How do students generate ideas together in scientific creativity tasks through computer-based mind mapping?

Creativity is widely described as a key ‘21st Century skill’. Science education in schools has emphasized the development of science inquiry and problem-solving skills with the support of technology, and paid insufficient attention to creative thinking skills for producing innovative ideas or solutions. This paper presents an exploratory study aiming to investigate how secondary school students engage in scientific creativity tasks with the support of technology, in particular how they generate ideas in small groups via applying relevant thinking strategies, engaging in social communication, and constructing a computer-based mind map to facilitate group thinking. The participants were 24 Grade 11 students from a high school, who worked on a set of scientific creativity tasks in 6 groups. Epistemic network analysis of group conversations reveals that constructing a mind map helped students to retain ideas for elaboration and evaluation, stimulate new threads of discussion, and regulate task progression. Compared to low-performing groups, high-performing groups engaged more in divergent thinking, mind mapping, and regulative discussions, in addition to making these activities more closely connected with idea generation. These findings have implications for the design of technology-supported educational interventions intended to promote and improve group creativity in science education.