Innovative FOCUS: A Program to Foster Creativity and Innovation in the Context of Education for Sustainability

By inergency On Mar 8, 2024

2. The Innovative FOCUS Program

2.1. Goals

Education for sustainable development can succeed if it is based on the principles of transformative education and central ESD skills are taught [1]. For this reason, the InFOCUS program was developed to promote effective problem-solving skills in students and, in particular, to prompt a transformation in their thinking and actions. The objectives of the InFOCUS program can therefore be described as follows:

To create awareness that prosperity, peace, and an intact ecology are interdependent and can only be created if our ways of thinking and acting are built on the foundation of sustainable development;
To teach divergent thinking strategies and thus the ability to abandon traditional ways of thinking, enabling young people to find innovative answers to real challenges that serve sustainable development;
To develop students’ anticipatory skills and their ability to understand, evaluate, and design desirable future scenarios;
To strengthen students’ metacognitive skills, such as self-awareness, to reflect on and adapt their own thinking and actions while implementing innovative solutions;
To develop students’ cooperation skills and thus their ability to collaborate with other people in a team on a common cause, to deal with conflicts within the team, and to respond empathically to other team members;
To encourage students to recognize and strengthen their creative personality and develop high self-efficacy expectations;
To develop students’ strategic and entrepreneurial skills by working with team members to launch a project and implement actions that promote sustainability on a local and global level.

Building on these objectives, a two-stage program was developed. Figure 1 shows the most important contents of the two stages.

In Stage 1, students first learn the background of the SDGs and their importance for a peaceful and ecological future. In addition, students learn divergent thinking strategies, such as flexible thinking (see Section 2.2.1), using specially developed cognitive tasks so that they can generate unconventional ideas in the brainstorming phases of later projects by changing their perspectives. In addition, familiar creativity techniques (see Section 2.2.2) are also used at this stage to gain initial experience of creative idea generation using general and sometimes fictitious problems. During such learning phases, which all take place in teams, the students use reflection tools (see Section 2.2.3) to acquire metacognitive skills, reflect on their team competence, and learn the background to effective team processes. All these exercises prepare them for the next stage.

Stage 2 is an activity-based project lesson in which young people apply the content and skills they have learned from Stage 1 and take on a real SDG challenge. The aim here is for students to go through all the phases of a creative process and acquire strategies for planning and implementing a project (see Section 2.2.5)—from problem identification and problem definition, brainstorming, and idea selection to the development and pitching of a prototype in the best-case scenario, even up to the actual implementation of the idea.

The InFOCUS program therefore intends to have an impact on three areas: (1) a change from an entrenched, convergent way of thinking to an open, divergent way of thinking; (2) a strengthening of the creative personality based on the Inner Development Goals; and (3) the empowerment of young people to implement their own innovative ideas into concrete action through acquired strategic skills.

In the following section, the specific content of the InFOCUS program will be discussed. Next, the InFOCUS Challenge for students is described, in which young people use the acquired InFOCUS content to find and implement innovative ideas for an SDG challenge. Finally, the in-service teacher training is described, in which teachers acquire the content of the InFOCUS program to pass it on to their students.

2.2. Contents of the InFOCUS Program

A team of 15 STEM teachers and researchers from the University of Education Upper Austria have been working on the development and research of the InFOCUS program since 2010. The overall result of this development and research project was the crystallization of five content domains that are necessary for the development of essential ESD skills. These domains are represented by the acronym FOCUS: flexibility, originality, creative personality, unconscious mind, and strategies.

Each domain of the InFOCUS program includes numerous tools and reflection instruments, most of which were developed by the team at the University of Education Upper Austria. Furthermore, proven creativity techniques and strategies from innovation management were adapted and integrated into the program.

A special aspect of the InFOCUS program is the wide variety of tools developed and selected. The program can therefore be seen as a holistic arrangement, as tools are available for every phase of the innovative process and are used individually—for example, on a cognitive level, through the promotion of divergent thinking styles; on an emotional level, through the metacognition of creative personality traits; on a social level, through the promotion of team competence; and on a strategic level, through the application of specific creativity techniques.

