Maximal performance on divergent thinking tests by gifted,talented, and nongifted children

Explicit instructions to “be creative” often are used to estimate the role of task-perception in divergent thinking test performance; however, previous research on this topic has employed only nongifted individuals. The present investigation compared gifted (n = 97), talented (n = 53), and nongifted (n = 90) intermediate school children in terms of divergent thinking fluency, flexibility, and originality scores elicted by standard and explicit instructions. Results indicated that the scores of all groups were significantly different in the two instructional conditions. More importantly, there was a significant interaction between this instructional effect and children's level of ability. The explicit instructions enhanced the originality scores of the talented and nongifted children more than those of the gifted children; and the same instructions inhibited the fluency and flexibility scores of the gifted children more than those of the talented and nongifted children. These results have important implications for testing creativity and for our understanding of giftedness.     

大学生创造性社会问题解决的结构及其与心理健康的关系

以分层取样的方式选取541名大学生,采用社会性问题（故事）情境和SCL-90,考察了创造性的社会问题解决的结构及其与心理健康的关系。结果表明,（1）大学生创造性的社会问题解决策略的独创性、流畅性、变通性、适当性、有效性具有良好的内部一致性,通过探索性因素分析可抽取发散思维能力和适宜性两个主因素,累积解释率为89.68%;（2）创造性的社会问题解决与心理健康不存在显著相关;（3）计算机专业在SCL-90上属低分组的学生的发散思维能力显著高于高分组,管理专业学生问题解决总体上显著高于艺术和计算机专业。专业类型在创造性问题解决与心理健康之间具有调节作用,特定专业（如管理专业）的训练更可能改善创造性社会问题解决的策略（包括适宜性和发散思维能力）。     

FLUENCY,FLEXIBILITY, AND ORIGINALITY IN LATER ADULTHOOD

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between divergent thinking abilities, self‐esteem, and personal characteristics of older adults. A total of 39 subjects ranging in age from 61 to 84 years responded to a personal data inventory, a self‐esteem measure, and a taped auditory free‐response exercise in divergent thinking. Scores were obtained for fluency, flexibility, and originality of thought and for self‐esteem. Level of education was the best predictor of divergent thinking abilities. Self‐esteem and age were significantly correlated with fluency and flexibility but not with originality. Level of education accounted for the greatest proportion of variance in divergent thinking scores. In the multiple regressions neither self‐esteem nor age accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in fluency, flexibility, or originality. Self‐reports of subjects supported positiveness in self‐perceptions. Results are discussed in terms of the age‐decrement model of cognitive abilities and positiveness of educational intervention efforts.     

CRITERIA FOR STUDENT ENGINEERING CREATIVITY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO COLLEGE GRADES1

The creativity of engineering students was assessed through divergent problems relevant to engineering content. These problems were constructed, administered and scored by faculty members from the mechanical (ME), civil (CE), and electrical (EE) engineering departments at a large university. The problems, administered to 60 MEs, 81 CEs, and 173 EEs, were scored on the basis of the number of solutions (fluency), the number of categories of solutions (flexibility), the originality of the solutions (novelty), and the appropriateness of the solutions (appropriateness). Interrater reliabilities indicated that the fluency and flexibility scores were sufficiently reliable; the novelty and appropriateness scores were less so. The adequacy of substituting the fluency score in lieu of the novelty score was discussed. No significant relationships were found between creativity and grade point average (GPA).     

The Relationship between Convergent and Divergent Thinking in Science as Revealed in Sixth and Seventh Graders

Abstract

A positive correlation between scores on tests of divergent and convergent thinking in science was found for 92 sixth graders, but no correlation was found for 97 seventh graders. On the test of convergent thinking, seventh graders outperformed the sixth graders, while the latter group reversed the picture for the test of divergent thinking. Plausible interpretations of the data are discussed.     

Flexibility of Cognitive Style and Its Relationship to Academic Achievement in Fourth and Sixth Grades

Abstract

This research is specifically concerned with whether or not students who tend not to shift cognitive styles are capable of achieving equally as high on verbal and quantitative tasks as students who shift cognitive styles, The Kagan Cognitive Style test was used to identify flexibility and rigidity of cognitive styles. The California Achievement Test was used as our index of verbal and math achievement. Sixty-two fourth grade students and fifty-nine sixth grade students from a north Georgia elementary school constituted the example. Of the thirty-one subjects, twenty-five identified as inflexible and were performing below grade level, only six were performing at grade level, and none were performing above grade level, Data suggest it is inappropriate to consider one cognitive style superior to another. It is evident in the light of the findings of this study to consider academic performance a function of the interaction of cognitive flexibility and cognitive fluency, and the specific task requirements.     

