Bonnie Cramond

A Report on the 40-Year Follow-Up of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: Alive and Well in the New Millennium

This article updates information about the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) by reporting on predictive validity data from the most recent data collection point in Torrance’s longitudinal studies. First, we outline the background of the tests and changes in scoring over the years. Then, we detail the results of the analyses of the 40-year follow-up on the TTCT resulting in a structural equation model, which demonstrates the validity of the TTCT for predicting creative achievement 40 years after its administration. Finally, we provide a rationale for the relevance of the test in schools today.

Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking as Predictors of Personal and Public Achievement: A Fifty-Year Follow-Up

This article presents the results of the 50-year follow-up of the longitudinal study E. Paul Torrance initiated 5 decades ago. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was administered in the late 1950s and personal and public achievement data were obtained 50 years later and used as criteria in analyses reported here. These showed that TTCT scores were moderately correlated with personal, but not with public, achievement. However, an interaction of intelligence and creativity was significantly related to public achievement but not to personal achievement. When a composite was formed from the 4 TTCT indexes (fluency, originality, flexibility, and elaboration), a significant quadratic trend was found with the personal achievement criterion. Three of the indicators (“Love of work,” Tolerance of mistakes, and Minority of one) from the Beyonder instrument developed by Torrance (2003) were related to public achievement. Only one other indicator from the Beyonder measure (“Well-roundedness”) was associated with personal achievement. Men were significantly higher in public achievement than women, but there was no significant gender difference in personal achievement.

The Latent Structure and Measurement Invariance of Scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural.

There is disagreement among researchers as to whether creativity is a unidimensional or multidimensional trait. Much of the debate centers around the most widely used measure of creativity, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). This study used data from 1,000 kindergartners (ages 5-7), 1,000 third graders (ages 7-11) and 1,000 sixth graders (ages 10-13). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for both the two-factor model and one-factor model to determine which fit the data better. Measurement invariance across genders and grade levels was assessed using multiple group analyses in which sets of parameters were freed sequentially in a series of hierarchically nested models. The findings indicate that the structure of TTCT scores is consistent with a two-factor theory. Also, the results of the multiple group analyses indicate that model parameters for gender groups are more invariant than for grade levels in determining the fit of the model.

An Interdisciplinary Design Studio: How Can Art and Engineering Collaborate to Increase Students’ Creativity?

creativity often has been associated with the arts, although creativity also is essential for innovative discoveries and applications in science and engineering. in this article, a pilot study is presented about an investigation concerning how creativity is fostered in an art education course in conjunction with an undergraduate engineering course, through visual arts experiences and instruction using creative problem solving strategies. through emphasizing creative strategies and ways of thinking developed through art, such as resistance to closure, tolerance of ambiguity, visualization, and use of metaphor (Eisner, 2002), interdisciplinary collaborations of art with other disciplines, such as engineering, can become very successful.

Generalizability of Creative Problem Solving Procedures to Real-Life Problems

This study investigated whether students trained in Creative Problem Solving (CPS) generalize such training to the solution of problems presented out of the context of the training sessions. In an attempt to answer these questions, 75 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade gifted students were randomly assigned to either of two experimental groups or a control group. The experimental groups were CPS, who received traditional Creative Problem Solving training, and CPST, who received CPS training with transfer strategies infused. The control group received training in various memory tasks, analogical skills, and logic exercises. After the training, all students were given a problem solving task during which they were observed, and a followup interview. Percentages of students in each group who exhibited various problem-solving behaviors were calculated and the results were analyzed using a Chi-square procedure. In each case, the transfer training group had the highest percentage of students applying the strategies, followed by the CPS group, and finally the control group (p<.05). The results indicate that there was a higher degree of transfer of problem-solving strategies by the CPST group.

Vision With Action: Developing Sensitivity to Societal Concerns in Gifted Youth

At the 2006 National Association of Gifted Children Conference, a panel presentation addressed the importance of providing gifted children with opportunities to take positive social action through service-learning; this article is a result of that discussion. The Future Problem Solving Program (among others) has a community problem-solving component to help instill the habits of responding to community needs in socially constructive ways. A service-learning project conducted by secondary gifted students is discussed. The highest level of service-learning is an effective curriculum for gifted students that exposes them to community problems and encourages them to solve those problems creatively. Through service-learning, gifted youth have opportunities to expand their global awareness, practice skills of positive action, and make real their vision of a better future.

Korean Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Academic Brilliance

This is a replication of a study designed by Tannenbaum (1962) and repeated by Cramond and Martin (1987) measuring U.S. attitudes toward intelligence by having respondents rate 8 hypothetical students who varied in their combinations of athleticism, effort, and academic ability. This study investigated 132 Korean preservice and in-service teachers’ attitudes on the same measure. Both Korean teacher groups favored athleticism and nonstudiousness over academic brilliance and showed a gender bias by designating their preferred characters as boys more often. The least favored character was the academically brilliant, studious, nonathletic student—often considered traditionally gifted—and usually designated as a girl. The anti-intellectualism, sport-mindedness, and gender bias in the present study’s Korean participants was similar to that found in the American samples. These results suggest a need for better teacher training and understanding of gifted students. This study is important because it reminds us of future and current teachers’ views of gifted students, especially in Korea, where gifted education is now being initiated. Also, it demonstrates the ubiquitous nature of anti-intellectualism, even in a country considered to value academics.

Future Problem Solving in Gifted Education

This chapter traces the growth of the Future Problem Solving Program from its beginning at one high school in Athens, Georgia in 1974 to its 30th Anniversary as an International Program with over 250,000 students around the world participating from grades 1 to 12, and to the present. The various components and rationale of the Program are described with examples of problems and students’ innovative solutions. The chapter will end with a discussion of the benefits of this program for the students who participate as well as for the larger society, and an argument for widening its scope beyond gifted education will be made.

An Examination of Terman's Gifted Children from the Theory of Identity.

Employing Eriksons identity theory within Marcias operational framework, the association between identity formation and adult achievement was examined in a subset of gifted individuals from Termnans longitudinal study. Termans most successful A group and the least successful C group were compared with respect to their identity formation. Significant relationships were found between identity formation and occupational success at the data points under study. The successful As were found to be mostly Identity Achievers, whereas the unsuccessful Cs were miore likely Identity Diffusers. The explanation power of Eriksons identity theory for varied achievement in adulthood calls for attention to identity research in gifted education.

Speaking and listening: Key components of a complete language arts program for the gifted

Speaking and listening are neglected areas of instruction that should be emphasized more in language arts classes and infused throughout the curriculum. Although all students can benefit from instruction in oral/aural communication, such instruction can still be part of a differentiated curriculum for the gifted by providing an expanded range of opportunity, faster paced instruction, replacement of basic skills instruction with more advanced activities, opportunities for self‐selection, indi‐vidualization, and personal evaluation. A recommendation is made to address gifted students’ needs through speaking and listening activities that emphasize cognitive and affective development.