carlos Lage-Gómez

According to research about creativity in education, creativity can be considered an ability that can be fostered through specific teaching strategies. Consequently, future secondary music teachers should be equipped with the knowledge to develop students’ musical creativity. A challenge for teacher training lies in providing concepts and strategies to develop this professional knowledge. With the aim of improving a music didactics course, the purpose of this study was to understand how student teachers’ conceptions of creative music teaching evolved over one semester. In reference to the concept of creative teaching developed by Beghetto and research about the role of the teacher’s body in music education, a specific framework to identify aspects of creative pedagogical knowledge was conceived. A thematic analysis of two semi-structured interviews with five future secondary music teachers provided a detailed picture of the evolution of their conceptions about creative music teaching. Interestingly, student teachers’ knowledge of theoretical concepts presented in the course, as well as knowledge about the role of the body in creative music teaching, remained mainly implicit. Knowledge about their professional identities as creative musicians and pedagogues appeared to be relevant for enhancing awareness of how to teach with creativity. In order to describe this dimension more precisely, we develop the concept of creative stance knowledge as an emerging category from the data. Its potential for teacher training will be discussed, including a more embodied vision of creative pedagogical knowledge for music teacher training.

The study analyses the relationship between transdisciplinary integration, creativity and student motivation in three STEAM projects. It has been carried out over 3 years in a programme for gifted students. 152 students (11–12 years old), five teachers and four external professionals participated. The projects included a variety of scientific, humanistic and artistic activities, together with outings, the collaboration of experts and the creation of a transdisciplinary art-based final products. The research was carried out through the analysis of qualitative data (interviews, video-recordings, participant observation) using Atlas.ti8 within the framework of Activity Theory and statistical analysis of questionnaires. It shows how the transdisciplinary integration favoured a complex approach to knowledge with an essential role of the artistic-based transdisciplinary final products and fostered a plural approach to creativity. The active participation of the students favoured their motivation and involvement. The significant correlation between creativity, student motivation and transdisciplinary integration emerges as a key element in the STEAM projects implemented.