Creative arts programing for gifted and talented elementary students has incorporated academics (ecology, mathematics, history, genealogy, computer science, and independent research) into activities such as puppetry, creative drama, storytelling, dance, music, pottery, and poetry. The arts classes have been popular with students, parents,…

One hundred fifty-six gifted elementary students (grades 3 through 6) responded to the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory on a pre- and posttest basis during a 3 week, 45 hour College for Kids program, designed as an enrichment program with focus on critical thinking, problem solving, inquiry, research, and questioning. Thirty students responded to…

Development of problem-solving and creative thinking ability was examined through administration of experimental tasks to 240 gifted children (grade 2 to grade 6). Different patterns of development were noted: problem-solving skills grew steadily from grade 2 through grade 6; while creative thinking increased from grade 2 through grade 4, with no…

This paper examines the nature of creativity and the nourishing of children's creativity. One definition of creativity focuses on two of its aspects, of novelty and usefulness. Other definitions that stress one or the other of these aspects are discussed. According to M. Rhoades (1961), the four components of creativity are: (1) people--their…

This paper recommends that poetry rather than other literary forms be used to teach creative reading and writing to young children. The advantages of using poetry are described as follows: inhibitions are overcome quickly; opportunities for a wider range and more complex level of student achievement are created; high quality pieces of writing are…

Research relating to the relationship between hemispheric specialization and creativity is explored with particular emphasis on implications for elementary education. Physiological and psychological evidence is examined for the construct that hemispheric specialization means that the two hemispheres of the human brain are specialized for different…

This series of studies focused on Bulgarian school effects on children's creative development. The studies were based on the premise that one of the most powerful ways in which a culture encourages or discourages creativity is the way in which teachers and the school reward or punish certain personality characteristics as they develop in children…

Literary gaps were identified by Wolfgang Iser in 1974 as "vacant pages" that invite the reader to reflect and enter into the text thereby motivating students to experience the text as reality. Arthur Applebee, in 1979, identified three categories to distinguish children's types of interaction with stories: (1) the complexity of literary…

The internationally accepted definition of gifted children includes a range of factors that contribute to giftedness, but makes no mention of the child's motivation, capacity for self-initiation, or ability to work independently. Using the current definition, schools and teachers remain bound to gifted identification based on academic achievement…

In order to assess the effect of relaxation training and imagination exercises on the creativity of elementary-age students, 94 children in first through fourth grades were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group. Prior to the treatment, all students were pretested on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Children in the…

The music, art, and physical education areas can lay the groundwork for the basic skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic. For example, music instruction develops receptive, auditory, visual, emotional, and mathematical areas. Art instruction emphasizes eye-hand coordination, creativity, concentration, spatial relationships, planning, and…

The effects of the self-instructional use of programed creativity materials was investigated with 648 regular and intellectually gifted fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students, using the Purdue Creativity Training Program (PCTP), and with the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as a measurement. In general, the results indicated that the…

This paper presents a study which tested 38 boys and 38 girls from grades 3-5 and 6-8 in both sex role identification and creativity. The study was conducted to determine whether past findings which indicate a relationship between low sex role identification and creativity were a function of the scales used in the experiment or of a developmental…

This study explored teacher perceptions toward giftedness among rural children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, before and after staff development. The study also explored the influence of staff development on teacher-designed instructional strategies to nurture giftedness. Five teachers at a K-4 school in rural Arkansas participated…

Stressing language development as the prime component of all learning, this resource book presents suggestions to teachers to aid them in developing children's descriptive language. Basic to the described activities is the concept that vocabulary development is essentially concept development, requires a variety of experiences, and results from…