitudes or habits

of mind that enhance creativity. Instead of sitting and waiting for the ready-made answer, students can actively use strategies to

channel their thoughts in new fruitful directions. To clarify, independence in judgment, readiness to explore multiple options

and persistence require creative thinking techniques. For example, Torrance and Safter (1990, 1999) design the Incubation

Model to organize the teaching of creative thinking skills. The Incubation Model matches the principles of inductive teaching.

It is a framework for teachers to create lesson that it is all about motivating and inspiring students to a higher level in thinking

about any given content area by using creativity students make use of information and creative thinking skills to induce

conclusions, solve problems, or consider alternatives (Cited in Starko, 2005).

Torrance and Safter (1990) portrayed the creative process as a way of looking for information or solutions. For a student

to learn creatively, he or she should first detect gaps in knowledge or problems that require solutions. They should then look up

for information regarding the lacking elements or difficulties. Afterwards, they should look for appropriate solutions by

formulating hypothesis and thinking of possibilities. Followed by testing, modifying and perfecting of the hypotheses .Then

comes the prominent process of explaining, pondering, putting the pieces together-incubation. Eventually there is the

communication of results. The ultimate goal of the incubation model is to equip students with experiences that will push them

to highlight problems or gaps in knowledge, ponder on them from different angles, and take time for incubation. The

incubation model encompasses of three parts: The first stage of the Incubation Model (ID) is heightening anticipation. The

purpose of this stage is designed to mentally prepare students for the lesson or project ahead. This stage may be thought of as a

warm-up process, stimulating students' interest and relating to prior knowledge. It might contain activities that ask students to

consider the same information from different viewpoints, answer to a provocative question, become conscious of a future

problem, or make predictions. In each case, the purpose of the activity is to heighten students' curiosity, focus their attention,

and give them purpose and motivation for the activities to follow. Torrance describes the following six functions, (1) Create the

Desire to Know, (2) Heighten Anticipation and Expectation, (3) Get Attention, (4) Arouse Curiosity, (5) Tickle the

Imagination, and (6) Give Purpose and motivation.

The second stage is labeled deepening expectations. This stage entails learners to process new information and address

the puzzling situations raised in the first stage. Students may be asked to collect information, reconsider results, consider

familiar information in new ways, or highlight important data.

Eventually, the third stage is going beyond. Students are requested to do something with the information and skills they

have gained. They may add personal meaning to the situation, make anticipation for the future, use information in fantasy, or

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solve real problems. Activities may extend over a period of days, allowing time for incubation. Torrance and Safter (1990)

gave numerous examples of strategies that may be appropriate for each stage. Two examples will demonstrate how the model

can be used from primary grades to high school. Many lesson models contain stages similar to those described in the In-

cubation Model: a readiness phase, a processing-information phase, and an application phase (Cited in Starko, 2005).

One example lesson, designed for primary grades, is planned to teach the creative writing goal of imagining

conversations and the creativity goal of enhancing fantasy .In the first stage i.e., a readiness phase, the teacher displays a large

picture of a bumblebee in a flower and asks, "What do bees say to flowers? What do flowers say back? Suppose that, in

addition to coming to this flower to get nectar with which to make honey, this bee is also a friend of the flower. He's stopped by

for a friendly chat. Pupils are requested to come up with suggestions about what the bee and the flower might discuss. In the

second stage i.e., a processing-information phase, students are requested to reflect on things that may be having conversations

we have never observed: the drink and the cup. Each student picks up one pair and jots down the imaginary conversation. In the

third stage i.e., an application phase, some of the students' ideas may be arisen through role play activity which would be likely

performed a day or two after the original conversations were written, allowing students time for incubation and elaboration

(Cited in Starko,2005).

Another lesson instructs high school students about the Kwakiutl people10. The creativity goal is elaboration. In stage 1

i.e., a readiness phase, students are presented with information on the Kwakiutl practice of presenting their rivals with so much

wealth the rival can never repay it. They are asked the following questions:

1. What motives might prompt these actions?

2. What explanations would the Kwakiutl offer for this practice?

3. What pictures of these people emerge from knowledge of this practice?

4. What else do you need to know before you can get a clear picture?

In stage 2 i.e., a processing-information phase, students read information about the Kwakiutl culture. After reading, they may

role play twist situations, write a dramatization of Kwakiutl life, or list questions they would like to investigate to understand

the Kwakiutl better. In stage 3 i.e., an application phase, students' questions, comments, and understandings are discussed, and

then compared with the writings of anthropologists who have lived with the Kwakiutl. Students may reorder their information

to conform the new insights. Hence, the incubation model tends to increase students' content knowledge as well as their cre-

ative thinking skills (Starko, 2005).

Many techniques of creative thinking are designed to increase students' divergent thinking. The most shared definition of

divergent thinking embraces those types of thought tackled in the first part of this present study as part of Guilford's Structure

of intellect (SOI) model: fluency (thinking of many ideas), flexibility (thinking of multiple categories), originality (thinking of

unusual ideas), and elaboration (adding detail to improve ideas). Fluency is often seen as the pinnacle of enhancing divergent

thinking. Apart from teaching the model, teachers can spur fluent, flexible, original, and elaborative thinking through their

remarks and queries. For instance, asking "How many ways can you think of?" encourages fluency. "What are some different

kinds of ideas?" "Try to think of ideas that solve the problem in a different way" encourages flexibility. Comments such as

"Try to think of something no one else will think of" are designed to provoke originality, whereas "How can we build on this

idea?" encourages elaboration. In creative activities or creative teaching students are given the opportunity for original thought.

Teaching students to think divergently without teaching them when such thinking is useful can lead to inefficiency and waste

of time. To cite an example, if we are trying to plan an original party menu, build an emergency shelter in the woods, or find a

plastic that will suit a manufacturer's needs, it is questionable that the first idea we consider will be the best possible idea.

These are the types of situations in which divergent thinking should come into play. Spreading these processes and activities

into classroom situations can enable creativity to happen there naturally and smoothly (Starko, 2005).

10 Kwakiutl people: North American Indians.

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Incorporating these processes also has to do with the attributes underlying learning theory. Early theories of learning

were often relied on a connectionist or behaviorist perspective. In the latter, researchers observed, the behaviors of numerous

learners in response to certain stimuli. Learning was based on rote memory and the learner was considered as a ``parrot``

passive absorber of stimuli. This perspective has not much to do with processes or purposes of creativity. Contemporary

learning theory, on the other hand, sees learning as more complex, self-learning and constructive. Learning as a constructive

process means that learners construct their own knowledge as a constructor builds a house, not as a sponge absorbs water.

Productive or beneficial teaching is not dull, rote, or constantly repetitious but it is rather constructive. The teacher is not

viewed as the center of learning realm but rather he or she plays a role of guider, facilitator or supportive during the learning

process. Processes tied to this theory of learning are establishing information, associating new information to previous

knowledge and using metacognitive i.e. thinking about thinking strategies to facilitate learning goals.

Furthermore, organizing learning towards a goal makes it purposeful. Associating information to prior knowledge

makes it meaningful. Because the associations presented by each unique student result in originality of ideas, and because goal-

oriented learning is appropriate; the processes of learning itself can be weighted as creative. In order for a teacher to be a

creative teacher, he or she must teach their students how to enhance creativity in a specific area. Also, equip them with the

relevant knowledge, skills, and the adequate environment for their own creativity to arise. Consequently, students might be

good at real problem finding, problem solving, and communicating with their classmates. Indeed, the processes of highlighting

divergent thinking skills present a fruitful context in which to gain content knowledge. However, students should not merely be

taught strategies of divergent thinking skills and for communicating information but they also should be taught not just the

what, but also the how of the disciplines in the curriculum. e.g., students who seek to be problem solvers in history must know

not only facts, concepts, and generalizations about history, but also how history works and what historians do. How does a

historian decide on an area for study? What types of problems do historians find and solve? How do they gather information?

To wrap up, organizing education around the goals of creativity entails altering our views of teachers and learners. It is

necessary to be aware that organizing school curriculum does not mean removing it. Students can learn subject matter while

also improving their creative thinking-the two should be significantly and inseparably entwined.

Along with curriculum alignment, teaching for creativity is not additional curriculum or waste of time. It is an array of

strategies for designing curriculum so that both content learning and creative thinking are enhanced. Teaching to enhance

creativity can help students classify and solve problems, approach things from multiple points of view, examine data, and

express themselves clearly in multiple genres. These are the activities that in turn will improve students' learning i.e., activities

that embrace students in problem solving, meaningful communication, questioning, and original representations of ideas

enhance learning. When such activities are organized around core curriculum goals, they form effective curriculum alignment.

For instance, according to Starko (2005) one of the most interesting curriculum alignment projects is Michigan (MI) CLiMB11.

The links between standards-based teaching and creativity .Coined by statewide educators along with the Michigan Department

of Education, MI CLiMB was aimed at supplementing the Michigan curriculum standards and standards in language arts,

science, social studies, and mathematics. It illustrates each standard and gives examples of instruction and assessment that

clarify how the standards seem in action. Examples from MI CLiMB serve as illustrations showing that state- designed

standards-focused activities can enhance creativity as well. The state of Michigan also has created a Web site of sample

curriculum for each grade level in core subject areas, Sample Curriculum and Plans for Education (Scope). Many of the lessons

enhance creativity as well. It helps educators see that curriculum designed in flexible ways can enhance both critical and

creative thinking within content learning. Teaching for creativity needs creating a community of inquiry in the classroom, an

environment in which asking a good question is seen as significant as answering one. Constructing this environment includes

organizing curriculum around the processes of creativity, teaching general techniques that facilitate creative thinking across

11 CLiMB: clarifying Language in Michigan Benchmarks.

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disciplines, and providing a classroom atmosphere that facilitates creativity. Providing students with the knowledge and the

skills enable them to explore and communicate within disciplines as well as to be successful and leader-producers.

Additionally, in a captivating talk delivered in 2002 at Stanford University entitled ``what can education learn from the

arts about the practice of education? `` Elliott W. Eisner argues that artistry should be in the essence of the education process

and that the arts offer highly fruitful and distinctive ways of thinking. Eisner suggests that the ultimate purpose of education

should be the creation of artists. The term artist here does not necessarily mean painters, dancers, poets and playwrights. We

mean individuals who have developed the ideas, the skills, and the imagination to come up with works that are appropriate, and

imaginative, regardless of the domain in which an individual works. He capitalizes on a culture of schooling in which more

significant is given to exploration than discovery, more value is assigned to surprise than to control , more interest is related to

what is metaphorical than to what is literal. It is an educational culture that stresses on becoming than on being, focuses on the

imaginative than on the factual, and considers the quality of the journey as more educationally significant than the speed at

which the destination is reached.

Elliott W. Eisner greatly contributes to the debate about the role of creativity in school reform. Eisner views schools as

environments where children create meaning from experience, and that this necessitates an education that focuses on meaning-

making and imagination. He urges that the curriculum should enhance various `literacies` in students and a deepening of the

`artistry` of teachers. Consequently, Eisner argues against a technocratic view of education, one in which schools can be easily

measured by a set of pre-determined outcomes. This view is repeated by other thinkers, like Sir Ken Robinson, who value the

role of the imagination in the process of constructing understanding

4.2 Pretend play

The potential for creative achievement lies in a number of processes that can be enhanced and facilitated. Involvement in

pretend play or what is also known as make-believe play is one way to facilitate development of one’s unique creative

potential. Both pretend play and creativity are multidimensional, and there are many similarities between the processes that

occur in both of them. Creativity researchers, beginning with Guilford in 1950, have identified that pretend play uses cognitive

processes that are involved in creative thinking. Thus, pretend play is a predictor of creativity (Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer,

Sriraman, 2013).

