A systematic review of research on creative thinking in primary education: Focus on empirical methodologies

Zaina Smare and Mohamed Elfatihi
Ibn Zohr University, Morocco

This article reviews the methodologies used in 76 empirical studies conducted on creative thinking in primary school education and published between 2011 and 2021. The studies were analysed for their context, foci of investigation and the methodologies used. Each study was coded and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings are discussed in reference to research on creative thinking and to previous relevant methodological reviews. The results showed that the country which produced the highest number of publications is China followed by the US. Most studies focused on investigating the educational factors that affect the development of creative thinking in primary education. The majority of these studies were based on quantitative approaches, with questionnaires being the most preferred data collection instrument. Based on these results, suggestions are made for future research on creative thinking in primary education.
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Authors: Ms Zaina Smare is a fourth year PhD student at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco. She earned her Masters degree in applied linguistics from Ibn Zohr University, Morocco. She has been teaching English for more than 12 years at the secondary education level. Email: zaina.smare@edu.uiz.ac.ma Dr Mohamed Elfatihi is an associate professor of applied linguistics at Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, Morocco, and has served as the coordinator of the Masters Program in Applied Linguistics and ELT since 2018. Dr Elfatihi holds a doctorate in applied linguistics from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah Univerity in Morocco. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-0877 Email: elfatihimohamed@gmail.com Please cite as: Smare, Z. & Elfatihi. M. (2023). A systematic review of research on creative thinking in primary education: Focus on empirical methodologies. Issues in Educational Research, 33(2), 752-780. http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/smare.pdf