The following list in Table 1 provides an initial overview of the tools contained in the five domains, which are then described in more detail.

2.2.1. Flexibility

In the context of real-world problem solving, the particular importance of flexibility, i.e., thinking from a variety of perspectives, is repeatedly emphasized [11,51]. In the InFOCUS program, flexibility is defined as a person’s ability to adopt different perspectives on a particular problem. Furthermore, it is the ability to generate a variety of different ideas for solving a problem. Therefore, the promotion of flexibility plays a central role in the program.

To this end, tools from the “Scientific Creativity in Practice” (SCIP; previously known as “flex-based learning”) program were selected [52] and integrated into the InFOCUS program. The SCIP program was developed by a team of teachers and researchers from the University of Education Upper Austria and is specifically designed to promote scientific creativity, with a special focus on flexible thinking and acting in STEM lessons.

Thinkflex tasks should be mentioned here as an example. These cognitive thinking tasks promote divergent thinking and thus mental flexibility. To support this, a perspective check is used, which leads the students to different perspectives and thus enables them to think in different categories. Thinkflex tasks were completed by students in both Stage 1 as preparation and Stage 2 while working on a particular challenge. An example of a Thinkflex task can be found in the Supplementary Materials (see Figure S1). A more detailed description of the SCIP program and the tools used in it can be found in the work of Haim and Aschauer [52].

2.2.2. Originality

Divergent thinking plays a crucial role in problem solving for finding original ideas [53]. It consists of the components of fluidity, flexibility, and originality. While fluidity is defined as the ability to find as many answers to a problem as possible, flexibility provides ideas from a wide variety of perspectives. Lastly, originality results from the uniqueness of a potential solution [19].

To generate original ideas, selected exercises from the SCIP program, such as “Cocktail Clusters” or “Original Stories”, were also integrated. In addition, creativity techniques that are frequently used in the field of innovation were included in the program.

The following is a brief introduction to three creativity techniques that can support the generation of original ideas:

Morphological analysis: This systematic creativity technique was developed by the Swiss astrophysicist Zwicky. The first step is to break down the task question into certain parameters that are independent of each other and write one below the other in a table. The second step is to search for all possible values of each parameter. This is the phase in which strong divergent, open thinking is required to generate as many values as possible. In the final step, individual characteristics are selected systematically or intuitively for the problem solution [54,55]. An example of a worksheet can be found in the Supplementary Materials (see Figure S2);
Impulse word/image associations: With the help of randomly selected words or images, the first step is to create associations that initially have nothing to do with the actual problem. The associations are then linked to the problem and used as inspiration for finding original ideas. Here, bisociation is used to create meaningful links between the word/image associations and the problem. This technique usually leads to the generation of original ideas and is suitable for the search for original names as well as for the further development or improvement of products or services;
Reverse brainstorming: In this technique, the problem is reversed, and solutions are sought that are initially intended to have the opposite effect. For example, solutions are sought that are intended to prevent or worsen something. This approach tricks the evaluation system, which leads to the generation of funny ideas that are far removed from expectations. The counterproductive ideas are then used as a source of inspiration and are linked to the actual problem. This technique can also be used to develop original ideas [56,57];
APIFOS: This tool, developed by the authors, is an acronym that stands for three steps: analyze product, identify weaknesses, and offer solutions. This technique makes it relatively easy to improve existing products or services. APIFOS helps uncover weaknesses that others overlook. In the first step, the product is examined carefully, analytically, and without prejudice. The second step looks for obvious problems and hidden weaknesses. In the final step of the APIFOS tool, a few weak spots are selected and various solutions are offered for them. An example of an APIFOS worksheet can be found in the Supplementary Materials (see Figure S3).

2.2.3. Creative Personality

Self-awareness competency (the ability to reflect on one’s own role in the community and continuously analyze and evaluate one’s own actions) and cooperation competence (the ability to understand the needs and actions of others and the ability to deal with conflicts) represent two of eight key competencies for sustainability [3]. The ability to work creatively is therefore largely determined by personality [58].