Theoretically, pretend play is the form of play that uses the child’s perception of world and fantasy to symbolize one

object as another. It is an arena in which children constructs and reconstructs past experiences that in turn facilitates the

development of divergent thinking, which is an important aspect of cognitive development. Children playing role in different

scenarios using different objects or toys to represent different things, cultivate a picture using the cognitive processes of

separating and assembling past experiences and knowledge in unique ways. This process increases divergent thinking and

transformational abilities. (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Divergent thinking, as an important cognitive process in creativity, is associated with pretend play and fantasy leads to

problem solving and creative thinking potential in children. This important cognitive ingredient of creative production,

involves the ability to generate a variety of ideas. This cognitive ability also occurs in play, and as Singer and Singer (1990)

(Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013) have suggested, practiced in the safe arena of pretend play. They think of play

as actual practice with divergent thinking. Moreover, researchers have examined affective processes that take place in creative

production i.e. pretend play and creativity. Both pretend play and creativity involve producing affect themes in fantasy and

memory, experiencing emotion (especially positive emotion), cognitive integration of affect, and experiencing joy in creative

expression. Pretend play is essentially linked to language, math, and narration, abstract thought, solving problems, social skills,

emotional and cognitive skills. Pretend play experiences rely on improving both imagination skills and comfort with expressing

emotion. Joy and love of the work is important when it comes to developing creativity in children.

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Additionally, Lev Vygotsky, a prominent 20th century developmental psychologist, provided a cognitive theoretical

framework built on pretend play and imagination. Vygotsky's sociocultural approach to cognitive development theory presents

a significant role in understanding creativity. Vygotsky foreshadows the social and cultural interactions among individuals that

underlie human thought. In contrast with Piaget's idea that children’s' development must necessarily precede their learning,

Vygotsky emphasizes, "Learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized,

specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90) (Cited in Starko, 2005). Hence, individual development cannot be

account for in isolation from the social and cultural context within which it is originated. Moreover, Vygotsky highlights

creative thought and activity in three phases namely early childhood experiences phase, adolescence phase and adult phase. He

claims that creative imagination broadly starts in child's play. In particular, for him, in symbolic play, the use of objects is

fundamental in the development of imagination. Bearing in mind that symbolic play experiences are shaped by social

interactions. His renowned example is a child using a stick as a play horse, creating an animal in his or her imagination. In this

regard, Vygotsky made a clear line between reproductive imagination, in which the individual imagines things from memory;

and combinatory imagination, in which a person transformers elements of previously accumulated experience into new ways.

In a concise way, the fruitfulness of imagination is conditioned by the richness of one`s experiences. However, a child

has poorly restricted imagination than an adult. According to Vygotsky, the linking of imagination and thought begins in

adolescence, but does not reach maturity until adulthood. Beginning from children`s symbolic play and then develops into

regulated mental function influenced by inner speech and concept development. As adolescents learn through collective social

interactions, they begin to develop a more active creativity than that of childhood. Unlike children's activities in symbolic play

which may be chiefly imitative or suggested by others, mature creativity is characterized as purposefully used and controlled.

In his view, inner speech, formal schooling, and thinking in concepts are essential in the development of this type of creativity.

Speech enables members in a society to think about, represent, and communicate imaginative things or ideas. School also calls

for a considerable thought about ideas and objects. Thinking in concepts allows individuals to process and combine

experiences in new ways. In the same way, imagination is viewed as a necessary, integral feature of realistic thought.

Play shapes how children make sense of their worlds, how they learn thinking skills, and how they acquire language.

That is, through play, children become more competent in their language use and begin to regulate their own thought process.

(From being other-regulated to being self-regulated in our cognitive processes) .Lev Vygotsky posits that the child takes

information from personal experience, social interaction, and environmental elements and begins the process of active

deconstruction and reconstruction. Through the deconstructive process, the child can begin to disassemble and disassociate,

modify and change elements of perception and social reality. This process is then followed by associative construction, a

process that brings together elements not previously associated. Through this process of deconstruction, reconstruction, and

association between non-naturally occurring elements, creative thoughts emerge that may then be followed by further

elaboration and refinement and potentially a final product as a piece of art, literature, or invention may result. Vygotsky

purports that creativity, like other learning, emerges through interactions with other individuals. This occurs both at a micro

level, as when an adult interacts with a child in imaginative play, and at a macro level in which societies grow through the

collective efforts of count less individuals. He used the analogy of electricity to describe the relationship between easily

recognized creativity in genius and the important creative contributions of unknown citizens. (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman,

2013).

The upshot of this developmental theory is that creativity rises through interactions with other individuals at both a

micro-level and a macro-level. He views creativity as a collaborative activity; creative ideas do not develop within individuals

but in interactions among individuals within a sociocultural context.

In the same vein, Psychologist Sandra Russ (1993) has stressed on the importance of affect in divergent thinking. The

involvement of emotion in play should increase access to emotional memories and broaden the associative network. Russ

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contends that engaging in pretend play fosters the development of creativity and that pretend play in childhood affects the

development of creativity in adulthood. In addition, Fein (1987) proposed that children use play to develop and manipulate an

affective symbol system. Fein conceptualized this affective symbol system as representing real or imagined experience at a

general level. These affective units constitute affect-binding representational templates, which store information about affect-

laden events. The units are “manipulated, interpreted, coordinated and elaborated in a way that makes affective sense to the

players” (p. 292). These affective units are a key part of pretend play and of creative thinking. She thought that activities that

involved divergent thinking abilities like daydreaming pretend play, and drawing activated the affective symbol system. Fein

concluded that the creative processes could not be studied independently of an affective symbol system (As cited in Kim,

Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Children can use such a play. For example, to manipulate objects, mental images, and representations; to compose

stories; the ability to transform ordinary objects (blocks) into representations of other objects (e.g., block becomes a telephone).

In other words, pretend play is a creative act. Pretend play has also been found to facilitate insight in problems solving tasks.

Vandenberg (1980) (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013) claims that play facilitated insightful tool use and

enhanced motivated task activity. Vandenberg points out that there is similarity between play and creativity. In both play and

creativity, a person is creating novelty from the commonplace and has a disregard for the familiar.

Besides, a pretend play assessment can be used as an early indicator of cognitive development. This goes in conjunction

with the recommendation of Gottfried (2009). He claims that programs use multiple criteria to assess giftedness. Assessment of

intelligence alone is not enough. According to Gottfried, pretend play taps into a child’s ability to use imagination, generate

ideas, make-up stories, use symbols, and to express and manipulate affect themes. Affect expression is often overlooked in

assessment, but it is especially important in the arts such as in creative writing, drama, or some visual arts. Hence, pretend play

adds predictive value to the assessment (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

It is important to mention that pretend play experiences would be easy to integrate into the classroom including

preschool and kindergarten children and second grade children. This play intervention focuses on developing both imagination

skills and comfort with expressing emotion. To cite an example, Bellin and Singer (2006) used a video-based program for

parents and other caretakers of preschool children. Children watch pretend play games on the video and then play the game.

Key literacy skills improved after the program was performed. In addition, the majority of the children continued to play the

make-believe games on their own without adult intervention and teach the games to others. (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer,

Sriraman, 2013).

4.3 Visual thinking

Similarly, the role of visual thinking or imagination (to picture mentally) has been highlighted by progressive

contemporary educators as crucial to learning in our times and to the development of creativity. Visual thinking opportunities

favor imagination, design, invention, and the development of creativity. Teachers should integrate visual thinking strategies,

activities and projects in classrooms for learning purposes. Visual thinking, imagery, and imagination have long been

recognized as key aspects of creative thinking, creative productivity, and creative giftedness – in both the arts and the sciences.

Visual thinking and imagination are associated. For example, Einstein is purported to have thought almost entirely in

images:

“The words or the language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought.

The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thoughts are certain signs and more or less clear images which can

be “voluntarily” represented and combined’’ (As cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013, p. 91 ).

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However, visual thinking and imagination are fallen behind in regular classroom instruction and are viewed as primarily

the domain of the arts. Eckhoff and Urbach (2008) admit the undeniable role of imagination and visual thinking in creative

development as well as in learning. They ask “…what if imagination is itself the very font of thought? What if the imagination

is what permits thought to work by providing it with the images and metaphors that give it direction? ``. (As cited in Kim,

Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013, p.93). If imagination and creativity were given a valuable place in learning curricula, and

were not perceived as distractions from “covering the content of the curricula”, presumably our educational core would then be

better.

While some view imagination as just fantasy play, Vygotsky gives imagination a position of unique importance. In

Vygostkian terms, imagination and creativity begin just like any other thought process as spontaneous lower psychological

functions (such as dreaming or trial-and-error problem solving). Then, as children interact with more knowledgeable play

partners they learn further pretend play skills, such as using objects substitutions and visual isomorphisms to create or extend

pretend play scenarios. Children also learn how to direct play activities by renaming the objects (calling the laundry basket a

“boat”) and by framing the activities as pretense (“let’s pretend we’re pirates”).Gradually, the verbalizations and the

sensory/motor templates that accompany the object substitutions are internalized as imaginative figurative thinking. According

to Vygotsky, spontaneous lower psychological functions become consciously directed higher psychological functions as the

learner internalizes the verbal guidance of a more knowledgeable person. To put it differently, information from the external

world is transformed and internalized through language and children at play are making sense of the world through a process of

“inner speech”.

Besides, Runco and Johnson (2002) came to the conclusion that teachers and parents in the United States overall favor

creative traits, including imagination, and a recent poll by the Lake Research Partners (The Imagine Nation, 2008) found that

89% of respondents indicated that imaginative thinking is imperative to success in 21st century learning, education, and

economic development (Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

4.4. Concept map

In the same line of thought, foremost, education should not raise the point of indoctrination but instead teach and

facilitate sufficient skills for students to have a foundation but still leave plenty of freedom for them to explore their own way

of doing things. In attempting to unfold students’ thinking about thinking, concept map comes to the fore. Concept maps can be

defined as a graphic organizing technique designed to help learners explore their knowledge or understanding of topics that are

highly elusive and mystifying. The means of concept mapping has introduced by the American educator Joseph Novak in 1970.

Novak has suggested certain original rules that constitute concept maps which are the following: Firstly, the learner introduces

his or her ideas in text boxes that are arranged hierarchically on a page; the learner then links these concepts with arrows

pointing in explicit directions to convey meaning between concepts; lastly, concepts are listed only once but the learner can

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make multiple links between concepts technique designed to help learners explore their knowledge or understanding of topics

that are highly elusive (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

The use of concept maps, as a cognitive tool to integrate visual and verbal patterns for learning and organizing thought

processes, is explained by Ritchhart, Turner, and Hadar’s work (2009) the authors describe using concept maps as a method of

revealing students’ thinking about thinking and integrating critical and creative thinking processes as well. In a particular way,

their meta-strategic knowledge is explored within a continuous, multiyear project to utilize concept maps as an explicit strategy

designed to promote the students’ self-awareness of their own thinking preferences and thinking dispositions. Concept maps

proved to be a robust instrument for supporting students’ thinking about their own thinking and their reflections on both

creativity and critical thinking skills. It is a prolific means especially for visual learners (other types of learners- auditory

learners and kinesthetic learners). This strategy is reproductive and constructive. It is a way to visually represent information

and demonstrate relationships between concepts. Also, concept map is a great way to absorb information because it forces

learners to learn by seeking relationships and organizing information in a new way. Nevertheless, students who tend to rely on

rote learning are likely to adopt this method in their learning. The below tree diagram is an attempt done by me which

illustrates how ideas can be visually represented (figure5).

Figure 6: An example of

concept mapCreativityNoveltyDivergent thinkingfluencyflexibilityoriginalityelaborationbrainstormingImagination Unlimited ideasmotivationAppropriatenessReceptive environmentCreative teaching methodsCreative teachersTechnological toolsEncouraging micro-environmentSchool curriculum

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4.5. Doodling

Concerning the same aspect, recent studies in neuroscience psychology have shown that people who doodle are often

better at taking in new concepts and staying focused. According to a Lancet Journal study on doodling in 2011, scribbling

engages “default networks” in the brain that would ordinarily go unresponsive without external stimuli to keep it active. In

“The Doodle Revolution”, author Sunni Brown purports some of the most creative people in business, from Apple to Ford to

Zappos and Disney, have all favored doodling as a means of encouraging greater creativity and productivity. Based on Brown’s

view, doodling can help a person to “anchor a task”, and keeping them focused during a long meeting or call. Focus on

scribbling pictures or designs that reflect what you are hearing or thinking. Not only that but doodling can also help find

solutions to problems. It is thought to stimulate areas of the brain may help one to analyze information differently (Cited in

Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

According to Brown, even if you are drawing on the side of a paper, you are lightening up different networks in the brain

and engaging different information. Doing so could incent that “ah-ha” moment when a solution to a problem seems to have

missed. Moreover, Susan Daniel in her course on “Creativity, thinking, and problem solving”, has decided to try doodling the

complexities of the subject rather than memorizing them from the textbook. She has come to a significant conclusion; Doodling

can improve cognitive performance, and it seems to prevent people from losing focus on boring or complex subject matters

(Cited in Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013). Doodling does not only enable learners to absorb concepts better through

simple drawing but it also leads to innovation and divergent ways of thinking. Hence, Visual expression is not the sole domain

of arts, and one does not need to have high artistic abilities to benefit from participating and responding to learning activities

through visual modes of expressions such as concept maps and doodling.

