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…

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,…

In his 1982 response to the myth that "creativity is too difficult to measure," Dr. Joe Khatena (a long-time contributor to the literature on creativity), characterized creativity as the "most exciting dimension of mental functioning." Building on a three-dimensional view of creativity (emphasizing the "individual," the "environment," and the…

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…

The article presents 19 specific guidelines for training creativity test administrators, and 22 specific guidelines for training creativity test scorers. Some examples of positive verbal reinforcement for the verbal form of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking are also provided. (DLS)

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…

The paper identifies some major issues in assessing creative problem solving. Four main problems are discussed: (1) no single widely accepted theory of creativity exists; (2) there is a lack of understanding of the implications of the differences in assessment procedures; (3) researchers, on the one hand, view creativity as entirely a cognitive…

Research on ways to evaluate creative products is reviewed, and criteria are classified into three general dimensions: novelty, resolution, and elaboration/synthesis. Subcomponents of each dimension are described. Unresolved issues center on definitional problems, aspects of originality, and others' perceptions of creative products. (CL)

The relationship between self concept and several measures of divergent thinking and related attitudes was investigated among the thirty-three boys and twenty-six girls in the fourth grade. They were given the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Covington's Attitude Inventory for Problem Solving, and the Piers-Harris Self Concept Scale. High self…

This monograph deals specifically with the challenge of recognizing or assessing creativity. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 focuses on definitions and characteristics of creativity to help clarify the nature and meaning of creativity and creative thinking, and to consider the implications of those definitions for assessment. The…

The author briefly examines theories of creativity, describes problems in its identification, and cites implications for gifted education of creativity training research done over the last 20 years. (CL)