Can We Use Creativity to Improve Generic Skills in Our Higher Education Students? A Proposal Based on Non-Verbal Communication and Creative Movement.

Abstract

Traditionally, general skills and personal growth have been developed through cognitive processes within academic contexts. Development based on experience may be an alternative route to achieve cognitive knowledge. Enact-learning is based on the biunivocal relationship between knowledge and action. Action is movement. Participants interact with their environment through movement. When participants are aware of this interaction, knowledge is created. First interactions in personal development with the environment are non-verbal. Returning to this concept, we propose work based on creative movement and non- verbal communication. This approach takes into account the multiple intelligences paradigm in order to generate knowledge. This paper seeks to explain a movement development program that has been applied to freshman students studying in different academic areas. The program design is explained in detail. The article demonstrates how the program has helped to develop the participants' body consciousness. The students' reflections are analyzed using a qualitative methodology. A questionnaire focused on the students' perceptions of the connections between general skills and the program rounds out the research results.