A picture that demonstrates doodling (Kim, Kaufman, Baer, Sriraman, 2013).

Additionally, in a dialogue titled why creativity is important? With compelling creativity expert Ken Robinson, the British

government's 1998 advisory committee on creative and cultural education, who considers creativity as the most important skill

in 21st century. According to him, creativity is not a single event but it is a process. Creative processes embrace critical

thinking as well as imaginative insights and fresh ideas. Accordingly, it may begin just with a flash of a new idea or with a

hunch. It may just start as noodling around with a problem, getting some fresh ideas along the way. Robinson adds that there is

a social dimension of creativity that is particularly relevant in the 21st century. He urges that collaboration and benefiting from

diversity rather than favoring homogeneity are fundamental in creative process; most original thinking comes through

collaboration and through the stimulation of other people's ideas. The unforgettable scientific breakthroughs have almost

always been the result of some form of fierce collaboration among people with common interests but with very different ways

of thinking.

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In the light of creativity, Robinson contends that collaboration, diversity, the exchange of ideas, and building on other

people's achievements are at the backbone in the creative processes. An education that focuses only on the individual in

isolation is bound to devastate some of those possibilities. He claims that the problem lies in the fact that education is ruined by

the culture of standardized testing. Not only that but Robinson also points out that creativity is teachable. Creativity can be

taught whereby two ways. One can start by teaching generic skills (divergent thinking, which encourages creativity through the

use of analogies, metaphors, and visual thinking) of creative thinking, just as in the way we can teach people to read, write, and

do math. He cites an example referring back to his experience with an executive group of a Native American community. He

was asked to talk to them about how they could promote innovation across their tribe. Instead of using flip charts to show them

some techniques. He made them work into groups and draw pictures of some of the challenges they're facing as a community

for the purpose to think visually—to draw pictures or move rather than sit and write bullet points—as well as to valuate

diversity of opinions in a room. In addition to teaching those skills, there's also personal creativity. According to Robinson,

people often achieve their own best work at a personal level when they connect with a particular medium or set of materials or

processes that excites them. They reasoned with them that they had a personal aptitude for. In a particular term, it is about

finding one`s passion.

Robinson provides a valuable distinction between teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. For him, Teaching creatively

means that teachers use their own creative skills to make ideas and content more interesting. The most creative teachers are

those who find a way to link what they are teaching to students` interests. Whereas teaching for creativity relies on the

pedagogy .The latter is designed to encourage people to think creatively as well as actively. Teachers should encourage their

students to experiment, and to innovate by giving them the tools they need to find out what the answers might be or to explore

new avenues not giving them all the answers. He purports that giving people credit for originality, encouraging it, and

providing kids with some ways of reflecting on whether their new ideas are more effective than existing ideas is a powerful

part of pedagogy. But he believes that we cannot and we should not reduce everything to a number in the end. So education for

creativity is about the whole curriculum, not just part of it.

Moreover, in Robinson`s view business leaders urge for the need of people who are creative, people who can think

differently who can work in teams and communicate. All things which are not being taught in schools. The economic

imperative of creativity is absolutely clear there was a report published by IBM, International Business Machines, which was

based on survey 3,000 CEO around the world; they are asked what their proprieties. One of the things that came out to the top

was creativity and that requires transformation in the way schools operate; the culture of standardized testing because test

scores are seen as the public standard for educational quality but it is some of the barriers to teaching for creativity, "it isn't on

the test" Decision makers and teachers should question its value. Hence, creativity is not an option, it is an absolute necessity.

In other words, the pulping of promoting creativity is through education .Robinson foregrounds the role of education curricula

to either elevate creativity or hamper it (Robinson, 2012).

In the same line of thought, one of the worth spreading speeches that caught my attention in Ted Talk, is the one which

was shared by Catherine Thimmesh, is an award-winning children's book author, currently focusing on creative nonfiction, As

Ken Robinson Catherine believes that education in general, and school pedagogy in particular play an imperative role in

fostering students` creativity. She claims that teachers are the ones that constantly hand students piece of papers and ask them

to pick up from the providing answers (A, B, C) and kids became conditioned to think only within that a given set of choices

and never rely on their creative sensibilities. She puts forward that education is about preparing people for the future. The

problem is that no one knows what the future will bring. The future is alternately unpredictable; additionally many real world

challenges are more much open-ended. Since we cannot predict the future nor predict the problems we can face, flexibility

comes as the key to success; we can prepare for the future by remaining flexible and open. Flexibility and openness define

creativity.

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Moreover, Thimmesh approaches creativity by understanding what it is not creativity. First of all, creativity is not

selected talent held only by a few; it is an ability each and every one of us can learn. In other words, everybody has tremendous

creative capacities. A policy for creativity in education needs to be about everybody, not just a few. Second, creativity is not

about special activities; it is not only arts` domain. She ends up her speech by asking a thoughtful question: if schools kill

creativity what can we do about it? Replying that we should simply work with what we have injecting creativity into the core

of education structure. She suggests some creative exercises that can be used in the classroom that are easy, fun and fast to

encourage students to what thinking outside of the box looks like. Creativity is about finding new perspective and be open to

new possibilities. Students can write their assignment on anything other than paper that in turn might change the content of

their writing. Another activity that is often used in workshops is the following: Give students a piece of paper with 30 circles or

mix circles with squares. And ask students to turn these shapes into something; they might end up having creative shapes.

Another idea is that an instructor might select three objects and ask the following questions: What else does this remind you of?

What are the qualities of this? What are all of its parts and features? What can this be used for? What else this could be or what

else this can be turned into? These types of creative exercises help children foster greater awareness and enhance creativity.

Also, through these types of creative exercises students understand that is all about their ideas and their ability to remain

flexible, come up with new creative ideas and express these ideas. Students might make difference in the world perhaps

someday they might save a life with an innovative medical investment or something revolutionary. In order to foster creativity

we should stop telling students to think out of the box and instead we start asking them question; questions like what else could

this box be (Catherine, 2014).

Summary

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In sum, the present review of the literature has attempted to briefly acquaint the reader with an understanding of the notion

of creativity as it tried to explain the main theories and cognitive skills underlie creativity. The first section of this modest review

has tried to briefly introduce the concept of creativity as it provided a clear understanding of its definitions as well as it

demonstrated some of the eminent theories that capture the origin, nature, and systems of creativity. The section also purported to

capitalize on the aspects of creativity (product, person, and process) as well as the cognitive characteristics of creative

individuals. The second section has attempted to go a step further explaining how motivation taps into creativity; the causal

relation between creativity and motivation. The section has attempted to show the hidden costs of rewards. i.e., the affecting role

of rewards on creativity-offering rewards leads not only to increase extrinsic motivation, but also to decrease intrinsic motivation,

decreasing the level of intrinsic motivation (by increasing the level of extrinsic motivation) does, in fact, decrease creativity. The

third section has aimed at shedding light on the positive impact of modern learning viz., ICT on creativity. This catalyst embraces

game-based learning activities. Also, the third section has foregrounded the great value of personal learning environment (PLE)

which reflects connectivism and collaboration of information and leads to creativity. The fourth and last section has tried to shed

light on some of the techniques of enhancing creativity inside the classroom ranging from the application of modern Web-based

technologies in the classroom, involvement in pretend play or what is also known as make-believe play, concept map, doodling to

visual thinking strategies that favor imagination. Last but not least, the section has also stressed on the need that education should

not raise the point of indoctrination, but instead teach and facilitate sufficient skills for students to think divergently and construct

their own understanding and the fact that test standardization disturbs creativity.

CHAPTER TWO

The Research Methodology

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Chapter Two:

-Research Methodology-

2.1. Introduction

After having provided a literature review on the components of creativity, its origin, nature and systems and the great value

of it in education environment, and how intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity. The present chapter aims at providing a

detailed holistic description of the methodology adopted in the study. The current chapter is divided into seven sections which

provide a comprehensive description of the methodology starting from the research objectives, hypotheses, questions and

approaches to the sample population, the data collection instruments and the data analysis techniques.

2.2. The Objectives of the study

The present study aims at investigating the students` intrinsic motivation by shedding light on rewards as a potential factor

that hamper creativity; an intrinsically motivated state is conducive to creativity, whereas an extrinsically motivated state is

detrimental. Intrinsic motivation is generally assumed to be improved by perceived self-determination, persistence, autonomous,

interest, and enjoyment and reduced by perceived constraints on autonomy. That is, intrinsically motivated students tend to

engage in a given task if they consider their task engagement as motivated primarily by their own interest and involvement in the

task. On the contrary, extrinsically motivated students tend to engage in a task if they consider their task engagement as

motivated primarily by external goals such as the reward, grades, or the expectation of evaluation.

2.3. The Research Hypothesis

The hypothesis that the present study starts from is that intrinsic motivation is more important than extrinsic motivation in

the development of creativity. The affecting role of intrinsic motivation on creativity. Students tend likely to immerse in a

particular subject, face obstacles and come up with novel ideas when they are intrinsically motivated. By contrast, extrinsic

constraints can undermine creativity.

2.4. The Research Questions

The present study is concerned with answering four main questions:

1. What circumstances or experiences allow individuals to become more creative?

2. Whether or not modern educational system i.e. teaching through technology (e-learning) boosts students’ creativity ?

3. What is the impact of creativity on the classroom`s output?

4. Do emotions impact our creative capacities?

The aforementioned questions are closely related to the following sub-questions, to which the present study aims at

finding answers:

5. What are the classroom activities, practices, and strategies that are supportive to creativity?

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6. What teaching method(s) do teachers employ in their classroom?

7. Is it valid that creative students are the result of creative teachers as well as creative receptive environments?

8. From where does intrinsic motivation come from?

2.5. The Sample Population

The target population of the present study is Cadi Ayyad University`s students. The sample population of the study

consists of 208 of students. For the sake of objectivity and reliability, the sampling technique by which the population is selected

to conduct the survey is a random sampling. Under this probability sampling or “chance sampling‟, every item of the universe

has an equal chance of inclusion in the sample (Kothari, 2004). Accordingly, this lottery method ensures “the Law of Statistical

Regularity which states that if on an average the sample chosen is a random one, the sample will have the same composition and

characteristics as the universe” (ibid, p. 60). Therefore, a random approach to sample selection will give more reliability,

credibility and generalizability to the study.

2.6. The Research Approaches

There are, in fact, two basic approaches to research, viz. The quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The

former involves the generation of data in quantitative form which can be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal

and rigid fashion whereas the latter “is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behavior. Research in

such a situation is a function of researcher‘s insights and impressions” (Kothari, 2004). Accordingly, such an approach to

research generates results either in non-quantitative form or in the form which are not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis.

In order to find answers to the research questions and to verify the research assumptions, the quantitative approach is used in

this study. The quantitative approach is used primarily to investigate Cadi Ayyad University’s intrinsic motivation by

highlighting on rewards as a potential factor that lessens creativity and self-determination, persistence, autonomous, interest, and

enjoyment as potential variables that boost students` creativity; the motivational incentives that drive students to undertake

learning process.

2.7. The Data Collection Instrument

Practically, given that the research approach opted for in this study is quantitative; the nature of present study suggests a

quantitative data collection instrument, viz. the questionnaire.

