واکاوی ارتباط قابلیت‌های آموزش هنرهای صناعی با پرورش تفکر خلاق در آموزش عالی: مطالعه کیفی براساس مصاحبه با متخصصان و صاحب‌نظران دانشگاهی

Abstract: This qualitative study explored the relationship between the educational capacities of applied arts and the development of creative thinking. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 university professors, researchers, and professionals in the field of applied arts and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings identified 106 basic themes, 13 organizing themes, and four overarching themes: form, function, meaning, and essence. Results revealed that applied arts provide a multidimensional and interdisciplinary environment where aesthetic, technical, material, cultural, and economic dimensions interact dynamically. Such characteristics foster creative thinking by encouraging problem-solving, innovation, reflection, and the integration of ideas with practical experience. The study concludes that applied arts serve as a powerful platform for the cultivation and expression of creative thinking, as the creative process emerges through the interaction of thought, skill, materials, and lived experience: thought, skill, practical experience, materials, and everyday life. Therefore, the arts can be considered one of the most objective areas of expression of creative thinking; an area in which ideas, skills, and meaning are simultaneously formed and crystallized in the form of works of art. Applied arts are inherently multidimensional and interdisciplinary, integrating aesthetic, technical, material, cultural, economic, and innovative elements. This dynamic interaction creates a strong foundation for the development of creative thinking. The study shows that artistic creation is not merely a mental activity but emerges through the interplay of ideas, skills, practical experience, materials, and everyday life. Therefore, applied arts can be regarded as one of the most effective and tangible domains for fostering and expressing creative thinking.
Background: Research has been conducted in line with the present study. Some have addressed the structure, effectiveness, and challenges of art education or creative thinking in pre-university education, and others have investigated creative thinking in higher art education and problem-solving skills. Previous studies have highlighted various dimensions of art education and creative thinking across different educational contexts. Research has emphasized the evolving role of art education beyond technical training toward a multidimensional system encompassing cultural, social, economic, and entrepreneurial aspects. Studies have shown that multiculturalism, social participation, competency-based curricula, and integrated theory-practice approaches can enhance the quality of art education. Recent findings also indicate that creative thinking is a key twenty-first-century competency, fostered through student-centered, interactive, and project-based learning methods. Furthermore, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence have expanded opportunities for collaborative creativity and aesthetic experiences. Research on mindset has demonstrated that students who believe creativity can be developed exhibit higher levels of creative thinking and motivation. Overall, the literature suggests that effective art education provides a supportive environment for innovation, problem-solving, and the development of creative thinking through the integration of practical skills, theoretical knowledge, and cultural understanding.
Objectives: The present study aimed to explain and analyze the relationship between the educational capabilities of applied arts and the development of creative thinking from the perspective of academic experts and practitioners.
Method: This applied qualitative study explored the relationship between applied arts education and the development of creative thinking. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 university professors, specialists, researchers, and practitioners in the field of applied arts, selected through purposive sampling based on the principle of theoretical saturation. The interviews, lasting approximately 45–60 minutes, focused on the role of applied arts education in fostering creativity and creative thinking. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis following the Attride-Stirling approach. The analysis involved coding interview transcripts, identifying basic themes, grouping them into organizing themes, and developing overarching themes through a thematic network model. To ensure the trustworthiness and credibility of the findings, member checking, audit procedures, and multiple data collection strategies were employed.
Result: The results of the thematic network analysis showed that the arts have broad and multidimensional capacities for developing creative thinking and can be considered as one of the important areas of creative education in higher education. The conceptual structure extracted from the data, consisting of 106 basic themes, 13 organizing themes, and 4 overarching themes, showed that creative thinking in the arts is a multilayered and systematic phenomenon that is formed by the interaction of diverse cognitive, aesthetic, technical, cultural, economic, and semantic factors. The research findings indicate that many of the extracted basic themes, including innovation, diversity, questioning, problem solving, reasoning, inspiration from nature, extensibility, overcoming limitations, and the need for novelty, are directly related to creative thinking processes. These themes show that the arts are not static in nature and are based solely on the repetition of traditional skills, but are a dynamic arena for experimentation, exploration, re-creation, and the creation of new solutions. From this perspective, the production and education process in the arts is always accompanied by a kind of creative encounter with problems, materials, forms, and functions. The analysis of the organizing themes also showed that the capacities for cultivating creative thinking in arts are distributed in various dimensions such as aesthetics and visual structure, materials, execution techniques, economic function, knowledge transfer, culture, and practical experience. This finding indicates that the cultivation of creative thinking in arts is not limited to a specific component or skill, but is the result of the interaction of a network of various elements and processes. In fact, creative thinking in this area is formed when an individual can establish a meaningful connection between knowledge, skills, experience, practical needs, and cultural values.
Conclusion: The results of the thematic network analysis showed that the arts have broad and multidimensional capacities for developing creative thinking and can be considered as one of the important areas of creative education in higher education. The findings revealed that applied arts possess significant multidimensional capacities for fostering creative thinking. The thematic analysis identified 106 basic themes, 13 organizing themes, and four overarching themes: form, function, meaning, and essence. Results indicated that creativity in applied arts emerges through the interaction of cognitive, aesthetic, technical, cultural, economic, and experiential factors. Key themes such as innovation, problem-solving, questioning, diversity, reasoning, and overcoming limitations highlighted the dynamic and exploratory nature of artistic practice. The findings further demonstrated that creative thinking is nurtured through the integration of knowledge, skills, practical experience, cultural values, and real-world needs. Overall, the study suggests that applied arts education extends beyond technical skill development and provides a powerful platform for cultivating creativity, innovation, and adaptive problem-solving abilities. Consequently, greater emphasis on creativity-oriented approaches in curriculum design, teaching practices, and educational policies can contribute to preparing innovative and capable graduates for the challenges of the contemporary world.