To strengthen creative personality traits, such as metacognition, self-efficacy, openness to new things, resilience, and perseverance, special reflection tools have been developed that are used with the students during the creative process, depending on the situation. The following is a brief description of the two selected reflection tools:

Shorty & Flexy: This tool was developed for the metacognition of one’s way of thinking. It helps students analyze their generated ideas and thoughts. It uses the analogy of the brain as a library where the books represent all our knowledge and experiences, and the thinking processes are represented by two imaginary actors, Shorty, and Flexy. In this analogy, Shorty represents a comfortable character who is quick to offer routine solutions. Flexy represents a character who loves to change perspectives to produce creative ideas and break out of the expected framework, thus representing original thinking. More details on the reflection tools can be found in the work of Haim and Aschauer [52].
Mission: Possible: This is a self-developed set of cards that helps young people reflect on the entire creative process from brainstorming to the final presentation of the results on a metacognitive level. The cards are used to formulate visions, describe the course of the project, reduce doubts and tensions in the team, increase diminishing motivation, reflect on team processes, and recognize team successes. This set of cards is closely linked to the Inner Development Goals and is used to highlight weaknesses or problems, as well as strengths and successes. One of the 65 cards is shown in the Supplementary Materials (see Figure S4).

2.2.4. Unconscious Mind

A meta-analytical review of 37 studies on the effect of mindfulness interventions on students’ creative performance found a positive effect between mindfulness and creativity [59]. Henriksen et al. [60] also found evidence of a positive link between mindfulness and creative performance. Researchers agree that mindfulness interventions can improve cognitive processes, such as executive control (e.g., attention, working memory, and emotion regulation). Beaty et al. [61,62] showed that cognitive switching between the executive control network (ECN) for idea evaluation and the default mode network (DMN) for idea generation enables an improved ability for divergent thinking.

For this reason, mindfulness exercises were included in the InFOCUS program to increase students’ performance in creative idea generation. These include synchronized movements with hands and legs, juggling, meditative sessions, and simple exercises from Qigong.

2.2.5. Strategies

The InFOCUS program includes a collection of recognized strategies that are frequently used in the field of innovation management. These strategies guide students from problem identification and definition through idea generation and the selection of suitable, innovative ideas to the development of a prototype. For example, the design-thinking (DT) method is an active learning methodology with an iterative design process that encourages individuals to empathize with the users of a product or service and work in teams to find creative solutions. DT contributes to the promotion of cross-cutting skills in education, such as critical and creative thinking, leadership skills, cooperation skills, project management, and presentation skills, among others.

To fully utilize the potential of the DT method, a divergent mindset of the users is a prerequisite. Since not everyone has this mindset, building a design-thinking mentality is of great importance [63]. For this reason, the promotion of flexibility and originality is central to this program.

2.3. The InFOCUS Challenge for Students

For young people to become successful agents of change, it is not enough for them to simply develop an awareness of sustainability; they must also be able to apply the knowledge they have acquired about sustainability to real-life challenges [46]. Creative personality traits can develop when successes and failures have been experienced and properly processed.

For this reason, the Academy of Creativity and Innovation (ACI) at the University of Education Upper Austria has been organizing its own challenges since 2020. Secondary 1 and 2 students, whose teachers participate in the InFOCUS teacher training program, take part in the challenge, and face a real-life challenge in the context of the SDGs.

To complete the challenge, students work in a variety of formats, depending on the school. The student teams either work in specially created courses or as part of a suitable subject. Depending on the framework conditions, the students work on the challenge for a few weeks, a semester, or an entire school year. Regardless of the length of time the student teams spend on the challenge, the process can be divided into five phases: (1) problem finding, (2) generating creative ideas, (3) creating prototypes, (4) pitching the results and their prototypes, and (5) realizing a prototype (optional). The individual phases are described in detail below.