2.7.1. Questionnaire

First and foremost, the questionnaire according to Kothari (2004) consists of:

A number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms. The questionnaire is mailed to

respondents who are expected to read and understand the

questions and write down the reply in the space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire itself. The respondents have to

answer the questions on their own. (p. 100).

As one of the most commonly used data collection instrument in the quantitative approach, the questionnaire ensures a quick

access to a large group of people in a short period of time and with relatively little effort compared with other instruments.

According to Kothari (2004) the questionnaire is: (1) free from the bias of the interviewer; answers are in respondents‘own

words; (2) respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers; and (3) respondents, who are not easily

approachable, can also be reached conveniently (ibid, p. 101).

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In the present study, the questionnaire will be administered to a total of 208 students at Cadi Ayyad University`s in Marrakesh.

Moreover, with the purpose of increasing the validity, and credibility of the study, it did not solely include close-ended questions;

precisely dichotomous questions, because these types of questions are ideal for calculating statistical data and percentages, it also

includes open-ended questions in which students are required to justify their choices and to clarify their responses. This recourse

to open-ended questions in the questionnaire grants a discovery of unanticipated findings as they reveal the students‟ logic.

Indeed, open-ended questions are very relevant especially during the data analysis as they allow us to go beyond the descriptions

of statistical data to various justifications of the students` answers.

2.8. Data Analysis Techniques

As far the quantitative data analysis is concerned, two statistical programs will be used, namely the Statistical Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS) and the Microsoft Office Excel. The former is used to compute the frequencies and percentages of the

collected data whereas the latter is used for the purpose of combining and generating the graphs.

Summary

In sum, this chapter has attempted to give a brief description of the methodology used in this study. Besides presenting the

research objectives, hypotheses and questions, the chapter has also tried to describe the target population, the data collection

approaches and instruments and the data analysis techniques used in the study providing detailed justifications behind each made

decision.

CHAPTER THREE

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

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Chapter Three:

- Data Analysis and Discussion-

3.1. Introduction

The first part of this study has provided a review of the literature on the variety of theories in the realm of creativity,

underlying components of creativity and the affecting role of intrinsic motivation on creativity. The second part of it also

provided a detailed description of the present study foregrounding the research objectives, questions, hypotheses, data collection

procedure, the sample population and the data analysis techniques. The present chapter is devoted to the presentation, description

and analysis of the data obtained via the data collection instruments used in the light of the research objectives, questions and

hypotheses. The chapter is also concerned with the discussion and interpretation of the findings in order to elicit conclusions and

confirm or refute the research hypotheses. Finally, the study attempts to come up with implications for current Cadi Ayyad

University EFL professors, for policy and decision-making and for further research.

The current chapter is divided into two sections; the first section aims at providing a broad insight into students`

background information e.g., gender, educational level, types of learners, and students` preferences. The second section is

concerned with students` critical thinking skills and their intrinsic motivation so as to understand and explore the conditions

that incent or hamper motivation and in turn creativity in the learning process. This endeavor involves a quantitative analysis

of the data. For this reason, the questionnaire did not only inject close-ended questions but also open-ended questions which

grant a discovery of unanticipated findings and further justifications of the statistical data. The second section also attempts to

investigate the driving forces of students` intrinsic motivation. Both of extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation influence

students` learning as well as creativity. In this very last section, Cadi Ayyad University students` testimonies are reported and

interpreted for the sake of finding answers to one of the most important research questions: Which of the following incentives

motivate you most to learn ? 1) Good marks 2) Recognition 3) A personal sense of challenge4) Enjoyment 5) Curiosity 6)

Curiosity 7) Scholarship. Finally, the current section further tries to evaluate the extent to which Professors motivate their

students.

3.2. The Respondents’ Background Information

Prior to embarking on the analysis and interpretation of the graphs corresponding to the research questions and

objectives, it is of paramount importance to provide information about the target population of the study. The following graph

displays the background information on the students in the English department to whom the questionnaires were administered.

The figure below includes four items corresponding to the respondents participating in the study namely, their gender,

academic year, learning style, and learning preferences. In addition to the level and the syllabus taught, a person has to

consider the learning styles of their students and their personality traits.

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Figure 7: Description of the respondents‘background information

Bearing in mind that the sample technique by which the students were selected is a random one, the SPSS analysis

revealed that the sample consists of more or less the same number of male and female respondents; as male students made up

57 % of the whole sample while females formed 43%. Also, figure 1 illustrates that the majority of Cadi Ayaad University

students are in the third academic year forming 50% of the whole sample, Second academic year made up 21.6% of

participants, whereas students in the fifth academic year formed 13.5% and students in the fourth academic year consisted of

10.6% of the participants. Furthermore, students in the first academic year composed of 4.3% of the target population. As far

as learning styles are concerned, the results prove that 57.6% of students tend to grasp knowledge visually ranging from using

or making mind maps, diagrams, demonstrations, displays, handouts, flip charts to drawings and pictures in their notes to

exemplify ideas. Visual learns prefer to transform given information into demonstrations pictures, notes, diagrams, or mind

maps. While visual learners prefer to learn visually, auditory learns prefer to take in knowledge and information by listening.

As shown above in the chart, 29.2% of Cadi Ayyad University students favor learning by listening. This embraces learning

the information aloud by asking questions and answering them. Auditory learners are renowned for thinking in a linear

manner. A student with an Auditory learning style has a preference for the transfer of information through listening.

Furthermore, 13.2% of students opted for kinesthetic learning. That is, they learn best by practicing and solving problems.

Kinesthetic learners tend to elicit information and knowledge through case examples to be discussed and solved. They like

hands-on approaches to things and learn through trial and error-a method of problem solving. They are best able to perform

by experiencing and using role play. Finally, concerning self-study and group-study, figure 1 indicates that the majority of

students favor to study alone encompassing of 60% of the sample, whilst students favor to study collaboratively made up

40% of the respondents. This shows an inclination towards collaborative learning that enhances collaboration which is one of

the driving forces that boost creativity. Students who prefer to study alone prefer to be able to choose the direction and

structure of subject in hand.  They likely tend to be introverted. Some of the reasons that might push students to study on their

own are that they can't focus when they are with other students. They might present a source of distraction for them and

prevent them from constructing and memorizing material. They like to have thorough control on subject in hand and might

think that team work is a waste of time. On the contrary, Students who favor team work tend to feel more motivated and

perform well when they interact collaboratively. They think that studying collaboratively can be beneficial and productive;

group interaction enhances learning better than studying alone and might provide important learning opportunities.

Considering that another member of the group might share broad perspectives, have a straightforward understanding on a

given information or can explain it in a clearer way to another. They say, “Two heads are better than one.” Team members

benefit significantly from sharing challenges, ideas and creative impulses. We all have a way in which we best learn. 

Professors need to be aware of these aforementioned learning styles so as to engage each of the four learning style and get

their ideas across to everyone in the class. But the question is whether that is possible with a large group of diverse students.

After having described the background information of the students, the following section is an analysis of the students`

answers which correspond to their own learning views and their intrinsic motivation.

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3.3.Students` perception of the assignments and subjects matter

The present section attempts to investigate the intrinsic motivation of Cadi Ayyad University students i.e., the extent to

which Cadi Ayyad University students are intrinsically motivated. In this respect, 208 students were asked different questions

which are closely associated with their learning views and their ultimate objective behind their learning. Students were not asked

close-ended questions only as they were, sometimes, required to provide justifications and personal comments. The rationale

behind this recourse was to reinforce and complement their quantitative answers and approach an understanding of the

framework of their logic of reference.

Figure 8: Students` perception of the

assignments and subjects matter

Figure 2 above shows students`

perception of the assignments and subjects

matter, namely the extent to which the

assignments and subjects matter are

relevant to the objectives of the course and

help students to heighten their critical thinking skills and imagination. As demonstrated in the graph above, 64% of them claimed

that the assignments and subjects matter are just related to the objectives of the course and 30% of students contended that the

assignments and subjects matter that they have been taught help them to improve critical thinking skills and imagination, while

only 6% stated that the subjects matter and the assignments are not relevant to the objectives of the course.

3.4. Quality of feedback provided by Professors

Figure9: Quality of feedback

provided by Professors

This question attempts to figure out

the students` own perception of the

feedback that provided by their professors.

For this reason, students were asked to

evaluate their Professors` feedback. In this

regard, the numerical data in figure 9

above indicates that 53% of students

claimed that the feedback they received by

their Professors is irrelevant while 38.10% purported that the feedback they received is constructive and only 9.30% stated that

the feedback they received by their professors is unnecessary. It should be noted that feedback commonly is not neutral, but it

often triggers a positive or negative emotional response, which in turn affects how a student behaves in the future. We

differentiate between positive and negative feedback. Positive feedback can be defined as feedback on achievements, strengths,

and correct responses. On the other hand, negative feedback can be seen as a feedback on lack of achievements, weaknesses, and

incorrect responses. Positive feedback boosts up motivation when students induce they have greater ability to pursue learning.

Negative feedback fosters motivation through a discrepancy-reduction mechanism. Therefore, both of positive and negative

feedback incent students` motivation to fulfill their academic role.

3.5. Types of classroom environments

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Figure 10: Types of classroom environments

As shown in the graph above, the vast

majority of students viz., 64% claimed that

they study in an authoritarian classroom,

while 20% of them posit that they study in a

democratic one and solely 16% reported

that they study in a laissez-faire classroom.,

Following from above, as a derived question

from the previous one, the following graph

brings to light the extent to which Cadi

Ayyad University` students feel comfortable

to voice their questions and unusual ideas to

their Professors. In this regard, the students were asked whether or not they feel comfortable speaking up their ideas as well as

their questions in the classroom.

Figure11: The extent to which Cadi

Ayyad University students feel

comfortable to voice their questions and

unusual ideas

According to the numerical data

above, 53.80% of students state that they

do not feel comfortable voicing their

questions and unusual ideas to their

professors. On the contrary, 40.60%

claimed that they feel comfortable to do

so, and only 5.60% claimed that they feel very comfortable to voice their ideas and questions.

3.6. The salient incentives that motivate Cadi Ayyad University`s students.

So as to understand the motivational reasons behind students` learning, students were asked to react to the following

question: “Which of the following incentives motive you most to learn?” The graph below demonstrates the distribution of the

students` responses to the question.

Figures 12: Students` incentives for learning purposes.

Eminently, the results in the graph above indicate that external motivators come to the fore when it comes to students

learning. In this sense, most students stated that their ultimate motivator behind their learning is to obtain decent marks 21.88%

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i.e., students study merely for passing examinations. 20.67% of students purported that recognition is one of the incentives that

drives them to learn whereas 19.96% study to get scholarships. Enjoyment (9.12%), curiosity (10.58 %) and a personal sense of

challenge (17.19%) are some of the driving incentives for some students to learn academic subject matter.

3.7. Intrinsically motivating academic subject matter

Furthermore, students were asked whether or not they find their academic subject matter intrinsically interesting. Graph 13

below illustrates the finding of the question.

Figure 13: Intrinsically motivating academic subject matter.

As shown in figure 13 above, the results demonstrate that the majority of students 76% believe that their academic subject

matter is not intrinsically motivating whilst solely 24% postulate that their academic subject matter is intrinsically motivating.

This finding calls for a sound analysis which will be held in the following part of the chapter.

3.8. Challenging learning activities versus easy learning activities.

Figure 14: Challenging learning activities versus easy learning activities.

In addition to what has been mentioned earlier, when students are keenly interested in classroom subject matter they seek out

challenging assignments and activities and vice versa. According to the data, more than 63% of students expressed that they

prefer to engage in easy learning activities and assignments than challenging learning activities and assignments while only 35.68

% opted for challenging learning activities and assignments.

3.9. The impact of freedom and discretion on students` motivation

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88.20%

11.20%

The impact of freedom and discretion on students` motivation

yesNo

Figure 15: the impact of freedom and

discretion on students` motivation.

With respect to the present question related to the impact of freedom and discretion on students` motivation, 88.20% of

students claimed that freedom and discretion in how they learn motivate them, while merely 11.20 % of them purported the

opposite i.e., freedom and discretion does not have any motivational impact on their learning.

3.10. Students` involvement in decision making of subjects matter

32.10%

67.90%

Students` involvement in decision making of subjects matter

YesNo

Figure 16: students` involvement in

decision making of subjects planning.

