Date of Award

Spring 5-15-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Elementary Education

First Advisor

Dr. Maureen Creegan-Quinquis

Second Advisor

Dr. Patricia Crain de Galarce

Third Advisor

Dr. Jenny Finn

Abstract

Creativity and imagination can be felt, described, seen, and measured. In this study, this is achieved through a reflective process and awareness of creative practice and its potential. The process can aid and increase understanding of self, cognitive and creative process, social-emotional interactions, agency, and action, and reveals an individual’s developmental level of creative confidence.

A gap exists in student and teacher voice regarding their creative awareness and confidence. This study reveals how 29 children ages 8-15 and 14 teachers from Kajiado, Kenya, describe creativity and imagination, supporting both learning and wellbeing.

The study applies an Arts-Based Research approach, primarily using poetic forms of discovery and multiple creative disciplines, centering story. Creative expressions included by participants and the researcher are drawing, music, collage, photography, and printmaking to reveal the phenomenological aspects of how the arts inform and enhance learning, creativity, imagination, and wellbeing. Further, the study introduces a new concept named the Zone of Creative Confidence, building upon the work of Maxine Greene, Mary Helen Immordino -Yang, Scott Barry Kaufman, Daniel Stern, Shaun McNiff, and Lev Vygotsky.

Data sources, informing the study and development of the Zone of Creative Confidence include surveys by students; observational guides from teachers; creative responses to questions through drawing, poetry, movement, music, and drama, along with collected words and stories, and poetry from focus group conversations with teachers and children.

Key findings include; ;relationships are strengthened through the arts; agency, drive, and empathy are developed through creativity; with limited resources imagination finds solutions; and joy and curiosity are key to learning and naturally occur through creative opportunities.

Keywords: creativity, imagination, wellbeing, learning, neuroscience, mindfulness, self-awareness, cognitive process, social emotional growth, agency, action, creative confidence.

 

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