This study asks (1) are teachers able to identify creative children in their classrooms at better than chance level, (2) does this ability change with grade level, and (3) does creativity itself increase as a function of grade level in school? The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking--Circles Subtest--was administered to 455 first, second, and…

Research relating to the relationship between hemispheric specialization and creativity is explored with particular emphasis on implications for elementary education. Physiological and psychological evidence is examined for the construct that hemispheric specialization means that the two hemispheres of the human brain are specialized for different…

This study compared the creative thinking areas of flexibility and fluency of fifth grade Japanese and American children. A new instrument for cross-cultural settings, consisting of ten flexibility items and six fluency items, was constructed and administered to fifth graders. The results indicated that there were no differences in fluency between…

Two issues were investigated: (1) Are parents able to recognize creativity in their children? and (2) Are teachers able to recognize creativity in their pupils? Subjects were 68 elementary school children, their parents, and teachers. The children attended 22 schools, grades 1-4. Creativity was assessed by the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking…

Children, ages 7 and 11, were asked to manipulate strips of cardboard into outlines of ideas and objects. Responses were categorized to show if novel configurations appeared and developed and if this phenomenon was a function of creative thinking as measured by Torrance's Figural Test, Form B. (Author/SJL)

The internationally accepted definition of gifted children includes a range of factors that contribute to giftedness, but makes no mention of the child's motivation, capacity for self-initiation, or ability to work independently. Using the current definition, schools and teachers remain bound to gifted identification based on academic achievement…

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…

In order to assess the effect of relaxation training and imagination exercises on the creativity of elementary-age students, 94 children in first through fourth grades were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group. Prior to the treatment, all students were pretested on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Children in the…

The effects of the self-instructional use of programed creativity materials was investigated with 648 regular and intellectually gifted fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students, using the Purdue Creativity Training Program (PCTP), and with the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as a measurement. In general, the results indicated that the…

Waldorf Education, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, is based on the philosophy of critical idealism, in which teachers assist in the natural unfolding of children's preexistent possibilities. But because there has been little research on Waldorf Education, few data have been gathered on the effectiveness of its teaching methods and…