**6. Discussion**

The findings from the current study provided insight into creativity and meaningful learning through introducing the MC model of meaningful and creative learning. It investigated the impact of applying five characteristics of meaningful learning, namely, constructive, active, intentional, cooperative, and authentic learning on developing creative thinking skills of fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and originality. The posttest scores of participants in the treatment group indicated significant differences in creative thinking skills compared to the posttest scores of students in the control group who received no training intervention. The findings from qualitative data of task observation and students' interviews further supported the study's result. The findings suggested that teachers' incorporating creative and meaningful learning had a positive impact on developing students' creativity.

The results were consistent with earlier research studies [22, 24, 26, 28, 30], which indicated positive impacts of meaningful learning on fostering creativity. Furthermore, the findings in the present study demonstrated significant gains in a wide range of creative thinking skills of fluency, flexibility, and elaboration compared to previous studies. I would like to argue that the gains indicated in the present study could be due to the study sample, the length of intervention, and the research setting. The study was carried out in students' familiar settings and learning was delivered by their teachers and not by stranger researchers. Considering the participants' young age, a familiar instructor and a familiar setting might have been effective in developing creativity.

Furthermore, the teacher training intervention provided in this study was a detailed instructive program, which was closely supervised by the researcher. The aim was to avoid vague and general instruction guidelines, being executed in one intensive workshop. In the present study, teachers attended the workshops according to a timeline, which ensured their mastering of the skills. Teachers were supervised and follow-up meetings were conducted. In addition, the study lasted for a prolonged period of 15 weeks. The aim was to avoid pressure on both teachers and students. This might have had a positive effect on developing creative thinking skills.

On the other hand, the present study had some limitations. The study used a random sample of female students from middle socioeconomic backgrounds. Conducting research with larger and randomized samples consisting of both genders, and from different socioeconomic backgrounds may yield more valid findings in future studies.

Moreover, the current study applied quantitative and qualitative approaches. Adopting other mixed methods of data collection, such as case study, may provide further information regarding how meaningful learning enhances creativity in children.

In addition, the classroom context of the present study did not provide a controlled laboratory setting. However, the setting in the present study might have been more advantageous in encouraging teachers to consider incorporating various features of meaningful and creative learning in curricula in their classroom contexts.
