What else could you do with a brick? The effects of training creative thinking skills in gifted children.

Abstract

This study looks at the effectiveness of a creativity training on creativity in general, school results of mathematics and the well-being of gifted children in primary schools. The sample consisted of 66 participants (7-12 years old). It was a quasi-experimental study with an experimental- (n = 32) and a control group (n = 34). In this study, there has been a pre- and post-measurement. The Raven SPM is used to measure the intelligence of the participants. The Test For Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) is used to measure creativity in general. The Math Creativity Task is used to measure the school results with regard to mathematics. The Competent Perception Scale For Children (CBSK) is used to measure the well-being. Finally, there is a creativity training used to stimulate the development of divergent thinking processes in the experimental group. Results show that the experimental group scored significantly better than the control group with regard to the school results of mathematics. De experimental group scored better than the control group with regard to creativity in general. However, this result is not significant. Both groups scored almost the same on well-being on the pre- and post-measurement. This suggests that a creativity training focused on the development of divergent thinking positively contributes to the school results of mathematics. Future research should determine whether the development of creative thinking processes continue in the long term.