Describes the vision that prompted the author to place the characters of her prize-winning novel in a small West Virginia town--a place where love has no conditions on it. Thanks readers for sharing her vision. (ARH)

Measured clustering effect found during idea-generation phase of nominal grouping. Graduate students (N=23) used nominal grouping procedure to generate new ideas for market strategy program for new product, using five-step, two-vote procedure. Panel of three judges evaluated each idea on creativity and quality. Results support notion that nominal…

The introduction from a soon-to-be published book on the concept of visioneering -- engineering a vision into reality -- is printed here. The article discusses the creative process, its historical and research background, the use of creative problem solving in approaching challenges and making decisions, and the current language of creativity.…

Factors for assessing classroom material for creative thinking are presented as a series of questions. Does it: (1) make associations or analogies? (2) blend thought with feeling?; (3) promote flexible thinking? (4) have visual or semantic imagery? (5) provide structure? (6) provide opportunities to extend, embellish, transfer, or transform?. (VW)

The Northeast Consortium, consisting of representatives of 25 school districts in northeast Massachusetts, was established to improve staff development by providing multi-district graduate-credit programs. Faculty from the University of Massachusetts program in Critical and Creative Thinking taught a course on teaching thinking. Outcomes are…

Examines problem-solving in selected software, considering what packages really teach and how useful they are in classrooms. Includes a table listing 21 packages with information in such categories as: suggested ages; solving standard logic puzzles; trial/error or predicting outcomes; breaking tasks into smaller parts; drawing conclusions; and…

Elements of creative thinking and methods for nurturing them in small children are described. Encouraging divergent, convergent, and evaluative thinking sets the stage for optimum development in later schooling and adult life. (MT)

The article examines reasons why some teachers and parents may feel threatened by gifted children and why some exceptional pupils deliberately under-achieve. Discussion of the meaning of Creativity in terms of defensive, productive, adaptive, elaborative and developmental thinkers is followed by suggestions drawn from followup studies of…

Magic can stimulate children to think creatively and retain what they learn. This article offers tips and step-by-step instructions to bring magic into the classroom. Children learn scientific principles, are required to read and follow sequential instructions, and are encouraged to stand in front of the class. (MT)

Eighteen academically gifted elementary students were randomly assigned to either a figural treatment or verbal treatment condition. Analysis of pre and post tests of creative thinking suggested that unbalanced programing of figural creative thinking abilities and verbal creative thinking abilities over time may cause significant decrements in…

Social studies curriculum is modified for gifted intermediate and secondary students by incorporating strategies designed to foster creative thinking. The strategies are an outgrowth of futures and creativity research and include brainstorming, attribute listing, morphological synthesis, reverse historical chronology, webbing, consequence charts,…

The short-term effectiveness of a creative thinking program on creative thinking and self-esteem of 45 mentally handicapped students was examined. Findings revealed dramatic improvement in creativity test performance, with the greatest effect on verbal fluency. No significant effects were noted for self-esteem. (CL)

Author investigates an educational proposal combining personal creativity training with a truly interdisciplinary curriculum that would give both an experiential and a content awareness of wholeness. (Author/RK)

The description of the curriculum of a university course designed to engage the deep structure of the creative process. First presented in 1984, the course has been given to fine arts majors and candidates for the B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees. The curriculum is summarized in twelve concepts and then described under the topics "Primordial Images,"…