Bodily expression and creative thinking: an experience in a second primary class

Numerous European documents (European Commission, 2018; EACEA P9 Eurydice, 2009; OECD, 2019) emphasise the importance of guiding children to engage in expressive, motor and artistic fields and reiterate the need to promote education for artistic-motor expression in the school context as an element through which to stimulate divergent thinking and creativity in a general sense. An exploratory intervention research in a second primary school class aimed to propose experiences of creative movement, bodily expression, and improvisation through which to guide the child to the freedom of expression of the creative self in order to understand the possible relationship between movement (as dance) and creativity (Bournelli & Mountakis, 2008; Pürgstaller & Neuber, 2019). In particular, we will discuss the correlation between creative acting and creative thinking and foster the enhancement of some of the eight creativity factors to improve school well-being and trust in peers. Apparent increases in divergent thinking (+18.39%) and creativity (+8.59%) emerged in boys and girls, especially in flexibility, elaboration, and titles, as well as an improvement in scholastic well-being and trust toward peers.