Problem Solving and Creativity

The Relationship between Understanding Conflict and Students' Creativity

In the classroom, the products of students' creativity are their new ideas. The differing opinions on knowledge understanding between teacher and student induce understanding conflict. Understanding conflict emerges as a consequence of differences in cognition and knowledge background, but the difference may help students bring new perspectives to the class. Throughout the discussion on various points of view and ideas, based on understanding conflict, students may come up with fresh solutions to the problem. Understanding conflict can also provide students a deeper understanding of knowledge during the discussion, which enables more opinions to be shared and promotes information exchange. The right or wrong of the objection is not important; the behavior of asking questions is critical thinking, which can improve students' creativity. Therefore, we propose Hypothesis 1.

Hypothesis 1. In the classroom, teacher–student understanding conflict is positively correlated with students' creativity.

The Relationship between Process Conflict and Students' Creativity

In addition to understanding conflict, incompatibilities or differences in learning styles and teaching styles also induce conflict: process conflict. Students' learning style is how they receive and process knowledge in learning situations. Learning styles have been categorized in various ways; for example, Kolb's model focuses on how knowledge is grasped, and Labib et al. focus on visual and auditory perception. As for the teaching style, it reflects teachers' attitudes toward philosophy, beliefs, and values between their teaching and practice. The teaching style is shaped by teachers' personal teaching experience, educational background, and cultural background. Previous studies have shown that well-matched teaching and learning styles are effective in transferring knowledge to students. Additionally, the researchers have offered recommendations on what teaching styles are appropriate for certain learning styles.

However, a mismatched teaching and learning style is not always detrimental for the class.Teachers and students communicate in the classroom based on the interaction of their teaching styles and learning styles. Because the interactions are constantly changing and cannot be easily controlled, both the teaching style and learning style are not easy to perfectly match. Therefore, it is challenging to find a combination of teaching and learning styles that is effective during the whole process of one class. Furthermore, even if the learning and teaching styles are initially well-matched, this state may not always persist. As a result, it is time to consider whether matching them is worthwhile.

Process conflict may be effective in this regard. We propose that unmatched teaching and learning styles can enhance students' creativity. For example, the teacher chooses to demonstrate knowledge through theory, while the student expects a case study. Process conflict provides a chance for both teachers and students to explore the rationale for their style choices, which helps them understand each other's requirements. In this way, process conflict may lead to their style adaptation or the creation of new teaching styles or learning styles.

In contrast, in a classroom with less process conflict, students are more likely to be required to fit an established teaching style. In such cases, teachers may strictly adhere to their planned teaching style until the class ends. They may not consider students' feedback, answer students' objections, or allow students to ask challenging questions. The creation of students' new learning styles is impeded.

Based on these discussions, we propose Hypothesis 2.

Hypothesis 2. In the classroom, teacher–student process conflict is positively correlated with students' creativity.

The Relationship between Relationship Conflict and Students' Creativity

Differences in personalities and values can induce relationship conflict. Relationship conflict is related to interpersonal tension, which induces jealousy, worry, or anger. Hostile or rebellious feelings between teachers and students reduce students' involvement in the classroom. In such cases, both the teacher and the student are likely to focus on each other as adversaries rather than on solving knowledge problems.

Relationship conflict can trigger two types of extreme behaviors: overreaction and excessive silence. Firstly, Myers & Cowie concluded that overreactions would interfere with classes. Teachers' aggressive behaviors, for example, interrupting students' talking, ignoring their questions, and ridiculing them, might impede the teaching process and inhibit the achievement of the teaching purpose. In addition, the overreaction of students, such as threats and personal attacks, also disrupts the class, which decreases the effectiveness of teaching and reduces other students' learning opportunities.

Secondly, excessive silence resulting from relationship conflict is detrimental to students' creativity. Excessive silence manifests as non-response and evasion in the face of teachers' questions. Even if they are interested in the teacher's question, students choose not to participate in the class process.

Based on the literature, we propose Hypothesis 3.

Hypothesis 3. In the classroom, teacher–student relationship conflict is negatively correlated with students' creativity.