This article conducts a systematic review of the literature, which seeks to present opportunities and trends in fostering creativity in science and engineering. The literature review is based on four phases: to identify eligible articles, screen and classify the selected documents, analyse the content and the citations, and report the findings and scopes for future research. To facilitate the topic's comprehension, the authors also include a theoretical background that centres on creativity models and theories. Finally, the authors present a classification of contributions into two groups related to 1) the practices for promoting creativity in science and engineering and 2) research trends in fostering creativity in these areas. Results show that creativity is a crucial skill for science and engineering professionals and an essential ability in the design process, especially to achieve innovative and potential impacts for humanity's well-being. Likewise, the authors observe how teachers, researchers, students, and organisations of professionals agree on the need to foster creativity from education, reflecting on the growth of the contributions oriented to this goal. Mixing knowledge areas, using problems and projects, and promoting skills like group learning, problem-solving, project management, autonomy, and idea generation are some characteristics of new proposals.

This paper introduces the design and development of control system courses in an undergraduate program by using Project-Based Learning (PBL) when the curriculum uses Traditional Education. The paper presents a complete outline of control courses that takes into account the problem definition, project duration, support resources and student evaluation. In this approach, students are organized into teams to develop a project seeking to find the solution to a control problem. The approach is devoted to placing a professional challenge into the course, so students learn the topics while they solve the problem, and develop the transversal skills needed to face the new challenges of control. The approach uses the peer-assessment and self-assessment activities to evaluate abilities, knowledge, and observe the development of transversal skills. The impact of the proposed approach is evaluated by using a survey and observing the student performance. Aspects about the survey design and survey results are presented analyzing the contribution of the proposed approach to develop skills like teamwork, self-learning, problem solving and communication abilities.

Contribution: This research presents a project-based learning (PBL) approach for fostering creativity in first-year students with differential characteristics in the course execution. The first course considered remote teaching during a pandemic period; the second one used 50% of the weeks with remote teaching and the rest with face-to-face interaction. Background: Fostering creativity has become a significant challenge for engineering education. This work focuses on harmonizing a creativity framework and a PBL approach (PBL $+$ C) as an alternative to motivate creative thinking. Intended Outcomes: The PBL $+$ C approach can improve first-year engineering students’ creativity and innovation skills and learning outcomes. Application Design: In the intervention, the project execution considers the creative process and its phases. Likewise, it takes all elements of an aligned curriculum model, such as teaching and learning activities, types of problems, project progression, support resources, creative tools, learning environments, facilitation strategies, and student assessment and course evaluation. Regarding the last elements, researchers define an assessing protocol, which involves pre-and post-tests, participant observation, analysis of student portfolios for monitoring the work progress, and specific questionnaires on variables related to the curricular design. Findings: Evidence collected shows an increase in creativity factors, such as fluency and flexibility, which are critical aspects of the “Person” element of the creative process. Likewise, the modality of the course (remote or in-person) influences the conditions for its development. For example, in the mixed course, researchers found that students had more interaction with each other, which is reflected in better elaborated solutions than in the remote teaching course.

This article presents how Problem- and Project-Based Learning (PBL) in engineering education can exploit the theoretical framework of the Space–Time (ST)-Continuum, according to which educational contexts can be classified in terms of the tightness vs. looseness of the relevant conceptual space S and available time T. By crossing these two dimensions, four quadrants are obtained in the ST-Continuum: tight space and tight time, loose space and tight time, tight space and loose time, loose space and loose time. Different pedagogies are adaptive to different quadrants. We show how PBL can be mapped onto the ST-Continuum depending on the context characteristics or the chosen problem or project. Further, this article discusses how the intelligence and creativity constructs can be developed through diverse educational scenarios, giving examples of PBL interventions that can be located in different quadrants. Moreover, the analysis shows how through suitable planning, it is possible to have educational activities that consider all the quadrants of the ST-Continuum, even in traditional education curricula or teacher-centered approaches. Finally, the article discusses how teaching practices can promote intelligence and creativity in the curricula at different PBL organisational levels depending on their relationship with the ST-Continuum.

Engineering education prepares graduates to face complex environmental and societal challenges. This involves the intersection of sustainability and innovation. Integrating these agendas is therefore necessary, and this involves identifying specific elements that have not yet been explored. To examine this relationship, a systematic literature review was conducted using an adapted PRISMA 2020 approach appropriate for a bibliometric and thematic systematic review, through four research questions related to knowledge production, pedagogical methods, innovation outcomes, and reported results. The PRISMA phases were adopted using the SCOPUS and ERIC databases. This yielded three clusters: innovation, sustainability, and engineering education. Student-centered pedagogies have also been identified as an explored opportunity to enhance innovation skills aligned with sustainability objectives. However, this incorporation involves many elements to explore, including the connection between innovation outcomes and sustainability impact. This context involves both development and the relationships among individuals, institutions, and ecosystems. This requires managing diverse visions, languages, and cultures, which highlights several challenges: long-term impacts, mindset development, contextual influences, pedagogical strategies, research–practice alignment, stakeholder communication, and faculty preparation. Overall, the findings show progress but reveal challenges across approaches and contexts. This is because sustainability-driven innovation in engineering education requires coordinated curricular, institutional, and ecosystem-oriented strategies to support learning and strengthen contributions to sustainable futures.