Nature Versus Nurture: Examining Engineering Classrooms and Their Effectiveness in Fostering Student Perception of Creative Climate

Engineering companies are increasingly placing more value on creativity and innovation as they are the key to solving wicked problems. However, engineers often avoid taking the risks that are necessary for innovation to occur due to the uncertainty associated with creative ideas. As design researchers and educators, it is crucial that we identify ways to foster creativity and innovation in engineering education. This study makes a first attempt at examining this area by investigating the factors influencing creative climate formation as examined through student perception. It does so by exploring the relationship between various environmental factors and the student's perception of the creative climate in their classrooms. The results of this work show that creative climate formation as examined through student perception can be influenced by environmental factors such as course level, curriculum structure, and instructor risk-taking preferences. These findings identified the impact of these initial factors that can influence the establishment of a creative climate in engineering classrooms as measured through student perception and can make researchers and educators aware of these when they seek to establish a creative climate in their organization. It also points to areas of future investigation in this area that can help to fill this gap in research further.