(1): Problem finding: During the challenge, the students work in teams and either define the challenge themselves or choose a problem from a pool provided by the ACI. All problems must be formulated in such a way that they meet three criteria: (1) context relevant to the SDGs, (2) prospect of original solutions, and (3) feasibility of implementation;
(2): Generating creative ideas: The student teams work on innovative solutions to their problems as part of internal school courses. They are accompanied and supported by their teachers, who take on the role of process facilitators and use the appropriate techniques that they have learned in the teacher training courses as required;
(3): Creating prototypes: The goal of the challenge is to create a conceptual prototype that is developed as part of a typical design-thinking process;
(4): Presentations of the prototypes: To make their achievements visible, the teams first present their results at their own school during the World Creativity and Innovation Week organized by the United Nations. This event takes place annually on 15–21 April. The grand final presentation of all the developed prototypes is a pitch as part of a final event for the teachers who took part in the InFOCUS teacher training;
(5): Realization of a prototype: The maximum implementation of the challenge is the realization of the project ideas. The school teams are trained in classic entrepreneurship strategies, which include drawing up a cost and financing plan and finding stakeholders.

Some example projects from the InFOCUS challenges from the years 2021 and 2022 are presented in the Results section (Section 4.4).

2.4. In-Service Teacher Training Program

To enable students to learn the techniques of the InFOCUS program, teachers are trained and supported in a special one-year training program.

Like the InFocus program, teacher training is divided into two stages, with each stage lasting one semester. Stage 1 begins with the kick-off, which is a three-day face-to-face meeting in which the teachers are familiarized with the content of the first stage of the InFOCUS program (see Section 2.1) by means of presentations and workshops.

After the kick-off, the teachers apply the acquired InFOCUS techniques to their student teams at their school. For this purpose, they work with elaborated worksheets on fictitious, general problems over three months. This allows the teachers to gain valuable experience in using the techniques while their students learn basic skills for creative problem solving.

To support the teachers in their work with the student teams, online reflections take place every six weeks, in which the participants report on their experiences and problems when using the InFOCUS techniques.

At the beginning of the second semester, Stage 2 of the program starts for both teachers and students. There is another three-day face-to-face meeting for teachers where they learn further techniques and content from the second stage of the program. The focus here is on project management, the effective supervision of student teams, and the basics of organizing a professional pitch.

Back at school, the teachers and their students now choose a real-life SDG challenge to tackle and solve. Under the guidance of their teachers, the students apply the InFOCUS techniques they have learned and develop original solutions. The final step in this second phase is the development of a prototype, which they present to all participants in the training program at a final event. A detailed description of the challenge process can be found in Section 2.4.

Online meetings between the teachers and their supervisors from the training team also take place regularly in this second stage, approximately every six weeks, to support them in their work with the students. The detailed procedure and its contents are shown in Table 2.

Within a duration of nine months (approximately 50 contact hours) of a high practical component and the integrated co-learning mode, the course fulfills important criteria for effective ESD training [37,41,44].

5. Discussion

For young people to become agents of change and active advocates of sustainable development, innovative teaching concepts and the development of specific teacher competences are required [47].

For this reason, the InFOCUS program was developed at the University of Education Upper Austria to promote transformative teaching, entrepreneurial education, and 21st-century skills. The InFOCUS program promotes creativity and innovation in secondary school students through course materials based on the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The acronym FOCUS stands for flexibility, originality, creative personality, unconscious thinking, and strategies. Each area of the program represents essential elements of innovative problem solving and includes numerous tools and reflection instruments designed to support students in each area. Due to the wide variety of tools developed, selected, and available to students for every phrase of the innovation process, the program can be seen as a holistic arrangement: on a cognitive level, through the promotion of divergent thinking styles; on an emotional level, through metacognition of creative personality traits; on a social level, through the promotion of team competence; and on a strategic level, through the application of specific creativity techniques.

To enable students to learn InFOCUS techniques, teachers are trained and supported in a special one-year training program. In the first semester, teachers learn techniques from the InFOCUS program and pass them on to their students so that they can acquire basic skills for creative problem solving. In the second semester, teachers learn techniques for implementing a challenge-based learning approach in their lessons. This provides teachers with important skills to guide and mentor their teams of students during a challenge. In this InFOCUS challenge, the student teams are tasked with selecting a real-world problem related to the SDGs, developing innovative ideas to solve it, and creating a conceptual prototype using a design-thinking process.