Figure 16 above displays Cadi Ayyad University students’ degree of involvement in decision making related to subjects

planning. 67.90 % contended that they are not engaged in decision making while 32.10% claimed that they are engaged in

decision making.

3.11. Students ‘sense of belonging in the classroom

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Figure 17: Students` sense of belonging in the classroom.

In the same way, a sense of belonging in the classroom is substantial for student success. As illustrated in the graph above

66.50 % of students feel a little bit of belonging in the classroom, while 18.50% of them feel a tremendous amount of

belonging. On the contrary, 16 % do not feel a sense of belonging in the classroom.

3.12. Persistence as a key trait of creative people

Figure 18: Persistence as a key trait of

creative people.

As exhibited in figure 18 above, the results

indicate that most students i.e., 75.70 % point

out that during their learning process, if they

faced obstacles they would persist to carry

on. However, 24.30 % contend that during

their learning process, they would not persist

in the face of obstacles.

3.13. The best courses taken in the English department

Figure 19: The best courses taken in English

department.

Aside from the teaching methods, the

structure and the nature of the course have a

paramount effect on students` motivation.

Students should find personal meaning and

value in the material at hand in order to be

fully immersed and committed to a given

subject. Concisely, students enjoy more when

they like what they study. In this vein, the

numerical data in figure 19 above

demonstrates three subjects that are considered as the best ones by Cadi Ayyad University`s students. Students were asked to

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state one of the best courses that have been taken in the English department. In this regard, 50 % of the students approach

public speaking as the best course while psycholinguistics takes the second rate (23%) and linguistics takes the third one

(19%). As the first reason behind their choice, some of the respondents commented that: “public speaking is one of the subjects

that I had the chance to have while I was a student. It is an important subject due to the fact that I practiced to speak in public

freely. I love debating and making presentations”. Similarly, other respondent purported:

“public speaking. For me, it is an excellent activity that helps a lot of students to build their personalities and teach them

how to be an effective, good, successful public speaker, it gives me the opportunity to express myself and speak freely and it

enables me to improve my communication skills and I enjoyed it”. In almost the same way, one of the students points out that:

“in my personal point of view public speaking was one of my best courses I had attended, because simply it has many

positive effects on the students; it helps them to avoid stress, it encourages them to talk fluently in front of others without any

fear and finally it helps a lot "students" or people in general to have a great and strong personality”.

In the same line of thought, another student claimed that “I would say public speaking and oral communication, because it

helps me improve my language and surpass my fears and it's so much fun”, adding “I personally prefer those courses which

seek oral skills improvement such as public speaking and oral communication, because as a university student oral skills

matter as much as writing skills and jobs nowadays focus more on communication potentials . Another salient response which

was given by a student is the following “actually, nothing is best; it all depends on how the professor treats his students. If I

feel comfortable in class and around the teacher, then his courses would be the best for me”. Finally some students contended

that:

“public speaking help me to develop my critical thinking and my communication skills, but the main reason is the methods

that some professors of these subjects used pushed me to become an active person and build a strong background, they always

make the class amusing and interesting and I felt free and very comfortable with the atmosphere that the professors have

created.”

Additionally, 23% of the students opted for linguistics as the best subject because as, one of the respondents declared:

“the professor had full grasp of the subject and it was very informative and interesting”. For others the ultimate reason behind

their choice was the following:

“I am fond of courses which are about linguistics, especially the courses that are about particular fields of linguistics. For

instance, generative phonology, syntax, and morphology. The reason for being fond of these sorts of courses is the fact, that

there are about the intricate structure of a language itself” while others declared that “I adore the way of my professor

explanation and clarity, due to his habit of steady seating in his place, all the session, he makes you feel engaged. Yet, I care

about the content and the point he gives us”. In addition, other students responded “courses related to linguistics because

they were very challenging, I find myself in such courses and I see them very interesting”. In the same vein, some of the

students agreed that:

“It depends on the professor's ability to deliver information and on the students' interests. I would say the best courses

taken in my department are linguistics courses, because most of the professors who specialize in that field are able to guide

students properly. The professor I had, somehow succeeded in making something boring a lot more interesting to learn. The

way he explained the course was really fun and encouraging! I loved every minute of it! That was the first that I attended a

course because I was interested in it, not because I had to in order to pass the exam.”

As it displayed above in the chart, 19% of the students consider psycholinguistics as the best language. As it is stated by some

students: “When I was introduced to the course I was hooked by the first course one of the professors presented which was in

a way that pushed me to carry on and created a tendency to learn and know more about the course” .Other students reported

that “psycholinguistics is very interesting and full of puzzles plus I had very qualified professor with their new creative ways

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of teaching and engaging in the lessons”. In almost the same way: “psycholinguistics as I found it interesting, because it

relates to each individual's language learning process. I was curious to know what procedures our brain undergoes in learning

a language and also thanks to the impression and the motivation of the professor”.

3.13. The worst courses taken in the English department

Figure 20: The worst courses taken in the English department.

On the contrary, students were asked to state the worst courses that have been taken in the English Department. As the

graph above displayed, the majority of students capitalize on extensive reading as one of the worst subject whilst others consider

French language as a worst subject that has been taken and10% of students deem guided reading as the worst course in English

department. The ultimate goal behind the abovementioned questions is to have an insight into the types of courses that are

appreciated as well as unappreciated by Cadi Ayyad University students. Majority of the students` comments varied between lack

of motivation, lack of interest and unpleasant teaching methods .To illustrate, one of the respondent admittedly declared:

“Extensive reading, because the professor was not engaged with his students at a personal level, instead, he lectured the course

carelessly” Similarly, other respondent also attributed it to the way of his or her professor`s teaching, in his words:

“Actually, all the courses are good and interesting. The problem is within the professor. There are some professors who are

not good enough to teach some subjects. They use old fashioned way of teaching. Even though extensive reading is one of the

basics for the development of my vocabulary and skills in English it was not the case when I saw the methods that are used by my

teacher; it was destroying my self –confidence, my active side as a university student”. In a similar way again, other respondent

sated: “There was not a pleasant atmosphere that facilitated the learning process. The way the course is thought diminished the

students` contribution and thus students become a consumer rather than a producer of knowledge”. Many students insisted that

the teaching methods were neither helpful nor encouraging. In this regard, one of the respondents qualified:

“ I would say extensive reading again it all goes back to the way the professor explains the course, unfortunately my

professor was not invested in the course, they made it look as if they don't want to be in the classroom and explained the course

with difficulty, which made it for me the most uncomfortable experience to ever go through”. In the line with the first question,

some students seemed to blame the teaching methods which do not motivate active students as they put it: “The teaching methods

are the reason… The professors do not care about elaborations and showing the way through which you can work and through

which you amend yourself and capacitate yourself”. In almost the same way, another student thinks that extensive reading is not

mandatory. In his or her own words: “extensive reading classes are the worst classes taken in the Department because mostly it

doesn't require much creativity and isn't challenging”.

Additionally, a close interpretation of the comments made by students who claimed the fact of teaching French language in the

English department is not well- profound idea revealed that the vast majority of them declared that its aimless courses as a whole

all the courses are goalless and have no career path orientations. In this regard, some of respondents reported: “French; because

what they teach is basic and irrelevant to what we have to master as English department students. In the same line of thought,

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other students emphasized that: “French language because it was not my favorite thing and simply I 'm not interested in it at all

besides it is useless subject”, he added, “I did not like at all. Or I might say did not understand the reason behind it being

taught. ”,

Furthermore, as displayed in the table above, 10% of students view American and British cultures as worst subjects as one of

the respondents stated “Uk and USA history because they were boring and heavily rely on memorization”. Other students

commonly asserted that: “courses of UK and USA cultural studies were very boring and the professor also and he used

traditional methods of teaching the thing that made me not interested in this subject”.

Based on these testimonies, most students attributed their positive or negative feedback towards a given subject either to the

lack of interests or the teaching methods that are used by their professors to convey the core of the course. Too often, an array of

attempts and strategies have been conducted to spur students` achievement ranging from raising investment in schools to elevate

standardized exams that they do not target the real reasons why students are unmotivated .Students are more engaged when they

feel that what they are learning is purposeful and lied to life outside the classroom. As far as the teaching methods are concerned,

the traditional lecture should be revised and replaced by more hands-on, practical approaches or animated teaching styles since it

favors interaction, imagination as well was active learning.

3.14. Extrinsic motivation versus intrinsic motivation

Figure 21: Extrinsic motivation

versus intrinsic motivation.

The graph above embraces

thirteen questions closely related to

the students` intrinsic motivation , as

opposed toextrinsic motivation, as

well as their creativity. The first

statement argues that incentives and

other benefits influence students`

performance. With respect to this

statement, the results indicate 53%

and 30% agreed and strongly agreed

respectively that incentives and other

benefits influence their performance. However, solely 1% of students disagreed as 1% strongly disagreed with the

abovementioned statement.

Furthermore, concerning the second statement, more than 36% and 30% of the students agreed and strongly agreed

respectively with the claim that “I find grading assignments motivating more than non-grading assignments” That is to say, over

50% of students believe that they tend to be more motivated when they approach grading assignment than non-grading ones. In

comparison, more than 27% of the student` answers were divided between „disagree‘ and „strongly disagree‘ with the relevant

statement.

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After having Looked at two of the students` perceptions of intrinsic motivation as opposed to the extrinsic motivation, what

is next, then, is that students were asked a question with respect to whether or not there are satisfied with the teaching methods

and styles used by their professors. As illustrated in figure 21, more than 39% of the student` answers were divided between

„agree‘ and „strongly agree‘ with the claim that they are satisfied with the teaching methods provided by their professors whereas

only 28% of them disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively. However, 34% of the students neither agreed nor disagreed

upon the statement that they are satisfied with the teaching methods provided by their professors.

Moreover, the forth statement argues that “the teaching styles of my professor match my learning styles”. With respect to

this statement, 28% and 7% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed respectively with the claim that their learning styles

are compatible with their professor`s teaching styles. On the other side, 20% of the students disagreed and 8% of them strongly

disagreed with the relevant statement while the majority of them (36%) have a neutral reaction to the relevant statement.

In the same vein, 35% of the students agreed on the statement that the activities offered by their professors match their

interests and 9% strongly agreed on the previous mentioned statement whilst 20% disagreed and solely 7 % strongly disagreed.

Other students namely 20% remained neutral to the aforementioned statement.

Interestingly, respondents were asked to react to the following statement: “Being recognized and acknowledged by my

professor motivate me”. We can deduce from the graph above that the vast majority of students agreed (38%) and strongly agreed

(46%) with the abovementioned statement. In contrast, solely 5% of the respondents disagreed and 2% strongly disagreed, while

9% kept neutral.

In the same line of thought, according to the graph above, we can elicit that the majority of the students agreed that having

a collaborative and a supportive environment motivate them; notwithstanding, 4% of the subjects disagreed and solely 1% of

them strongly disagreed, markedly 30% and 55% of the subjects agreed and strongly agreed respectively with the statement that

having a collaborative and a supportive environment motivate them. Yet, 10 % expressed a neutral point of view.

As far as divergent thinking skills are concerned, the following statement “I am able to formulate new ideas to solve

problems” strives to emphasize or de-emphasize one of the integral components of critical thinking skills by which an individual

channels creative thoughts .As the results elucidate in the graph above, 51% and 29% of the students agreed and strongly agreed

correspondingly that they are able to formulate new ideas to solve problems whereas less than 11% of them claimed that they are

not able to do so. However, 13% of the students are neutral.

Interestingly, the numerical data in figure 21 above indicates that most students 39% stated that they thrive in a competitive

environment, and 29% of them strongly agreed. On the other hand, just10% of the students disagreed and only 1 % of them

strongly disagreed. 21% of the subjects have a neutral point of view. Implied in the aforementioned results, one can note that

students are eager to grasp best when they are in a competitive environment.

