Creativity is sometimes seen as irrelevant to educational practice. With an increased focus on standardized test scores, creative teachers and those who encourage creativity in the classroom often are accused of being idealists or missing the big picture. But the authors believe instead that creativity brings valuable benefits to the classroom. In…

The main emphasis of this investigation was to study the relationship of three cognitive styles (response tempo, response style and response ambiguity) of problem solving. A sample of 288 junior high school students participated in the study to ascertain the degree to which each cognitive style contributes to creative problem solving. The…

Research related to two uses of tests of creativity in mathematics is reviewed. The use of tests to predict creativity is discussed, as well as testing to determine the outcomes of discovery learning experiences. (SD)

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of classroom activities to enhance children's imaginations could improve their creative abilities. Subjects included 25 fifth-grade students in the Grand Forks, North Dakota, school district. Students were given the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and were provided with materials designed…

To compile a list of activities and achievements considered as creative by laymen, 239 graduate and undergraduate students named their three most creative accomplishments and activities in each of six areas: mathematics and science; music; fine arts; performing arts; literature; and miscellaneous. This resulted in a 198-item list, which was rated…

Two issues were investigated: (1) Are parents able to recognize creativity in their children? and (2) Are teachers able to recognize creativity in their pupils? Subjects were 68 elementary school children, their parents, and teachers. The children attended 22 schools, grades 1-4. Creativity was assessed by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking…

In order to help the child develop his creative potential, it is necessary to understand (1) what personality characteristics distinguish the potentially creative child from the average child and (2) what environmental conditions, if any, facilitate the development of creative behavior. Research on the contribution of attitude, temperament, and…

A Color Association Exercise (CAE) with four scales (Originality, Abstraction, Fluency, and Elaboration) was devised to assess verbal creative ability. When administered to 173 adolescent students, the Color Association Exercise appeared to have only moderate potential as an assessment technique for verbal creative ability. Abstraction and…

The purpose of this study was to determine relationships among verbal and nonverbal creative thinking, literal reading comprehension, intelligence, and creative oral response to a literature stimulus. The subjects were 74 black fourth grade boys and girls in three classrooms of an inner-city school. The Minnesota Tests of Creative Thinking,…

Recent surveys of creativity research have stressed the wide variety of criteria employed by investigators and have pointed out the theoretical and philosophical differences among investigators. Few surveys, however, have questioned whether investigators intended the same, or different, definitions for creativity. Although as many as 26 distinct…

Parents differing along a concreteness-abstractness dimension of conceptual development, as defined by the model of Harvey, Hunt, and Schroder, described their attitudes and practices regarding their children's home play environment. This was done using structured questionnaires. Potential creativity of the 3- and 4-year-old children themselves…

This dissertation reviews the literature on creative behavior and reports a study exploring the operational approach to creativity. One hundred and nineteen 6th-grade students were assigned randomly to 6 treatment levels. The Ss in 4 levels read booklets which described principles of creative thinking techniques, and which presented examples and…

Junior college students were randomly assigned to dyadic or individual test conditions and scored on the Unusual Uses Activity of the TTCT. Analyses showed dyads more flexible and original than individuals; no significant differences due to locus of control; and males more flexible in creative functioning. (Author/SJL)

Investigated was growth in creativity under two different teacher behavioral strategies (student-structured and teacher-structured learning). Results indicated that students in a nondirective, student-structured science class made significant gains in figural creativity with no loss or gain in student verbal creativity. (BT)

This booklet discusses creativity and provides suggestions for instigating and implementing creativity in organizational settings. Specifically, the booklet discusses practical creativity (also called targeted innovation), an approach to generating ideas especially suited to organizational problem-solving. The targeted innovation process,…