From viewing to ideating: a two-cycle design-based development of an undergraduate art appreciation course and its associations with divergent thinking and creative self-efficacy

A study published in Frontiers in Education investigated curricular redesign in undergraduate art appreciation for non-specialist education majors, transitioning instructional focus from passive observation to active ideation. Utilising a two-cycle design-based research methodology across successive 16-week cohorts of 65 and 70 students, the investigation evaluated divergent thinking, creative self-efficacy, classroom discourse, and student artefacts to pinpoint where ideation breaks down. While the source documentation cuts off before detailing full comparative findings, it highlights systemic limitations in standard viewing-to-understanding models.

Cultivating divergent thinking and creative self-efficacy is vital for developing adaptive, problem-solving capabilities in future educators and professionals. Demonstrating where traditional instruction fails to foster generative ideation provides the empirical foundation needed to transition academic programmes from passive content consumption to active creative competency. This matters strategically as higher education faces growing pressure to deliver measurable, transferable cognitive skills.

Conventional undergraduate art appreciation curricula consistently foster observation and interpretive skills but systematically fail to cultivate independent ideation.

Forward consideration, not a verified fact.