Equally important, 27% and 8 % of the students believed that the subject matters and assignments given by their professor

focus on creativity rather than learning by heart respectively “I believe that subject matters and assignments given by my

professor focus on creativity rather than rote-learning”. Yet, 24% and 11% of the students disagreed and strongly disagreed

correspondingly. 30% of the subjects kept neutral. Moreover, Respondents were asked to react to the following sentence: “I am

able to think ahead to spot or create new opportunities.” As the data shows 47% of them agreed and 26% of them strongly

agreed whereas only 8% disagreed and 1% strongly disagreed while18% of them are neither agreed nor disagreed.

Last but not least, 35% of the subjects agreed and 47% of them strongly agreed with the following statement “as a student I

favor using technology as a learning tool (e-learning)”. While only 3% and 2 % of them disagreed and strongly disagreed

correspondingly, as the data demonstrated 13% of them remained neutral. Eventually, as we can illicit from the above chart, “I

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am open to new experiences and I express my ideas freely without self-criticism”. 29% of the subjects agreed and 43% of them

strongly agreed. On the other side, 7% of them disagreed and only 3% of them strongly disagreed. Yet, 18% of the subjects are

neutral.

3.2. Discussion

As we have described in the first section of the practical part this research tends to reveal the affecting role of intrinsic

motivation on creativity. The rationale behind the 208 -questionnaires was to investigate the students’ intrinsic motivation in

relation to creativity. We deduce from the gleaned findings that students’ intrinsic motivation is low. The first question helped us

to have a clear-cut vision about students` perception on learning process. It was reported that 64% of students mainly purported

that the assignments and subjects matter are just related to the objectives of the course while 30% of students contended that the

assignments and subjects matter that they have been taught help them to improve critical thinking skills and imagination. It

appeared that the content, theories and data, support the objectives of the course. While intrinsic motivation plays a part in

learning process, the usefulness and relevancy of the information motivate most learners to learn; it is after the definition of

specific instructional objectives that efficient learning can take place. When students know what they should be able to do by the

end of a course it will be less of a challenge for them to meet that goal. Also, it enables instructors to understand what to expect

from their students. Aside from knowledge, subjects matter should help students to develop cognitive skills namely heuristics

skills. That is, critical thinking skills. The idea is to rearrange the learning objectives in the sense that Universities should have

twofold goal i.e., to enable students understand the subject matter as well as to nurture critical thinking skills and creativity. It

should help them to become students who think actively and rationally, students who can understand the logic connections

between ideas so as to draw reasonable conclusions from an array of information and decipher between credible and questionable

information for solving a problem, forming a judgment or making a decision. In other words, critical thinking skills should be

central focus in the learning journey. Learning realm must take a leap from just being a place where content is conveyed and

become a place where students nurture and sharpen their critical thinking skills. According to Collard , “Creative skills are not

just about good ideas, they are about having the skills[imagination, being self-motivated, resiliency, collaboration] to make good

ideas happen. ” Given our belief in the prominence of critical thinking and our assumption that students are acquainted with

it .Yet, the burning questions remain whether University students are really aware of what critical thinking actually is and

whether there are evidences that Universities teach critical thinking skills with any success. Moreover, the second question deals

with professors` feedback as an incentive to students` motivation. Overall, the data unveiled that the majority of subjects (53%)

claimed that the feedback they received by their professors is irrelevant as opposite to constructive feedback. Verbal feedback

stimulates intrinsic motivation and improves performance. Feedback is a motivational vehicle for continued learning. It plays

such a vital role on the development of the students’ learning. With that being said, students need specific, detailed, informative

and constructive feedback concerning both the strengths and weaknesses of their performance. Bearing in mind that motivation

plays an undeniable role on the development of the students’ learning. It is crucial for the instructor to recognize the factors that

can support the students in enhancing their self-motivation. Feedback can improve performance as well as motivation. Scholars

capitalize on providing feedback as a fruitful strategy that can captivate the students’ interest in learning so as to feel motivated to

continue improving their tasks and become creative. To put it differently, instructor’s feedback can inspire and motivate students

to work harder on improving their learning.

Another important finding of this study is that more than 50% of the respondents claimed that they study in an

authoritarian classroom as opposed 34% of the students who contended that they study in a democratic classroom. Implied in the

aforementioned finding that the micro-environment is not encouraging for the development of creative potential ideas. Educators

should make use of different teaching styles to convey their educational message and motivate their students to seek out their

learning goal. Educators, who rely on authoritarian style, usually make decisions without taking into account students` opinions

and tell students what to do and how to do. They are often considered as bossy and controlling. Because authoritarian educators

make decisions without consulting the group, many students may feel unmotivated; they are unable to contribute their ideas. In

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comparison, educators who use democratic style spark off group discussion and emphasize on decision-making through

consensus. They make members of the group feel included and promote teamwork and creativity. Discussion can be productive

in the sense that it gets students thinking more critically about the task at hand. And it challenges them to listen to other students`

opinions and think critically and rationally about their contributions and ideas. Also, it gives them the opportunity to challenge

each other intelligently and build off of each other`s ideas. Allowing students enough freedom and control over the subject at

hand is substantial to the development of their motivation as well as creativity.

In the same way again, the following question strives to foreground the extent to which Cadi Ayyad University`s students

feel comfortable to voice their questions and unusual ideas to their Professors. In this vein, 53.80% of students stated that they do

not feel comfortable voicing their questions and unusual ideas to their professors. To cultivate creativity, students should ask

open-ended questions that encourage curiosity and imagination. Students need the freedom to think divergently and have flashes

of insights –aha-moments without fear of being judged or being wrong. In a creative classroom, all contributions from students

should be welcomed. This entails a relaxed, non-judgmental classroom micro-environment where students feel safe as well as

confident to unleash their creative potentials and not to worry about making mistakes, errors or being subject to criticism. In

other words, students should study in an environment that allows for flexibility, promotes creative thinking and allows room for

mistakes. As Sir Ken Robinson urges that if a person is not prepared to be wrong, he/she will never come up with anything

original. Viewed in this light, it is of a great value to encourage students when a mistake occurs so as to persist long enough.

Creativity necessitates the boldness to make mistakes or errors. Moreover, students who are good at question-forming are likely

able to imagine future scenarios. Imagination is a key trait of creative people. However, in order for an unexpectedness idea to be

creative, it should also be meaningful in the context of the particular class discussion. Unexpected ideas or questions can be

viewed as a catalyst for promoting students` creativity and widening their understanding of academic subject matter.

In order to understand the prominent impact of freedom on fostering students` motivation, the researcher has recourse on

the students` view on freedom in learning. By doing so, students were asked to prove or disprove whether or not freedom and

discretion in how they learn motivate them. As a result, 88.20% of students claimed that freedom and discretion in how they learn

motivate them, while merely 11.20 % of them purported the opposite i.e., freedom and discretion does not have any motivational

impact on their learning. Accordingly, motivation and freedom (but in a disciplined way) are intertwined. That is, freedom is a

crucial antecedent to motivation. Freedom and discretion in terms of choice-making for students are, partially, shown to students

through a syllabus that can represent a student`s options linked to course activities, namely, organizational, procedural and

cognitive choices. Organizational choice embodies students having a voice in setting out assignments. Procedural choice includes

the subject, content or context of their projects, learning activities (workshops) , a choice from a list of homework assignments

scheduling and what form a final project might take-a book, poster, skit or choosing to submit a book reported instead of taking a

quiz or selecting the dates on which work is turned in. Cognitive choice embraces voicing their different ideas and thinking

processes behind solving a given problem. A more rigid curriculum may demotivate students and lessen their creativity. Strict

control does not always warrant a prolific and constructive learning environment. But it rather hinders students from voicing their

ideas and believes in a more open way. The fruitful atmosphere in a class guarantees students` freedom which shapes students`

enthusiasm and motivation for learning and boosts their creativity. Students become more comfortable with being held

accountable, and are motivated by their own authority. The idea of students controlling their own learning process welded in the

concept of ``Student-Driven Learning`` (SDL). SDL aims to trigger the intrinsic motivation of the students, thanks to its

flexibility and the increase in freedom and responsibility it offers to students. Therefore, it heightens students` participation and

reduces teacher-domination to offer students much freedom to talk in order to promote learner autonomy. However, students

should possess the necessary skills to become more accountable.

Returning to a very important point, on the basis of the data, it seemed that the vast majority of students i.e., 66.50 % feel

a little bit of belonging in the classroom, in this sense, a sense of belonging in the classroom is substantial for student success.

Micro-environment such as a classroom should foster a great sense of belonging and security so as students can find confidence

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in themselves and, in turn, have a positive learning experience. To cite an example, when students feel that they are part of

learning community, they show more motivation, engagement, and self-efficacy. This goes hand in hand with Maslow`s theory of

motivation which asserts that that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others.

As a second need in the five tier model of human needs, is belongingness including stable emotional environmental. On the

contrary, when students feel less belonging in an academic environment, they will likely be less engaged namely not participating

in class discussions, group activities, and not paying attention during lecture. This, in turn, may lead to other negative

consequences such as low academic achievement .Thus, University students’ sense of belonging is crucial because it has to do

with their academic success and emotional well-being. The success of University students is related partially to whether or not

they feel welcomed in specific classrooms realm. A sense of belonging is at the heart of a numerous of things, chief among them

students’ engagement and persistence, participation, academic performance, and academic motivation. In this regard, it is

worthwhile to be mindful that instructors are the essence of students' sense of belonging and desire for success. In an academic

environment, research proves that the negative sense of school belonging has a negative impact on intrinsic motivation and on

academic confidence. Belonging may be a key influence on motivation. The motivation for learning has become undeniable issue

in education, and its absence leads to a decrease of learning quality.

Interestingly, for the sake of having a clear picture on the motivational reasons behind students learning, students were

asked to pick up one of six incentives that incent them to learn ranging from good marks, recognition, a personal sense of

challenge, enjoyment, curiosity to scholarship. The results displayed that most students selected external rewards as a motivator

behind their learning namely good marks 21.88% and recognition 20.67%. Intrinsic motivation is the act of completing an

activity for the pleasure of doing the activity itself. Intrinsically motivated students are often deemed as successful students

because they take risks and choose more difficult tasks. The behaviors related with intrinsic motivation are significant in

students` learning lifespan; students who are intrinsically motivated become profoundly immersed in the task at hand and

experience a feeling of enjoyment and pursue challenges with the intention of conquering them. Extrinsic motivation, on the

other hand, is the act of undertaking an activity in order to receive external rewards. Rewards, has a negative effect on the

intrinsic motivation of students. It disturbs students’ achievement as well as creativity. Different forms of intrinsic motivation can

lead to school success namely, sustained interest in tasks, risk taking, curiosity, and the conquering of new challenges whereas

the presence of extrinsic motivation e.g., rewards, recognition along with other prizes can hamper intrinsic interest in an activity.

For instance, students might choose easier problems to complete when being graded by the teacher or they might lose interest in

the subject at hand. Although some extrinsic rewards may be compulsory to get students started in an education program, the

ultimate goal of education should be revolved around the conditions that stimulate intrinsic motivation like providing an

autonomous classroom environment, options and the opportunities to make decisions. Rewards should be substituted with

teaching that is centered on the intrinsic motivation of students.

In the same line of thought, the present question “do you find your academic subject matter intrinsically motivating?”

sought to capture students` view concerning their academic subject matter. Unfortunately, the findings suggest that the majority

of students 76% believe that their academic subject matter is not intrinsically motivating. In this regard, intrinsic motivation takes

place when a student seeks out learning due to their interest in a specific topic. Interest is viewed as a significant educational

construct i.e., it drives learning; students who are interested in say English, are deeply involved during class, spent more hours

studying and exploring it, than students with less interest in in task at hand . Furthermore, interest has also been considered as a

robust predictor of supporting creativity. The idea is that students should undertake a given topic or task because they find it

intrinsically interesting or because they enjoy it.