Cultivating divergent thinking in mathematics through an open-ended approach

The purpose of this study was to develop a program to help cultivate divergent thinking in mathematics based on open-ended problems and to investigate its effect. The participants were 398 seventh grade students attending middle schools in Seoul. A method of pre- and post-testing was used to measure mainly divergent thinking skills through open-ended problems. The results indicated that the treatment group students performed better than the comparison students overall on each component of divergent thinking skills, which includes fluency, flexibility, and originality. The developed program can be a useful resource for teachers to use in enhancing their students’ creative thinking skills. An open-ended approach in teaching mathematics suggested in this paper may provide a possible arena for exploring the prospects and possibilities of improving mathematical creativity.     

The Effects of Frustration on the Figural Creative Thinking of Fifth Grade Students

In this study 24 fifth graders, 12 males and 12 females, were individually tested twice, once under frustrating conditions and once under non-frustrating conditions, in order to determine whether their creative expression would be affected by frustration. The frustrating condition consisted of being prematurely halted from completing a familiar task with the opportunity of receiving a reward upon its completion. The non-frustrating condition allowed the subject to finish the task and be rewarded. Changes in fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Figural Forms A and B, were investigated. On all components except originality, nonsignificantly higher scores were found under the frustrating conditions. Females scored higher than males on all four components. The only statistically significant interaction effect found was the sex X treatment interaction for elaboration.     

Reward and ideational fluency in preschool children

This study examined the effects of rewards on the ideational fluency of 75 preschool children. Assigned to a reward or nonreward condition, the children were administered two ideational fluency tasks, Unusual Uses and Pattern Meanings. Analyses revealed a significant main effect for reward on the ideational fluency components of originality, total fluency, and flexibility. In all cases the rewarded subjects scored lower than the nonrewarded group. These findings support the growing body of evidence that rewards are detrimental to creative functioning.     

Score,rank, or evaluation: Does type of performance feedback make a difference?

Three kinds of information—a score, rank, or evaluation—were presented to subjects as feedback about their performance on a task measuring financial ability. The information was given under conditions where subjects anticipated working either alone or in a group on a similar ability-relevant task. As predicted, in the alone condition favorable evaluative information produced higher ability estimates than either scores or ranks. Only under conditions of expected group interaction did rank information produce ability estimates comparable to evaluative information. Subjects receiving raw scores generally made lower ability estimates than subjects receiving the other two types of information. The selection of riskier and more difficult future tasks was associated with higher ability evaluations. Relevance of these results to pupil evaluation in a school setting was discussed.     

Enhancing fluent and flexible thinking through the creative drama process

The purpose of this study is to examine whether flexible and fluent thinking skills, two important elements in divergent thinking, can be enhanced through creative drama process. The research was conducted on 30 subjects, 15 in an experimental group and 15 in a control group. Each group consisted of 9 females and 6 males. All subjects were postgraduate students, and the average age was 25. Flexibility and fluency were assessed through “circle drawing” and “alternate uses of objects” sub-tests. Both groups were given an initial pre-test. Then the experimental group attended a 10-week creative drama course, 3 h a week. A week after drama process was completed, a post-test was applied to both groups. Determining the pre-test and post-test score differences of the two groups, the one-way MANOVA analysis with a 2 × 2 design was applied. The results show that creative drama process can help enhance the two important aspects of divergent thinking, fluency and flexibility, in adult groups.     

Measurement of Executive Functioning Using a Playful Robot in Kindergarten

Abstract

We explored the potential of a robotics application in education as a measurement tool of child executive functioning skills. Sixty-five kindergarteners received assignments to go through a maze with a programmable robot, the Bee-Bot. Via observation we quantified how they solved these tasks. Their performance was successfully aggregated into a latent variable, which was used to predict the outcomes on standardized tasks that measure executive functioning. The latent variable significantly predicted performance on several tasks that measure problem-solving abilities, memory, visuospatial abilities and attention. It did not significantly predict pencil-and-paper tasks that measured visuospatial ability and nonverbal or design fluency. This study showed that it is possible to use a playful robotics task to obtain information on children’s ability. We recommend more research on using diverse robots in larger samples with different age groups to further explore the possibilities of robots as a test instrument.     

A Model for Assessing Higher Order Thinking in Statistics

ABSTRACT

As in other areas of the school curriculum, the teaching, learning and assessment of higher order thinking in statistics has become an issue for educators following the appearance of recent curriculum documents in many countries. These documents have included probability and statistics across all years of schooling and have stressed the importance of higher order thinking across all areas of the mathematics curriculum. This paper reports on a pilot project which applied the theoretical framework for cognitive development devised by Biggs and Collis to a higher order task in data handling in order to provide a model of student levels of response. The model will assist teachers, curriculum planners and other researchers interested in increasing levels of performance on more complex tasks. An interview protocol based on a set of 16 data cards was developed, trialed with Grade 6 and 9 students, and adapted for group work with two classes of Grade 6 students. The levels and types of cognitive functioning associated with the outcomes achieved by students completing the task in the two contexts will be discussed, as will the implications for classroom teaching and for further research.     

