The Assessment of the Effects of Structured and Non-Structured Art Projects on Children’s Creativity Before and After Project Completion

Allerton, Emily

The Assessment of the Effects of Structured and Non-Structured Art Projects on Children’s Creativity Before and After Project Completion

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10456/26431

Author(s)

Allerton, Emily

Date Issued

May 3, 2012

Abstract

Creativity, a broad term that includes the art of problem solving by using divergent thinking to come up with original and useful ideas, has constantly been a huge source of human innovation (Sternberg 2009, Guilford 1959). Are there some environmental experiences that can stimulate or inhibit a child’s creative development? To answer these questions, structured and non-structured art projects were used to simulate structured and non-structured learning environments in children ages 5-7. Divergent thinking was assessed using open-ended questions to examine each child’s creativity before and after each of the four art projects on four separate days. Assessments were based on Guildford’s Alternative Use’s Task (1965). Results found that that the class mean average creativity scores improved after the unstructured art projects and decreased after the structured art projects, however there was a stronger relationship between the day of assessment and class average creativity scores. The class average creativity scores decreased each day.

First Reader(s)

Ozorak, Elizabeth Weiss