Equally important, it appeared that the low intrinsic motivation of Cadi Ayyad University`s students can be contributed to

several reasons chief among them is that, on the basis of the findings, more than 63% of students declared that they prefer to

engage in easy learning activities and assignments than challenging learning activities and assignments whilst only 35.68 %

opted for challenging learning activities and assignments. In this vein, one thing of the key things I would like to stress is that

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challenging learning activities and assignments are crucial to the development of students` learning as well as divergent thinking;

challenging tasks (but attainable) emphasize on exploring topics from many perspectives, which allows students to realize

connections between subject areas that might not always be evident. Also, when a student undergoes many challenging tasks

independently, that student will have less difficulty doing different tasks as he or she has some experience about it. Intrinsically

motivated students tend to involve in challenging tasks that promote thought, creativity and imagination. Extrinsically motivated

students, on the contrary, tend to choose easy learning tasks which entail less cognitive efforts. For that, it appears that the lack of

motivation is a major contributing cause to many choosing tasks. Chiefly if we believe that creativity includes the ability to

challenge assumptions, think outside the box, see things in new ways, have a chance to imagine, question, solve problems, take

risks, make mistakes, reflect, and make new connections between ideas and information. Challenging tasks or activities can

demonstrate these cognitive skills and provoke students to reflect divergently and come up with unforgettably novel ideas.

Recognizing the fact that students’ involvement in decision making is crucial, overwhelmingly the vast majority of

students viz., 67.90 % contended that they are not engaged in decision making. When students are engaged and have a say in

decision making that have to do with their learning process, they feel more independent and have a kind of control over their

learning. Consequently, control over learning and autonomy spark off students` motivation. In this sense, Sir John Jones

delivered a meaningful address at the Scottish learning Festival which addressed the existing challenges in education and the

opportunity for change. He mentioned in his address that as part of learning, students should make decisions and mistakes. They

should be involved in the decision-making process, especially around specific areas which relate to them such as staff who assist

the goal-serving process. Foremost, this implies that decision-making opportunities should engage students in solving genuine

problems and making relevant decisions that will heighten their self-efficacy and autonomy. In turn, students should be equipped

with the knowledge and ability required to come up with informed decisions.

As an attempt to test the research hypothesis which claims that intrinsic motivation has an affecting role on students`

creativity, students were asked to react to the following question “if you encountered difficulties during the learning process,

would you quit learning or persist to continue in the face of obstacles?” The results indicate that most students (75.70 %)

pointed out that during their learning process, if they face obstacles they would persist to carry on. As far as creativity is

concerned, persistence is the key to creative success. It is one of the most critical creative attitudes. For a creative idea to become

a part of remarkable discoveries there is the requirement of persistence. Indeed, it is not enough to just have a set of creative

ideas. But, what distinguishes highly creative individuals from those who have creative ideas is the component of persistence. It

is through persistence and tenacity that highly creative icons transform their dreams into realities. We know that creative

productions are the result of several process chief among them is the incubation phase. This process demands patient, time and

tenacity so as to reach fruition. Markedly, Einstein or Walt Disney`s persistence was what put him ahead of the pack. As Einstein

claims “It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer”. Individuals have a great capacity to come up with

creative ideas if they constantly commit and persist to work on a goal or a problem, rather than quitting easily, when they

encounter challenges, failure or setbacks. Instead of giving up one should take a break by daydreaming. This allows flexibility in

their conscious mind and gives subconscious mind time to approach the problem from different perspectives in order to ascertain

a given goal. This support Thomas Edison`s claim "our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is

always to try just one more time."

The last section of the questionnaire embodies thirteen questions closely related to the students` intrinsic motivation as well

as their creativity. The first statement states that incentives and other benefits influence students` performance. The findings

indicate the most of students (53%) agreed that incentives and other benefits influence their performance. Furthermore, in the

second question, more than 36% and 30% of the students agreed and strongly agreed respectively with the claim that “I find

grading assignments motivating more than non-grading assignments”. In other words, over 50% of students believe that they are

more motivated when they approach grading assignment than non-grading ones. In this regard, the recognition that incentives and

other benefits- rewards can have effects on intrinsic motivation and creativity has been proven by many scholars. For instance,

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Theresa Amabile contends that extrinsic rewards spur students to focus narrowly on a task, to do it as quickly as possible and to

take few risks. When rewards are presented, students do not see themselves in control of learning, and their work is judged as less

creative. This statement is a clear reference to Amabile`s claim, “If they feel that this is something I have to get through to get the

prize,’ they're going to be less creative,” Similarly, Richard Ryan believes that rewards make students feel less autonomous and

as being controlled by the reward itself. This in turn, may affect their academic performance “To the extent one's experience of

being self-determined is limited and one's creativity will be reduced as well.” This implies that extrinsic rewards can reduce

intrinsic interest; students who study just for external reasons e.g., grades, recognitions or scholarships, the task or the activity at

hand will be viewed as less enjoyable in its own right. Extrinsic rewards. Therefore, should be revisited and replaced with

education that is focused on planting the seeds of intrinsic motivation in students. That is, the key goal should be to have the

student’s interest at the core of their learning, not a reward.

Similarly, as far as teaching styles and methods are concerned, most students were asked a question with respect to whether

or not there are satisfied with the teaching methods and styles used by their professors. More than 39% of the student declared

that they are not satisfied with the teaching methods and styles used by their professors. Moreover, the forth statement argues that

“the teaching styles of my professor match my learning styles”. With respect to this statement, 28% and 7% of the respondents

agreed and strongly agreed respectively with the claim that their learning styles are compatible with their professor`s teaching

styles. In the same vein, 35% of the students agreed on the statement that the activities offered by their professors do not match

their interests. Implicitly, students` intrinsic motivation is often attributed to their teacher`s methods and styles. The teacher's

teaching style, method and the nature of the activities all have a substantial effect on students` motivation.  A collaborative

teaching style and method that allow for students` autonomy can foster students` motivation, interest, enjoyment, engagement and

performance in a given task. The keynote here is that instructors should create a student-centered classroom for many reasons one

of them is that when students are engaged and have a say in the learning process, they tend to be more intrinsically motivated.

Also, when students` have a straightforward picture on learning goals, they tend to be more intrinsically motivated to work

toward those goals. Besides, there is a strong relationship between challenges and intrinsic motivation .Unlike extrinsically

motivated students who seek out rewards such as grades and social recognition. Intrinsically motivated students seek out

challenges, to explore new avenues, to broaden and hone their competencies. Hence, instructors should offer activities or tasks

that challenge students` thinking and capabilities so as to promote self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. The results of the

abovementioned questions have led to two other questions which are closely related to the professors` feedback and classroom

environment; one that is concerned with the professors` recognition in the classroom arena and another that is concerned with the

effect of a collaborative and supportive environment on students` motivation.

In this respect, respondents were asked to react to the following statement: “Being recognized and acknowledged by my

professor motivate me”. We can deduce from the collected data that the vast majority of students (38%) and (46%) agreed and

strongly agreed respectively with the abovementioned statement. In the same line of thought, according to the numerical data, we

can elicit that the majority (55%) of the students agreed that having a collaborative and a supportive environment motivate them.

In this regard, teachers` recognition can increase students `intrinsic motivation and academic achievements. In other words,

teachers` support and encouragement can plant the seeds of change and growth in students. Chiefly, in order to ascertain their

academic goal and solve problems better, students have to have experiences that are motivating and engaging. Fruitful

communication and collaboration are paramount to becoming a creative learner. Additionally, associating new information to

preceding knowledge entails effective communication and collaboration among students as well as among students and teachers.

In fact, it is chiefly through communication and examining multiple angles students can become intrinsically motivated,

knowledgeable and self-determined. This emphasis on the collaborative environment and thinking alters the role of teachers as

information and knowledge giver to mediator collaborative teachers who value and take into account the opinions and the

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information that students bring to the learning environment. With this goal in mind, a classroom then should be an autonomous

arena. Students should have the opportunity to make decisions as well as have some control over their learning.

Overall, students were overwhelmingly agreed (80 %) with the following statement “I am able to formulate new ideas to

solve problems”. In this sense, the rationale behind divergent thinking is to produce many different ideas about a given topic in a

short period of time. It typically happens in a spontaneous and a random fashion. Divergent behavior is a way of thinking that

should not be inhibited in schools because when students are reluctant to say or do the "wrong thing" in class they might suppress

their creative ideas from coming to light. The pivotal point here is that divergent thinking as opposed to convergent thinking is

the key to being creative. Considering this, divergent thinking is more likely to stem from a creative classroom climate that

allows multiple types of expression, encourages risk, and allows failure. Instead of asking questions to which there is a correct

answer, the emphasis should be on problem-based learning and widening students` imagination. Students who are exposed to

divergent thinking in their education become more creative.

Another salient finding of this study is that most students (68%) stated that they thrive in a competitive environment.

Which implies students are eager to learn best when they are in a competitive environment. Equally important, 27% and 8 % of

the students believed that the subject matters and assignments given by their professor focus on rote learning rather than on

creativity “I believe that subject matters and assignments given by my professor focus on creativity rather than rote-learning” .

Moreover, Respondents were asked to react to the following sentence “I am able to think ahead to spot or create new

opportunities”. As the data displayed 47% of students agreed and 26% of them strongly agreed with the relevant sentence. In the

same line of thought, creativity in a particular critical thinking is more beneficial than rote-memorization. The implication here is

that, students should be able to read a given text critically and rationally not passively and slavishly, challenge and refute its

credibility, and use the information in a variety of new situations- to solve problems and understand new concepts. On the basis

of that, subject matters and assignments should enable students to develop the ability to decipher between what is reliable and

what may be academically irrelevant or serious; they should move from a reliance on rote learning towards an emphasis on

independent thinking. By embracing games which require students to solve problems, to collaborate and often stimulate real-

world situations which in turn lead to the development of creativity. Creativity in learning equips students with paramount

features including collaboration, independence and curiosity. Curriculum should not promote learning without understanding. In

other words, rote learning or what is also known as learning by heart hampers opportunities for creativity in the classroom.

In almost the same way, 82% agreed with respect to the following statement “as a student I favor using technology as a

learning tool (e-learning)”. Eventually, as we can illicit from the last statement, “I am open to new experiences and I express my

ideas freely without self-criticism”. Self-criticism disturbs intrinsic motivation. Education lies in a process of providing and

receiving critical feedback. Students who are very sensitive to criticism, Find it more difficult to communicate and express their

ideas freely. Being sensitive to criticism can have an impact on students` outcomes and motivation. This implies that sensitivity

to criticism tightly tied to the decrease in enjoyment and confidence levels. E-learning is recognized as a vital contributor to

creativity. Unlike face-to-face learning, e-learning is often asynchronous and a localized. It enables students to share their

knowledge and cooperate with each other so as to foster interaction and collaboration. It also enables learners to have some

control over their learning process which in turn enhances their intrinsic motivation. It would be naive to assume that online

activities quell creativity. In fact, there is a great deal of evidence that show that technology increases creativity. For instance,

technology unavailable to earlier scholars can have a fundamental effect on collaborative. Darwin`s theory remained incomplete

for half a century, because he was not able to specify a mechanism by which traits were inherited. Ironically, his contemporary,

Gregor Mendel, had discovered the principles of genetics shortly after Darwin published his famous work, but they remained

completely unaware of each other for their entire lifetime. However, much of the content that we find online is trivial, unoriginal

and unreliable. This paradox highlights the importance of critical thinking skills.

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Summary

In a nutshell, the current chapter has attempted to propose answers to the research questions so as to fulfill the research

objectives by investigating the extent to which Cadi Ayyad University`s students are intrinsically motivated, the casual

relationship between motivation and creativity; the most incentives that drive Cadi Ayyad University students to undertake

learning process. Motivation boils down to creativity. The findings have unfolded that students` intrinsic motivation is

unfortunately low due to many reasons of which we mention micro-environment classroom and students` incentives behind

learning. Also, the results of the study have proven that almost all students have claimed that subject matters and assignments

given by their professors lie in rote-learning rather than cultivating creativity as majority thought subjects at hand do not aim at

developing cognitive skills namely heuristics skills. Besides, students indicated that they are not satisfied with the teaching

methods and styles along with feedback that are used/ catered by their professors. However, a close evaluation of students`

answers has unveiled that students endeavor to engage in learning process just to obtain decent marks, scholarships or to be

recognized in the classroom realm as most of them admitted that they find grading assignments more motivating than non-

grading assignments. Finally, the analysis embarked on the students` answers regarding their perceptions of learning process; the

ways they are most likely to deal with the challenges that they might face in the learning journey. Mostly students contended that

during their learning process, if they faced obstacles they would persist to carry on. Bearing in mind that grit is the key to creative

success.

