Efficacy of teaching creative thinking skills: A comparison of multiple creativity assessments

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Elena Karpova, Putman & Hayes Distinguished Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: The purpose of this study was tri-fold: (1) to evaluate the efficacy of a creative thinking course using three different assessments; (2) to analyze changes in creativity as a result of the training for individual participants; and (3) to investigate reasons for individual decreases in creativity after the training. Data was collected at the beginning and the end of a creative thinking course at a large land-grant Midwestern university. After the course, students had the most significant increase in belief in their own creative abilities, followed by an increase in attitude toward risk-taking, and creative thinking evaluated by experts. While as a group, participants had significantly increased their creative abilities, several of them demonstrated a decrease in creative abilities after the course. A statistical phenomenon, regression to the mean, was employed to explain why some participants demonstrated lower creative thinking after completing the course.

Additional Information

Publication
Thinking Skills and Creativity Journal, 24, 118-126
Language: English
Date: 2017
Keywords
Creative thinking, Training, Risk taking, Regression to the mean, Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

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