The Impact of Visual Art-Based Educational Interventions on Creativity: Α Meta-Analysis

This study systematically reviews and meta-analyzes the published intervention studies aimed to enhance creativity in education through visual art teaching. The main research question concerns the effectiveness of educational programs that use the teaching of visual arts to enhance creativity. In addition, the meta-analysis aims to examine whether: the chronology of the selected studies, the age of the participants, the art forms used in the interventions (visual only vs visual mixed with other art forms), and the total duration, are related to the effectiveness of the programs. The present meta-analysis study synthesized effect sizes obtained from 22 different studies, which concerned either interventions exclusively with visual arts or interventions in which visual arts were combined with other art forms. The results confirm the existing literature, arguing that engaging in the visual arts could act as an effective means of fostering creativity at all levels of education since a moderate statistically significant pooled effect size was found. Only the duration of the interventions was found to have a significant negative impact on effect sizes, while the effectiveness of the programs was not significantly affected by the other three potential moderators. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.