Date of Award

12-1-1972

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Abstract

The primary purposes of this study were to determine if any differences exist in creativity between New School and non-New School fourth grade children, between Indian and non-Indian fourth graders, and among urban, rural, and Indian fourth grade children.

Procedure: The research population used in this study consisted of 237 fourth graders enrolled in North Dakota elementary schools. The experimental group consisted of 62 boys and 64 girls who had been enrolled in New School classrooms for a minimum period of six months during the 1969-1970 school year. The reference group consisting of 111 students, with 55 boys and 56 girls was drawn from the same geographical location as the experimental group. All students were given the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking which measured verbal fluency, verbal flexibility, and verbal originality, figural fluency, figural flexibility, figural originality, and figural elaboration. The primary statistical procedures used were multivariate T2 tests, multiple linear regression, and analysis of variance.

Results: The major conclusions which emerged from this study are as follows :

1. Non-Indian children had a significantly higher mean score in verbal flexibility than the Indian children as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

2. Non-New School Indian children had significantly higher mean scores in figural fluency and figural elaboration than the New School Indian children as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

3. There was a significant difference between the New School and non-New School rural children on figural elaboration as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. However, this one significant subtest favoring the non-New School group was not considered sufficient to reject the overall hypothesis.

4. The non-New School urban group scored significantly higher on figural originality as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking than the New School urban group.

5. The non-New School group scored significantly higher in figural originality, as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, than the New School group.

6. Among the rural, urban, and Indian groups, the rural group was found to have significantly higher mean scores in verbal fluency and verbal flexibility as measured by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

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