A study of the effect of a creative writing treatment on creativity under different situational conditions

This is a study of creativity using the assessment instruments and creativity definition developed by E. P. Torrance. Creativity is recognized as an essential ability and a logical place to nurture this ability is within the realm of elementary education. This study was designed to learn whether a creative writing treatment of six assignments administered to all students in an experimental group would affect the verbal or nonverbal creativity of the students. Control and experimental groups of seventy-one children each were established from a population of predominantly white middle class fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who attend a pod school. A further design of the study was that the experimental group be composed of three subgroups of twenty-four students which functioned under time conditions of thirty, sixty, and ninety minutes and three subgroups of twenty-four students which functioned in space conditions of a pod, an individually chosen place, or a self-contained room. Results: The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking Verbal Form A and Figural Form B were administered to the control and experimental groups. The mean scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than the control group, but no difference was seen in the mean scores of the two groups on the Figural Test. When a criterion of fluency was used with regard to the different subgroups, the mean scores for the pod groups proved to be significantly higher than the other two subgroups. Similar results were obtained for the space conditions when a . criterion of originality was used. When the criteria of fluency and originality were applied to the time conditions, · it was indicated that the thirty minute time period was optimal. A chart was made for observational purposes of the time-space interaction effects with the sixty minute time condition and the pod space condition appearing to be optimal. Summary: Indications are that a creative writing treatment does affect verbal but not nonverbal creativity. It would also appear that time and space conditions influence the fluency and originality factors of creativity. Further studies are recommended in this area and in the area of developing creativity tests for teachers.