Multicultural experience and multilingualism as predictors of creativity

Aims and objectives: Past research has shown that multicultural experience and multilingualism can be positively associated with creativity. However, very few studies have focused simultaneously on all these variables. Our aim is to consider both sets of predictors simultaneously, clarifying whether the impact of these variables on creativity is cumulative or redundant. Design/methodology/approach: The design combines correlational and quasi-experimental approaches. It is also strongly multivariate and includes various measurement methods. Variables of interest were assessed with questionnaires ( N = 596) and creativity tasks ( N = 174) in laboratory settings. The scope of the study, therefore, is relatively large and encompasses several indicators. Data and analysis: We use multiple regressions with latent and manifest variables. Latent variables were constructed for all sets of key predictors (multilingualism, traveling experience, living abroad experience); predictors were regressed on four types of creativity variables, also latent in most cases (creative potential; creative interests, activities, and achievements; creative performance in a writing task; creative performance on a remote association task). Findings/conclusions: Results shows that both multicultural experience and multilingualism are positively related with various manifestations of creativity. Overall, the results indicate complementary effects of multicultural experience and multilingualism on creativity. The most robust predictors are multilingualism and variables representing deep immersion in foreign countries. Originality: Three features make this study unique: (a) it examines both multilingualism and multiculturalism; (b) the sample population is broader than in most studies, which often focus on migrant populations; and (c) it implements a multimethod operationalization of creativity. Significance/implications: The paper goes beyond received approaches to the link between human diversity and creativity; the analysis is put in relation with other research work that focuses on policy implications for diversity, particularly in the areas of bilingualism and bicultural identity. Implications regarding the connections between creativity, multilingualism, and general executive functioning are also discussed.

The Potential of Silence in Education: Methodological and Didactic Prerequisites

This paper investigates philosophical, cultural and didactic potential of silence in education. The author substantiates that in the world of ever-augmenting speaking, the student’s silence is manifested as a stage, when there is nothing to say for oneself. This is attributable to the monologue nature of education, the main meanings, goals and the content of which is to convey the multicultural experience of mankind to a “monocultural” student. At the same time, there is a huge potential for silence as competence whereby a student generates his new meanings, knowledge, questions. The paper presents a comparative analysis of the didactics of Eastern and Western cultures core parameters as creativity, dialogism, interactivity. The author concludes that despite the sufficiently large number of the silence phenomenon studies in pedagogy, they mainly affect the methodical le[1]vel. In reliance on philosophical, linguistic, psychosocial research, the article originally examines the methodological foundations of the design and implementation of the didactics of silence. Particular attention is paid to the links between silence, “questioning” and heuristics. It is indicated that silence in teaching factors into exponential development and the formation of such future competencies as creativity, communication, and the affective sphere.

The multicultural mind as an epistemological test and extension for the thinking through other minds approach

The multicultural experience (i.e., multicultural individuals and cross-cultural experiences) offers the intriguing possibility for (i) an empirical examination of how free-energy principles explain dynamic cultural behaviors and pragmatic cultural phenomena and (ii) a challenging but decisive test of thinking through other minds (TTOM) predictions. We highlight that TTOM needs to treat individuals as active cultural agents instead of passive learners.

THE PERCEPTION OF CREATIVITY THROUGH MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE — RESULTS FROM AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

This research is an approach to connect creativity and multicultural experiences (MCEs): we give insights into how and what type of MCE influences people’s perceptive abilities such as creativity. We offer one of the first empirical examinations that links the perception of creativity concept to strategy of acculturation. This study addresses an often-mentioned research gap by examining laypersons’ ability to perceive different levels of creativity. For this, a sample of 195 participants from 26 countries with and without MCE was researched. Findings indicate that attitudes as well as personal and professional goals apparently influence people’s creativity perception. The acculturation strategy integration seems to be a determining factor in this respect. As MCE has become a firm part of many people’s CV, the present paper adds to an omnipresent phenomenon in today’s society, which is worth studying.

PROJETO SAGRADA NATUREZA: CURRÍCULO EM AÇÃO - UMA EXPERIÊNCIA MULTICULTURAL NA APLICAÇÃO DA LEI 11.645/2008 SACRED NATURE PROJECT: CURRICULUM IN ACTION - A MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE IN THE APPLICATION OF THE LAW 11.645 / 2008

O presente artigo tem como objetivo analisar, como pesquisa qualitativa, uma experiência de currículo em ação desenvolvida em cinco escolas da rede municipal de educação de Niterói. Esta experiência se deu a partir do Projeto Sagrada Natureza que, através das oficinas “No Xingu, Oxóssi reina!”, propõe ilustrar uma alternativa de aplicação da lei 11.645/2008, como um tópico da educação ambiental em uma perspectiva multicultural. A partir das análises identifica-se que a implementação da lei 11.645/2008 pode ser potencialmente ampliada em propostas curriculares que avançam da perspectiva multicultural folclórica para abordagens multiculturais críticas e pós-coloniais.