Expanding Creativity Evaluation: Mapping Cognitive Flexibility and Fixation in PISA Assessments

ABSTRACT In a fast‐changing world, overcoming cognitive rigidity is critical to generating creative solutions to complex challenges. Cognitive flexibility plays a crucial role in creative problem‐solving by enabling individuals to shift between thought processes, inhibit usual responses, and explore alternative solutions. However, the measurement of flexibility and originality in international assessments such as PISA remains challenging due to cultural variations. Thus, this manuscript highlights the limitations of traditional measures, which fail to account for cross‐cultural differences and highlight that a qualitative perspective is essential to better understand flexibility and rigidity (i.e., fixation effects) in creativity. To address these limitations, we introduce a solution‐mapping framework based on Concept‐Knowledge theory, which enables the identification of fixation patterns and alternative exploration pathways. This approach provides a structured and scalable method for analyzing creative solutions across different cultural contexts. The C‐K mapping tool is one of the instruments used in the OECD's re‐scoring project. However, the theoretical framework underlying its development and its relationship to cognitive models of creativity has received little explicit discussion. Clarifying this framework is the primary objective of the present manuscript. This methodology offers new insights into cross‐cultural problem‐solving strategies, helping to enhance global creativity assessment in educational contexts.