This article argues that any progress we have made in understanding creativity is being threatened by the increased emphasis on objective criteria of all aspects of learning. Indicators of creative potential are discussed, including originality and flexibility. Because creativity is often intrinsically motivated, the need for appropriate…

In this article, the author provides a concise discussion on creativity, defining the term, sharing theoretical background information and offering insights into promoting creativity in online university classes. Emphasis will be placed on relevant ways to integrate creativity into instructional activities across the academic disciplines. He…

This two-part study examined aspects of family environments that are considered to be influential in the development of young children's creativity. Mothers of children ages 4 to 6 years were surveyed on their valuing of particular personality characteristics (The Ideal Child Checklist) and specific features of the home environment (The Creative…

This theme issue explores the development of memory and creativity in very young children. The first article, "The Guy Who Went Up the Steep Nicken: The Emergence of Story Telling during the First Three Years" (Susan Engel), describes the developmental stages of children's story telling. The reasons children tell stories and strategies for…

This article discusses the nature of creativity and the theory surrounding psychological investigation of creativity. Evidence is presented that people have individual styles of thinking (e.g., convergent and divergent) that are common to particular types of education. Methods and conditions that foster creativity are described. (Author)

Adding to the benefits of using metaphors as tools, "analoguing" (a method of analysis that focuses on metaphors for meanings in use and meanings of metaphors in use) helps avoid excessive categorization and separation by looking for unities and patterns in phenomena rather than for divisions. Six months of observation of patterns of…

How to deal with the absence of creativity and critical thinking in the educational setting is discussed. All efforts to improve education will be futile if we don't take into account the absence of relationship among the participants and between the participants and the content of education. Relationship--i.e., connecting with others and with…

Information for this study was complied from teachers identified as creative to determine if, in their opinions, creativity can be developed or enhanced; and, if so, how it can be encouraged or developed in others. Subjects were 60 teachers seen as creative and interviewed by graduate students during the academic years of 1978-84. Teachers ranged…

THE OBJECTIVES WERE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF TEACHERS' ATTITUDES TOWARD CREATIVE THINKING ON THEIR EVALUATIVE BEHAVIOR IN THE CLASSROOM AND ON THE CREATIVE THINKING OF THEIR PUPILS. FURTHER OBJECTIVES WERE TO ASCERTAIN THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS KINDS OF EVALUATIVE COMMENTS ON THE IDEAS OFFERED BY STUDENTS, AND TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT…

THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATED TWO PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE THINKING ABILITIES AT THE FOURTH-GRADE LEVEL--(1) THE DIFFICULTIES TEACHERS EXPERIENCE IN ENCOURAGING AND GUIDING CREATIVE EXPERIENCES IN THE CLASSROOM AND RELATING THEM TO CURRICULAR CONTENT AND (2) THE DEVELOPMENT OF WAYS FOR COUNTERACTING THE NUMEROUS INFLUENCES WHICH…

AMONG THE COURSES IN THE UPWARD BOUND PROJECT AT THE GENERAL COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, IS CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING. IT IS FELT THAT CREATIVITY TRAINING GIVES THE UNDERACHIEVER THE MOTIVATION AND SKILL TO SOLVE HIS OWN PROBLEMS BY SHOWING HIM THE PROCEDURES OF PROBLEM DEFINITION AND SOLUTION. SIXTY-THREE STUDENTS, OF AVERAGE ABILITY BUT…

Two main viewpoints have been consistently implied in linguistic research on creativity. The externalist sees creativity as outside the normal language, and the internalist views creativity as a basic process of language use. In this paper, creativity is regarded as the adaptation of the potential of systems to the demands of a particular act of…

This task group report is one of a series prepared by eminent psychologists who have served as consultants in the U.S. Office of Education-sponsored grant study to conduct a Critical Appraisal of the Personality-Emotion-motivation Domain. In order to achieve the goal of identifying important problems and areas for new research and methodological…

There are many myths about young children based on the definition of creativity as an innate capacity for openness to experience. This definition of creativity as a personality trait or attitude (creativity as expressiveness) has little relationship to creativity as the making of original and socially valuable products. Studies of children's art…

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…