This study examined the effectiveness of the program on 64 student teams from 19 secondary schools. It demonstrated the effectiveness of the InFOCUS program on several levels. At the teacher level, the results show that the teachers rated the tools taught as highly effective. Design thinking proved to be very helpful for teachers in terms of project management. In terms of promoting flexibility and originality, the Thinkflex, Morphological Analysis, and APIFOS tools achieved high levels of approval among teachers, with an average rating of over 4 on a 5-point Likert scale.

At the pupil level, the results showed that participation in the project was rated as highly motivating. This was the case for all three sub-levels, such as interest and enjoyment, perceived competence and effort, and importance. The high number of successfully implemented prototypes was impressive, as 62 out of 64 teams succeeded in developing a prototype and presenting it at the closing event.

The results regarding the time units spent on the entire program were interesting. The teams used an average of 5.5 teaching units for the first stage of the program—to teach the SDGs, getting to know the techniques, and for general training in divergent thinking. The 62 teams required an average of 29 teaching units for the second stage of the program—to work on a specific project as part of the challenge, from brainstorming to developing a prototype.

These results provide positive indications regarding feasibility at the classroom level and motivation at the student team level. The study of the InFOCUS program provides valuable insights for teachers and educational institutions alike. The results show that redesigning the curriculum toward more creativity and problem solving is not only feasible but also effective in preparing students for the challenges of the 21st century. It was shown that this activity-based and creativity-enhancing instructional program serves to promote education for sustainable development. This work adds to the literature by providing a practical approach to promoting key ESD skills in the classroom, similar to that discussed in other work on ESD [1,2].

As promising as the initial results are, certain limitations must be considered. In this study, only the successful creation of a prototype served as an indicator of effectiveness. How successfully these prototypes could be realized was not recorded in the study. Furthermore, the study was not conducted in a classic intervention design with control and intervention groups, which limits the significance of its effectiveness. It must be mentioned that the results do not allow any predictions to be made about the effectiveness of the individual techniques of the InFOCUS program.

Therefore, further research could focus on evaluating the effectiveness of each individual tool. For example, it would be interesting to determine which tools have the greatest impact on promoting ESD skills. In addition, future studies could investigate the extent to which divergent thinking and creative problem-solving skills change. In a study by Zhi Yang et al. [65], the self-assessment of innovative ability and creativity in nurses improved as a result of participation in a challenge-based learning course. It would also be interesting to conduct research that focuses on the long-term effects of the program on students’ careers. In addition, the student teams should also be supervised and researched during the period after the challenge, during which they realize the prototype. Even if the InFOCUS program contributes to the development of specific ESD competences, a longer-term program is more beneficial for the holistic development of sustainability [66].

In the future, the ACI will also consider offering specific problems for the InFOCUS Challenge on which several student teams from different schools can work. This would enable and promote cooperation and exchange between students from different locations, which, in turn, would increase motivation and creative performance.

Because the InFOCUS program has also integrated elements of the SCIP program, which was developed specifically to promote scientific creativity, the aim is to train STEM teachers through the in-service training program and to research its impact on STEM teaching. With regard to the effectiveness of the program, gender-specific or age-related factors should also be investigated.

Furthermore, it would be interesting to investigate how the InFOCUS program can be implemented and adapted in different cultural and educational contexts. To this end, the authors are considering the development of a curriculum for an on-demand training program for teachers and students. Thus, following a proposal by Shu et al. [50], a curriculum could be developed whose main value is sustainable human development and transforming students from “thinkers to creative doers”.

This work makes an important contribution to promoting creativity and innovation in schools in the context of Education for Sustainable Development. Through the development and creation of numerous teaching techniques and reflection tools, the program can be easily integrated into the classroom and serves as an ideal guide for leading and supporting student teams throughout the creative process. Thus, the InFOCUS program offers a promising practical approach that contributes to the further development of education for sustainable development.