3.3.Limitations of the Study

The limitations of the present study can be divided into two main types; internal and external constraints. As far as the

internal limitations are concerned, it is evident that the findings could have gained more generalizability as well as the study

could have reached more validity if the sample of students participating therein was larger than 208 students. In addition to this,

the current study, being restricted to only one city regarding the investigation of students` intrinsic motivation and its affecting

role on creativity involving one University in Marrakesh could have affected negatively the value and quality of the findings. The

methodological decisions, the choice of solely quantitative technique namely, the questionnaire may appear as another limitation

with respect to the sample. This is so because richer data could have been elicited if other data collection instruments were used

viz., the classroom-observation and interview. Along with the classroom-observation, the interview method of collecting data

could have been used in order to compensate for the weaknesses of the quantitative study by providing justifications behind

certain students answers and choices concerning motivational incentives and more thorough explanations of the potential absence

of creativity in the classroom. This qualitative data collection instrument could have been used in the study due to the fact that the

questionnaire only provides questions whose answers are either negative or affirmative. On the other hand, the interview grants

richer, justified and unexpected answers from the interviewee. The use of the quantitative and qualitative approaches ensures

triangulation. The qualitative approach could have involved presentation of oral-verbal stimuli and reply in terms of oral-verbal

responses so as more information can be obtained. In brief, the mixed approach is the most appropriate one to increase the

validity and the reliability of the data and to give the study more generalizability

On the other hand, the external limitations may be considered in the various difficulties the researcher has encountered in

attempts to approach larger samples of Cadi Ayyad University; to access bigger number of students. Some students were

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reluctant to fill out the questionnaire while others did not seemingly take it seriously. In other words, there is no way to tell how

truthful a respondent is being.

CHAPTER FOUR

Implications

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FOR CURRENT ELT PRACTICES, DECISION MAKING

AND FURTHER RESEARCH

Chapter four:

- Implications for current ELT Practices, Decision-making and Further Research-

In this section of the paper, the implications of the findings for current ELT practices, policy-makers and for further

research will be discussed together with the significance of these findings in terms of the affecting role of intrinsic motivation on

creativity. Besides, some suggestions will be made in an attempt to seek solutions to some of the problems implicitly uttered by

the Cadi Ayyad University students who participated in this study.

An analysis of the collected quantitative data regarding the affecting role of intrinsic motivation on creativity revealed the

low level of students` intrinsic motivation. The majority of students expressed negative feedback towards statements that favor

intrinsic motivation. The majority of students at different points of the investigation responded in, quite de-emphasizing way, to

questions corresponding to their level of intrinsic motivation as well as their level of creativity. In this respect, most of them

argued that the ultimate incentives behind their learning is to obtain decent marks as an external motivator; they engage in

learning process or activities in order to get good marks. Also, the majority admittedly stated that they undertake learning process

just to be recognized by their professors. The vast majority of students stated that they do not feel comfortable sharing their

unusual ideas and questions in the classroom. Additionally, most of students purported that they prefer to engage in easy learning

activities than challenging ones. In line with these findings, the research data seemed to reinforce this idea as the majority of

students are driven by extrinsic motivation in their learning journey. Students confessed that they find subject matter not

intrinsically motivating as well as they feel lees a sense of belonging in classroom realm .Not only that , but the numerical data

also unfolded that academic subject matter and assignments focused primarily on memorization rather than developing critical

thinking skills as one of the pinnacle component of creativity. An implication for this is an urgent need for the

integration/introduction of critical thinking as an intellectual discipline that will help students be aware of one of the components

underlying creativity, prospective EFL teachers must be well-trained and prepared so as to be aware of the frameworks and

principles that capture creativity in school curriculum instead of considering it as separate from subject matter ;to promote a

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vision for schools that promote creative teaching and the creativity of the learner. Prospective EFL teachers should be aware of

the fact that the psychology of their students is prominent for student success. To put it differently, creative students are the result

of creative teachers as well as creative receptive environment. It would be difficult if it is not possible to have creative students if

we do not have first creative teachers. Organizing education around creativity entails shifting the perceptions of teachers as well

as learners. It is indispensable to understand that arranging curriculum does not mean abolishing it. Students should take in

required content while also enhancing their creative thinking and solving problems. In other words, the two should be

inextricably welded.

This reality creates a sort of awareness of the great value of professors` feedback and methods as well as micro-environment.

In this respect, educational policy-makers must admit that traditional methods that mainly rely on behaviorism approach kill

students` creativity. Students should be given a room to construct their own understanding by themselves and think divergently,

through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences (with the guidance and the help of teachers). This involves

asking questions, pondering, exploring, and assessing what we know in a collaborative learning environment. Constructivism

should be taken as a paradigm for teaching and learning. In fact, constructivism triggers the students` motivation and curiosity on

a given task.  By doing so, students will be more reflective and will assume a big deal of responsibility over their own learning.

Teacher training programs in Morocco seem to, at best, fail to facilitate an incorporation of the frameworks and approaches to

ELT in terms of equipping the prospective teachers with the necessary skills so as to combine their own theoretical and

experiential knowledge in a correct and guided manner to enable creativity to be sustained, and at worst it, along with the

Ministry of Education, seem to serve as a barrier to teachers` growth and professional development as it does not equip trainee

teachers with the necessary courses and skills to develop initial understanding on creative teaching and learning, it imposes some

objections in terms of teaching methods teachers are to use in their classrooms. Furthermore, another solution can be to dismiss

the culture of standardized testing so as to nurture creativity, fuel curiosity and create an engaged learning environment.

Standardized tests don’t value creativity; a student, who comes up with a novel answer, an answer which does not conform to the

excepted answer question or the providing answers, is likely viewed as a wrong response. Standardized tests are killing what

could be a time of nurturing creativity in students; students are spending too much time on test preparation and too little time with

books and problem solving activities that channel their imagination and creative capacities. Educational policy-makers must

admit that standardized tests are muddling students' creativity and desire to learn; instead professors should support authentic

performance assessments, not simply computerized versions of multiple-choice exams. In other words, standardized tests disturb

students’ curiosity, creativity, and passion for learning. 

In addition to this, some participants also stated that they favor learning using technology, viz., e-learning. This implies

that the Ministry of education is required to equip classrooms with enough equipment that will facilitate the learning and teaching

processes. Embracing ICT can be fruitful decision in teaching students to be creative and critical users of information. By

embracing games-based learning activities into classroom instruction, namely code.org, Kodu Game Lab, Appinventor.org,

GameSalad, Codecademy, mock trials to name but only a few. ICT facilities learning as well it embraces stack of online courses

ad games that trigger creativity.

Finally, further research can be conducted with more than 208 University students from a variety of cities all over Morocco

as well as embracing qualitative approach in order to get a better picture and more generalizable data; thus come up with more

concrete recommendations and suggestions capable of promoting the Moroccan educational system in general and ELT in

Morocco in particular.

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GENERAL CONCLUSION

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-General conclusion-

The current study has attempted to investigate the affecting role of intrinsic motivation on creativity. The extent to which

Cadi Ayyad University`s students are intrinsically motivated. The objective of the current study was to foreground whether or not

intrinsic motivation is favorable to creativity. In other words, intrinsic motivation is conducive to creativity; controlling extrinsic

motivation is detrimental to creativity.

The methodology used in the present study involved a quantitative approach to research as it was represented in the

questionnaire administered to 208 Cadi Ayaad University`s students. As far as the sample population is concerned, the sample

technique by which the sample was selected was a random sampling to ensure a reliable and objective survey.

The findings of the study confirmed the research hypothesis. They unfolded that the majority of students are neither

intrinsically motivated nor are they creative due to many reasons; they chose external rewards as motivators behind their learning

including good marks, recognition and scholarship and they prefer to engage in easy learning activities and assignments than

challenging learning activities and tasks. Challenging tasks provoke students to think divergently and promote creativity and

imagination. Additionally, on the basis of the gleaned data, the vast majority of students contended that they find grading

assignments motivating more than non-grading assignments-they tend to be are more motivated when they approach grading

assignment than non-grading ones. In this regard, rewards make students feel less autonomous and as being controlled by the

reward itself. This in turn, may hamper their creative capacity. Furthermore, despite the fact that student came to admit that

subject matters and assignments given by their professors focus on rote-learning rather than cultivating the seeds of creativity.

Many students confirmed that they thrive in a competitive environment as well as having a collaborative and supportive

environment motivate them. Moreover, the students` low intrinsic motivation can be contributed to many other factors chief

among them, on the basis of the numerical findings, most of students purported that they feel a little bit of belonging in the

classroom. A sense of belonging in micro-environment is vital for student`s motivation as well as creativity. As it has been

elucidated in the practical part, when students feel that they are part of learning community, they show more motivation,

engagement, and self-efficacy. Finally, though all of the subjects seemed to believe that freedom and discretion in how they learn

motivate them. That is, freedom is a catalyst to motivation, most of them agreed that they do not feel comfortable voicing their

questions and unusual ideas to their professors.

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Appendices

QUESTIONNAIRE

Instructions: Please tick the appropriate answer.

SECTION ONE: Background information:

4. What is your gender?

Female Male

5. What is your educational level?

A- The first year B- The second year C- The third year

6. What kind of learner are you?

A- Auditory learner B- Visual learner C- Kinesthetic learner

7. Do you prefer to study alone or as part of a team?

A- Alone B- Collaboratively

Cadi Ayyad University

Faculty of arts and human

sciences 2016-2017

Master Program in:

Linguistics and Advanced

English Studies

This questionnaire aims at investigating students` intrinsic motivation as a variable to increase or decrease creativity. You are kindly requested to fill in the whole questionnaire. Your identity and the information you will provide will remain strictly confidential. There are no correct or incorrect answers. Thank you for the time you will devote to fill in this questionnaire.

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SECTION TWO: The driving forces of students` motivation

1. The assignments and subjects matter in your classes are :

A- relevant to the objectives of the course B- help me improve critical thinking skills and imagination.

C- not relevant to the objectives of the course

8. How would you rate the quality of feedback provided by your Professor?

A- constructive

B- irrelevant

C- unnecessary

9. Which of the following incentives motivate you most to learn ?

A- Good marks

B- Recognition

C- A personal sense of challenge

D- Enjoyment

E- Curiosity

10.Do you find your subjects intrinsically interesting?

Yes No

11. Does your Professor involve you in decision making which are connected to your subjects planning?

Yes No

12.Do you favor easy learning activities and assignments or challenging ones?

A-Easy learning activities and assignments B-Challenging learning activities and assignments

13.What type of classroom environment do you study in?

A- Authoritarian B- Democratic C- Laissez-faire.

14. Do freedom and discretion in how you learn motivate you ?

Yes No

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15.How comfortable do you feel voicing your questions and unusual ideas to your professor?

A- comfortable B- not comfortable at all C- very comfortable.

16. How much of a sense of belonging do you feel in your classroom ?

A- not belonging at all B- a little bit of belonging C- a tremendous amount of belonging.

17.If you encounter difficulties during the learning process, would you quit learning or persist to continue in the face of obstacles?

Quite learning Persist to continue in the face of obstacles

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18.What are the best courses taken in the Department, and what are your reasons for saying so?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

19.What are the worst courses taken in the Department, and what are your reasons for saying so?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

20.To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statements (put a [√] in the appropriate place)

Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Agree Disagree

1-Incentives and other benefits influence my performance.

2.2-I find grading assignments motivating more than non- grading assignments.

3.3-I am satisfied with the teaching methods provided by my professors.

4.4-The teaching styles of my professor match my learning styles.

5-The activities offered by my teacher match my interest.

6.6-Being recognized and acknowledged by my professor motivate me

8.7-Having collaborative and supportive environment motivate me.

8-I am able to formulate new ideas to solve problems.

9- I am the type of student who thrives in a competitive environment

10. The assignments and subject matter given by my professor focus on creativity rather than rote learning.

11-I am able to think ahead to spot or create opportunities.

12-As a student, I favor using technology as a learning tool. (e-learning)

13-I am open to new experiences and I express my ideas freely without self-criticism.