Creativity in Elementary Physical Education: A Qualitative Approach of Teachers’ Perceptions

Abstract

Research exploring students’ creative potential has produced valuable findings regarding how individuals express their creativity in domains such as writing, literature, science, music, drama etc. However, when it comes to physical education (PE), the majority of available research focuses on explicit theories for the expression of motor creativity, teaching strategies that promote creative or critical thinking, school programs that foster creativity, etc. There are very few studies that attempted to examine the relationship between PE and motor activities with the different forms of creative expression and there is no prior research, worldwide, which has explored the implicit theories or perceptions of Physical Educators (PEds) on this subject matter. The purpose of the current study was to explore elementary students’ ways of creative expression in PE according to their PEds’ perceptions, and attempted to highlight various forms of creative expression and types of activities that seem to foster it. Participants were 96 elementary PEds from school districts in Northern Greece who expressed their perceptions regarding their students’ creative outcomes. Qualitative data was collected with an open-ended questionnaire. Results indicated several children’s behaviors, actions and ideas that reflect various ways of creative expression in PE. According to their PEds, students attempt to modify traditional team games and their rules, create new ones, discover alternative ways of movements, improvise during drama and music - movement activities and display and perform divergent movement and sports abilities. Moreover, results revealed that PE includes a wide range of activities that allow creative outcomes to emerge, such as team games, practicing sports skills, fundamental movement activities, motor improvisation and dancing.