ERIC Number: ED130807
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1972-Mar
Pages: 99
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Outdoors: An Environmental Condition to Nurture Creative Thinking.
Jurik, Richard A.
The study determined whether using outdoor experiences as a teaching medium increased the level of creative thought for sixth grade children. Four factors of creativity were measured: figural fluency, figural flexibility, figural originality, and figural elaboration. Two groups of sixth grade pupils, one experimental (with 30 children)and the other control (with 25 children), were used. Both groups were tested at the beginning of the experiment, using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The experimental group experienced 13 outdoor education activities incorporated into units within the curriculum areas of social studies, science, art, and music; the control group had no outdoor education activities. After 45 school days both groups were given the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. The tests measured nonverbal creativity. Findings included: outdoor education activities did not improve the level of measured creative thinking factors of the experimental group; pupils in the control class signignificantly increased in figural originality and elaboration; outdoor education activities had an effect in nonverbal creativity of girls in the experimental class but not of boys; and boys in the control class had no significant gains in the four measured creativity factors while the girls had a significant gain in figural originality and elaboration. (NQ)
Descriptors: Activity Units, Art Activities, Cognitive Processes, Comparative Analysis, Creative Thinking, Creativity Tests, Discovery Processes, Elementary Education, Elementary School Science, Environmental Influences, Grade 6, Learning Activities, Literature Reviews, Masters Theses, Music, Nature Nurture Controversy, Outdoor Education, Social Studies, Test Reliability, Test Validity
Inter-Library Loan, Pennsylvania State Univerity, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802
Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A