Date of Award

5-1981

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Jeanne Donovan

Second Advisor

Nancy Polette

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate whether teaching mothers to ask divergent questions would have a direct effect on their four year old child 's creativity. It was hypothesized that children whose mothers received the training in divergent questioning techniques would do better on a test of creativity than children whose mothers, did not receive the training.

Twenty mother and child groups were included in the study. The twenty were divided randomly into two groups, ten groups to receive the treatment and ten to receive no treatment. Six treatment sheets were then administered in the homes to the experimental group and both groups were tested at the conclusion of the treatment using E. Paul Torrance's test of creativity, "Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement.''

The data was analyzed by a single-tailed t-test and no significant differences were found between the creativity scores of four year olds whose mothers received the treatment and those whose mothers did not.

Though the null hypothesis was not disproved this author feels the hypothesis is still of value. In future research the variability of the follow-up by mothers being trained with the treatment sheets needs to be controlled for in a more consistent manner. It also appears as if the time allotted for the study needs to be increased.

The self-confidence of both mothers and children is an area that requires further study concerning its effect on creativity.

The home environment appeared to have a greater influence on the total creativity score than originally supposed.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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