Innovative AI Systems for Nurturing and Assessing Creativity in K-12 Learning Environments

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $898,326 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Creative thinking is fundamental to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) success, yet current methods for assessing and nurturing student creativity are costly, time-intensive, and often inaccessible to under-resourced schools. This project addresses this critical national need by developing artificial intelligence-powered tools to make creativity assessment and mentoring both scalable and broadly accessible in K-12 education. The research team will create and evaluate two interconnected systems that evaluate student creative output and provide real-time guidance during problem-solving activities. By making these tools freely available on the web, the project will enable educators nationwide to systematically monitor and enhance student creativity. As artificial intelligence increasingly becomes part of professional creative work, the products from this work will also prepare students for a transformed future where human-machine collaboration in creative tasks will be commonplace. The project will develop two core artificial intelligence systems. The first, Ocsai Prime, represents a task-agnostic creativity assessment model that uses supervised fine-tuning to evaluate both originality and appropriateness across diverse creative challenges, moving beyond current tools that are limited to specific tasks. The second, Creativity Companion, employs reinforcement learning with human feedback to create an interactive facilitation tool that guides students thro

Key facts

NSF award ID
2507129
Awardee
University of Denver (CO)
SAM.gov UEI
WCUGNQQ8DZU1
PI
Peter Organisciak
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
AI-Supported Learning
Estimated total
$898,326
Funds obligated
$898,326
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
09/15/2025 → 08/31/2028