Exploring caregiver influence on child creativity and innovation in an out-of-school engineering program

Creativity is of increasing importance to the field of engineering. Thus, furthering our understanding of the development of (or barriers to) creativity during childhood and adolescence, and in environments alternative to traditional classroom settings, may hold particular significance and implications for generating creative and cognitive shifts amongst children, and their ultimate interest in the discipline. Constraints on child creative thinking and innovation that may occur by educators and within schools highlight the need to explore alternative environments and individuals, such as caregivers and/or out-of-school contexts. To expand our understanding of the influence caregivers may have on child creativity and innovation, particularly during the critical engineering design phases of problem identification and solution ideation, this study sought to investigate how caregiver involvement shapes the creativity and innovation of children in an out-of-school engineering program. Using conversation analysis to examine caregiver-child dialogue, results demonstrate ways that child ideas, creative thinking, and innovative engagement with various solutions were shaped by caregivers’ involvement through four predominant dialogic methods, including (a) directive questioning, (b) restating/reframing, (c) idea blending, and (d) using shared experiences. Insights into specific dialogic methods caregivers employed while engaging with children in out-of-school environments through the engineering design cycle are discussed, further illuminating how such engagement and specific conversational tactics impact children's creative thinking and use of innovation.