Bibliometric Mapping of Research on Thinking Skills and Creativity in Education

Abstract

The present study is undertaken to investigate research towards thinking skills and creativity in the field of education by utilizing the bibliometric mapping method. The metadata of a total of 326 studies completed between the years 1975-2021 retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) database constitute the scope of the study. In this context, the program VOSViewer was used to reveal the most used keywords and common citations. The findings present a systematic map demonstrating the increasing interest in thinking skills and creativity in education. The findings demonstrate that the majority of the studies consist of papers and articles of Indonesian, Chinese, and American origin written in English. In addition, the results highlight that the number of studies in the relevant field increased rapidly between 2012 and 2021. King Abdulaziz University and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have been identified as the leading educational institutions in terms of thinking skills and creativity in education. The results of the current study appeal not only to the academic community but also to educators and politicians to strengthen the spirit of thinking skills and creativity in education, design effective policy tools, and ultimately improve social well-being. In addition, it was observed that the academics who conducted research in this field explained the theme of thinking skills and creativity by associating it with various teaching processes and technology-supported elements at different levels of education. Therefore, it is predicted that our study will contribute to the field of thinking skills and creativity in education as a guide.