Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/8623j1628

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Abstract
  • Acquisition of divergent-productive thinking skills by using elementary science materials constitutes the basic idea of this experiment. The data collected was used to determine statistically if the materials had a significant role in inducing such skills. The Ss were fifth-grade students obtained from two public elementary schools in Oregon. Those Ss selected for the study were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. Ss completed the experimental activity sessions in which they were seen for forty-five minutes on each of fifteen consecutive school days. A series of twenty-six experimental activities comprised the treatment to which the experimentalSs were subjected. Divergent production of units, classes, relations, systems, transformations and implications were an integral part of the activities. The posttest consisted of Verbal Form A and Figural Form A of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. These were administered to the experimental Ss on two consecutive days following the treatment. Student's t-test was performed on the T-scores for each of the seven categories, verbal fluency, verbal flexibility, verbal originality , figural fluency, figural flexibility, figural originality, and figural elaboration to determine whether or not a significant difference occurred in the experimental group. Student's t-test was also applied to the composite scores of each group to determine whether or not a significant difference occurred between the means of the two groups. Figural flexibility was found statistically significant beyond the .10 level. Figural originality was found statistically significant beyond the .05 level. Among the recommendations stemming from this study are: (1) Five- and six-year olds should be examined to determine whether or not the perceptual training of attribute blocks and subsequent divergent-productive thinking alters results obtained by Piaget indicating the age at which children think in a formal operational mode. (2) Elementary school curricula utilize materials that lead to development of particular thinking-skill processes in varied content-oriented ways.
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