A snapshot of creativity: Evaluating a quick and simple method for assessing divergent thinking

Creativity assessment commonly uses open-ended divergent thinking tasks. The typical methods for scoring these tasks (uniqueness scoring and subjective ratings) are time-intensive, however, so it is impractical for researchers to include divergent thinking as an ancillary construct. The present research evaluated snapshot scoring of divergent thinking tasks, in which the set of responses receives a single holistic rating. We compared snapshot scoring to top-two scoring, a time-intensive, detailed scoring method. A sample of college students (n = 226) completed divergent thinking tasks and measures of personality and art expertise. Top-two scoring had larger effect sizes, but snapshot scoring performed well overall. Snapshot scoring thus appears promising as a quick and simple approach to assessing creativity.     

How problem identification strategies influence creativity outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of students’ strategic approaches to problem identification on their ability to identify problems, solve problems, and develop divergent ideas. Eighth and ninth grade students (N = 90) completed the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT-F), as a measure of divergent thinking. Then, students responded to semi-structured interview prompts while completing a creative problem-solving task (i.e., Creative Problem Solving-Microanalysis Interview Protocol; CPS-MIP). Problem identification strategies were significantly, positively related to (a) problem identification fluency, (b) problem-solving fluency, (c) TTCT-F Elaboration subscale performance, and (d) TTCT-F average standard score; however, the most adaptive strategic approach differed based on outcome measure. Collectively, this study demonstrates the importance of specific problem identification strategies in generating ideas to solve problems.     

Development of mental attention in gifted and mainstream children: the role of mental capacity, inhibition, and speed of processing

The study examined performance of 6- to 11-year-old children, from gifted and mainstream academic programs, on measures of mental-attentional capacity, cognitive inhibition, and speed of processing. In comparison with mainstream peers, gifted children scored higher on measures of mental-attentional capacity, responded more quickly on speeded tasks of varying complexity, and were better able to resist interference in tasks requiring effortful inhibition. There was no group difference on a task requiring automatic inhibition. Comparisons between older and younger children yielded similar results. Correlations between inhibition tasks suggest that inhibition is multidimensional in nature, and its application may be affected by task demands. Measures of efficiency of inhibition and speed of processing did not explain age or group differences on a complex intellective measure of mental-attentional capacity.     

Effects of Self-Concept on Learning with Gifted Children

Abstract

The present study examined die influence self-concept played in a verbal free recall and non-verbal paired associate learning task with gifted children. Twenty-four male and 24 female pre-adolescents were divided into high and low self-concept groups for each sex, forming four groups with 12 subjects in each group. A 20-item free recall task and a five-trial, six-item non-verbal paired associate learning task were administered. High self-esteem boys and girls showed significantly greater mastery of all learning tasks than lower self-concept counterparts. Analysis of organization scores supported the use of more sophisticated learning strategies by children with higher self-perceptions.     

Developing an automated writing placement system for ESL learners

ABSTRACT

There are quite a few challenges in the development of an automated writing placement model for non-native English learners, among them the fact that exams that encompass the full range of language proficiency exhibited at different stages of learning are hard to design. However, acquisition of appropriate training data that are relevant to the task at hand is essential in the development of the model. Using the Cambridge Learner Corpus writing scores, which have been subsequently benchmarked to Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels, we conceptualize the task as a supervised machine learning problem, and primarily focus on developing a generic writing model. Such an approach facilitates the modeling of truly consistent, internal marking criteria regardless of the prompt delivered, which has the additional advantage of requiring smaller dataset sizes and not necessarily requiring re-training or tuning for new tasks. The system is developed to predict someone’s proficiency level on the CEFR scale, which allows learners to point to a specific standard of achievement. We furthermore integrate our model into Cambridge English Write & Improve^TM—a freely available, cloud-based tool that automatically provides diagnostic feedback to non-native English language learners at different levels of granularity—and examine its use.     

Using Cognitive Flexibility Hypertext to Develop Sexual Harassment Cases

Abstract

The use of cognitive flexibility theory as a theoretical framework for designing hypertext has been found to be beneficial for learning in ill-structured domains. However, little is known of what role the learning task plays in the effectiveness of this approach. The present study examined the relationship between task, navigation, and learning transfer when utilizing a cognitive flexibility hypertext about sexual harassment with 34 graduate management students. Due to the nature of the topic, the effects of the task on student attitudes were also studied. The conclusions of the study were that there were no significant differences for the navigational choices or transfer scores, but there did appear to be a relationship between task and changing students' attitudes towards the topic.     

The effects of age on divergent thinking and creative objects production: a cross-sectional study

Age-related changes in divergent thinking and creative objects production were investigated in 150 native Italian speakers, divided into six age groups, each one comprised 25 participants: young (20–29), young adult (30–39), middle aged (40–49), adult-old (50–59), old (60–69), and old-old (70–80). Two tasks were used: the alternative uses task, which measures divergent thinking, and the creative mental synthesis task, which measure the ability to create objects belonging to specific categories. Results showed that the peaking of performances at both tasks is reached before 40 years, and declines thereafter. The analysis also showed that divergent thinking and creative objects production stabilize after 40 years and decline after 70 years, especially the ability to create objects. These results reveal that creative thinking might be preserved across years.