Seventy-five participants from one suburban high school formed 21 teams with 3-4 members each for the Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI). Students were selected to participate in either the regular FPSPI or an enhanced FPSPI, where multiple group training activities grounded in problem-solving style were incorporated into a…

We identify five reasons why it is important for at-risk students to learn and be able to apply Creative Problem Solving (CPS). CPS builds on both creative and critical thinking (in harmony with each other). The CPS Version 6.1™ framework incorporates guidelines and specific tools for generating ideas ("creative" thinking) and focusing…

Let us suppose that schools are, or might strive to become, places in which educators work collaboratively with parents and the wider community to recognize, nurture, and celebrate the strengths and talents in all people (cf., McCluskey, Treffinger, & Baker, 1995). Based on such a vision for education, this article describes a practical model…

E. Paul Torrance, a pioneer in creative education, and his associates founded the Future Problem Solving Program (now FPSPI, or Future Problem Solving Program International) in the mid-1970s as a competitive, interscholastic program and as a curriculum project integrating creative problem-solving and future studies. Since its founding, the program…

Today, more than ever before, we must all be able to think creatively, manage change, and solve complex, open-ended problems. Education today is different in its structure and practice than it was in any previous generation, not just because of the impact of technology and the Internet, but also because, across the lifespan, every person studies,…

Back in the early 1990s, three Manitoba School districts launched the "Lost Prizes" project to reclaim talented, at-risk high-school dropouts. Despite their unique gifts, these relationship-resistant youth were disenchanted, disillusioned, and disconnected. Many had major substance abuse problems and were engaged in serious criminal…

More than five decades of research and development have focused on making the Creative Problem Solving process and tools accessible across a wide range of ages and contexts. Recent evidence indicates that when individuals, in both school and corporate settings, understand their own style of problem solving, they are able to learn and apply process…

This report investigates improvement of pupils' creative thinking and problem-solving abilities through direct educational efforts. The sample consisted of 739 pupils and their teachers from 36 fifth grade classes in two Indiana public school systems. Five sub-tests from the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were administered to all teachers to…

The purpose of this paper was to present specific instructional objectives and learning hierarchies, which are diagrams of the organization of the skills and prerequisite accomplishments involved in a more complex, general learning outcome, that were developed for a creative problem-solving course. (Author/RK)

This article presents a summary of research, development, and applications of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) in educational settings and, more specifically, in gifted education. The CPS framework is widely known and applied as one important goal in contemporary gifted education, as well as in relation to initiatives for "teaching thinking" in the…

Creative problem solving (CPS) can be an effective tool in teaching gifted, creative, and talented students. One approach to CPS consists of five steps: fact finding, problem finding, idea finding, solution finding, and acceptance finding. Process techniques for each step are delineated. (CL)

The effectiveness of the Productive Thinking Program in developing creative thinking and problem solving abilities among 370 pupils in grades four through seven was examined. An exploratory investigation of the program's instructional content was also undertaken. At all four grade levels studied, instructed pupils' scores on Covington's Childhood…