Effective Factors in Promoting Creativity among 3-6 Years Old Children in Educational Open Spaces of Tehran based on the Prismatic Creativity Model

Tabatabai Yeganeh, Reyhaneh Sadat; Shafaei, Minoo; Mozaffar, Farhang; Saleh Sadeghpour, Bahram

doi:10.22034/aaud.2023.370496.2734

Effective Factors in Promoting Creativity among 3-6 Years Old Children in Educational Open Spaces of Tehran based on the Prismatic Creativity Model

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Reyhaneh Sadat Tabatabai Yeganeh ¹

Minoo Shafaei ²

Farhang Mozaffar ³

Bahram Saleh Sadeghpour ⁴

¹ Instructor of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Planning, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran (Corresponding Author).

² Associate Professor of of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Planning, Isfahan University of Art, Isfahan, Iran.

³ Associate Professor of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture & Urban Planning, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran.

⁴ Associate Professor of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Shahid Rajaee University, Tehran, Iran.

10.22034/aaud.2023.370496.2734

Abstract

Children spend about 25% of their time in open spaces of educational environments. This space can respond to different spiritual and physical, art, and educational needs (learning and creativity growth), so this is an important factor in the design of educational spaces. Unfortunately, there is considerable inattention to landscaping of educational open spaces, particularly for preschool age. This issue requires paying more attention to the professional design of this important space for promoting children’s creativity. Therefore, this study aims to provide the field for promoting the quality of open spaces in educational centers regarding the role of these spaces in developing creativity among 3-6-year-old children. The variables affecting creativity were identified and classified by reviewing the literature on the topic. The open-ended test (with the qualitative method) was done to examine the design attitude of architects and experts in educational sciences and psychology, experts in the field of children’s creativity to optimize educational open space for promoting the creativity of children based on a descriptive technique and content analysis method. According to the results of the open-ended test and literature review, a close-ended questionnaire was distributed among kindergarten and preschool educators in Tehran City. Six factors were then introduced after implementing Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of questionnaires’ results through SPSS16 software: participation and experience, psychological well-being, stimulating natural elements of the environment, function versatility, vitality of environment, and environmental motivation. A prismatic model was then formulated using path analysis through AMOS26 to analyze the relationship between the mentioned factors. In the validation step, a painting test and semi-structured interview were done among 60 children due to the importance of their opinions about the space they use. The findings were confirmed in this phase. It is worth noting that discussion of the factors mentioned above based on the questions designed for them can lead to creating a list of design principles of open areas for children, which can be examined in further studies too. Also, different classifications may be obtained since the control variable of gender is used in this study.

Keywords

Creativity

Open Area

Educational Open Spaces

Courtyard

3-6 Years Old Children

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