The Reasons Why Creative Thinking Is Important and Creative Thinking Theories - Coursework Example

Creative thinking can be characterized as a process based on reason and is comprised of two cognitive phases; the collection of alternatives, and the choice of initial impressive ones. There are instances when the generation phase can be categorized into a class of divergent characteristics. (Muneyoshi 2004 p.10). Onda (1994) puts forth the argument that creative thinking is made up of creative abilities which leads to the production of something new and noteworthy. (p.99). However, for the purpose of this thesis, I will use the procedural definition of creative thinking which is the score of a person on the TTCT and its measure of five abilities (Fluency, Originality, Abstractness of Titles, Elaboration, and Resistance to Closure).

The TTCT is designed to measure creative thinking for both verbal and figural tasks. The test consists of five skills: Fluency- "the ability to produce a large number of ideas", Originality-the "ability to produce ideas that are unusual", Abstractness of Titles-the "level of abstractness given to the titles of the pictures drawn", Elaboration- "the ability to develop or embellish an idea" and Resistance to Closure-the "ability to maintain openness to a variety of options or ideas" (Whorton et al. 2001 p.7).

In addition, Murdock and Puccio (2001) illustrated that we need creative thinking on many different levels such as: individually, as a group, and as an organization. Cropley (2001) suggested that the rapid change in global communities these days may require more attention to creative thinking.Onda (1994) advances the idea that there is a correlation which exists between students' creative thinking and their academic achievement, and that the correlation standspat, whether the student is on the primary or secondary level.

Maker and Sak (2006) stress the urgency of learning mathematical concepts, as they advance the argumentsthat, if the mathematical base is strong, then there exists a strong probability that there will be an increase in the child's’ creativity. This study used 841 participants in grades one thru five, and the sample consisted of students from four who are situated in the southwest region of the US.  thinking for students: A task approached with fundamental motivation and enjoyment results in an increase in creativity.

Amiable (1983) illustrated that motivation is very important because people who do creative work do it for the joy of the practice, not for potential rewards. Csikszentmihalyi, (1996) emphasized that "creativity does not happen

The phenomenon is more systematic than individual. (p. 23). Claxton et al. (2005) detailed a study by Smith and Carlsson which showed creativity decreases between the ages of 7-8 years, but then increases to reach a peak at 10-11 years of age. Creative thinking decreases again slightly at 12 years of age after which it gradually increases until a second peak around 16 years of age. Therefore, to develop a student’s creative abilities, a range of circumstances and characteristics is necessary, such as: willingness, a friendly school environment and the appropriate age for students (i.e., targeting the age period during which creative thinking can be facilitated).

Many studies have focused on creativity. Rudowicz et al. (1995) conducted a study using 30 children (15 male, 15 female) in fifth grade from three different schools located in Hong Kong city. Each school was randomly chosen, and each school randomly selected ten students. The study used both the TTCT’s figural and verbal forms A & B. The study found that the Hong Kong students scored higher in TTCT A and B (figural and verbal) compared with students of the same age from different cultures (Taiwan, Singapore and USA), especially in originality and fluency.

These higher scores may be due to different cultural effects on student creativity. Fleith et al. (2002) conducted a study in Brazil using 217 students (3rd, 4th and 5th grades ) from 14 classrooms in elementary school. This study also involved the TTCT. The researchers found that the school environment was very important in improving the creative ability of students; the study also emphasized that family culture and individual personality play an important role in enhancing creative thinking in students.

Glover (1976) in his USA study, administered TTCT form B to197 rural school children in grade four. The researcher found no differences between white and African American students in flexibility, whereas the rest of the sub scales of TTCT were higher in the white group than the African American group. 2.1.3 Creative thinking theories 2.1.3.1 Creative Thinking and Motivation In 1973 Lepper, Greene and Nisbett initiated an investigation on the effect of the anticipated reward on young kids’ motivation and artistic performance.

In this pioneering study, the researchers discovered that for children who at the outset placed a significant level of internal interest in drawing with magic markers, suddenly experienced a shift in interest when informed that the quality of their work would be assessed and once a determination was reached on the most creative pieces, they would receive a Good Player Award. This revelation as pointed out by the researchers, was tantamount to pouring water on the fire, as the revelation of a reward, caused a significant decrease in their interest and enjoyment of the task.

Further observation by the researchers uncovered that when the children who were in the group that made drawings, were compared with two other groups, while engaged in free time activity, the group who had been singled out to receive the Good Play Awards, spent considerably less time playing with the magic markers than those from the control group and the unexpected reward group.Observation of these groups of children persisted for an additional week and it was consensually agreed that the quality of the drawings of the expected reward group were lower than those of the two other groups.

(Lepper et al, 1973).The question which has been tossed back at the researchers who conducted this study is how can a study which was conducted only once be of any significance in the validation of motivation of creativity? The researchers offer this explaination as a validation of their findings. There are two distinct types of motivation; intrinsic motivation, which has been defined as the motivation to do something merely for the sake of doing it, or for the mere enjoyment or pleasure of the task.