Dissertation (PhD) Florida State University, 2006. / Advisors: Brian Gaber, Clifford K. Madsen, Florida State University, College of Music. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 7-16-07). Document formatted into pages; contains 527 pages. Includes biographical sketch. Includes bibliographical references.

A sequential design characterized by a mixture of a cross-sectional and a nine-month follow-up longitudinal design was used to allow both between and within groups comparisons. Two schools using the "through-train mode" for school promotion were invited to participate in order to ensure that follow-up measures could be made. A total of 405 schoolchildren (213 boys, 192 girls) completed the study, with 144 in the G5-6 group (i.e., grade promotion from Grade 5 to Grade 6), 142 in the G6-7 group (i.e., school transition from Grade 6 to Grade 7), and 119 in the G7-8 group (i.e., grade promotion from Grade 7 to Grade 8). The creative thinking, stress levels, and conventionality in thinking of the participants were measured using three parallel forms of the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), Stress Appraisal Measures (SAM), and the Conventionality Test at 3 time-points (i.e., before, during, and after promotion to a new school or higher grade). / In the fast-changing modern world, creativity has become increasingly important for dealing with complex problems and opportunities. Improving creativity is therefore important for both individuals and societies. Studying creativity development can help us to infer the contributing factors that may hinder or enhance creativity. Studies on creativity development during childhood and adolescence have suggested that a creativity slump is a special, but common, phenomenon. Yet it remains unclear why a creativity slump occurs at a specific age or at a specific time of development. The present dissertation provides a direct empirical comparison of two competing hypotheses on the creativity slump. The school transition stress hypothesis, drawn from the continuity or experience perspective of human development, suggests that a creativity slump is related to the stress associated with school transition, whereas the cognitive-developmental hypothesis, which takes the stage perspective of human development, suggests that the conventional thinking stage inhibits the expression of creativity and is hence conducive to a slump. The explanatory power of these two theoretical perspectives in relation to a creativity slump was tested by addressing the research question as to whether a creativity slump would still occur if school transition occurred at the cognitive stage that is beyond the conventional thinking stage (i.e., the postconventional thinking stage). The study explicitly compared the relative contribution of stress appraisal and conventionality in thinking to creativity development. / In the present study, it was found that a creativity slump still occurred when school transition took place during the postconventional thinking stage, lending support to the school transition stress hypothesis, but not to the cognitive-developmental hypothesis, regarding a creativity slump at school transition. We further clarified the specific roles of cognitive appraisals of stress in relation to creativity. Negative stress appraisals (i.e., appraising school life as threatening) were negatively predictive of creativity, whereas positive stress appraisals (i.e., appraising school life as challenging and controllable) were positively predictive of creativity. Regarding the role of level of conventionality in thinking in creativity, the results suggest that although postconventional thinking has a positive effect on creative thinking, its effect on creative thinking is significantly mediated by stress appraisals. The results also showed individual differences in experiencing a creativity slump. The statistic that only 44.4% of the students in the school transition group experienced a slump lends support to the idea that a creativity slump is neither overwhelming nor unavoidable. In accounting for these individual differences, stress appraisal variables were found to be the significant predictors when both the stress appraisal and conventionality in thinking variables were included in the logistic regression equation to predict the occurrence of a slump. / The present dissertation contributes to the current literature by offering empirical evidence to address the explanatory power of the cognitive-relational theory of stress and the cognitive-developmental perspective in relation to the existence of a creativity slump. The findings suggest that the major factors that are detrimental to creative thinking at school transition are negative appraisals and lack of positive appraisals on school life (i.e., viewing school life as more threatening, less challenging, and less controllable). These findings are helpful for understanding the critical factors that either facilitate or hinder the development of creativity in schoolchildren, which, in turn, could shed further light on effective creativity education. / He Wu, Jing. / Adviser: Wan Chi Wong. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-03, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-138). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; form A-C, appendix III in Chinese.

Thesis (Ph.D) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

Problem representation/problem finding skills are frequently the catalyst facilitating adroit knowledge base access and subsequent positive creative outcomes in adult populations. To determine whether judged creativity is similarly enhanced through young adolescents' use of a working title representation strategy within a curriculum knowledge base, 40 Latino partyicipants at two Southern California middle schools received brief written interactive directions for one of two different types of problem representation or a third, non-representational control group.

O estudo objetivou analisar como e se um Ambiente Visual de Programação pode contribuir apoiando os processos criativos de adolescentes, sendo uma ferramenta auxiliar para a aprendizagem pela solução de problemas, incitando novas formas de utilização das TIC na educação. O presente estudo justifica-se pela necessidade de aprofundar as questões relacionadas ao uso das TIC pelos docentes da Educação Básica e não apenas o uso de projetores e vídeos para substituir o quadro de giz, ou ferramentas de pesquisa em sites de busca apenas para transmitir informações de maneira a privilegiar as metodologias tradicionais de ensino. Como metodologia de pesquisa optou-se pela abordagem qualitativa de natureza interpretativa do tipo estudo de caso múltiplo. A apreensão dos dados foi em campo experimental por meio de questionário socioeducacional e diários de bordo, seguida da análise de conteúdos e descrição dos resultados obtidos. Os participantes do estudo foram adolescentes de 13 escolas públicas e privadas de Ensino Fundamental e do Ensino Médio no Município de Araucária-Pr. O estudo evidenciou o desenvolvimento das funções psicológicas superiores, pensamento computacional nos estudantes como atenção, memória e percepção. Estas habilidades foram observadas durante a elaboração dos projetos, por meio das habilidades de compreensão, planejamento, retrospecto e desenvolvimento de estratégias individuais e coletivas para a solução dos problemas encontrados. Este estudo se diferencia de outros já realizados com o Scratch, pois, enfatiza a busca da liberdade e criatividade dos sujeitos discentes na elaboração de projetos próprios, como estratégia para a autonomia. / The study aimed to analyze how and if a Visual Programming Environment can contribute by supporting the creative processes of adolescents, an auxiliary tool for learning by problem solving, encouraging new ways of using ICT in education. This study is justified by the need to deepen the issues related to the use of ICT in Basic Education teachers and not only the use of projectors and videos to replace the chalkboard, or research tools in search engines only to convey information in order to favor traditional teaching methodologies. As a research methodology was chosen qualitative approach to interpretation, the study of case type. The seizure of the data was in experimental field through socio-educational and daily quiz board, followed by analysis of content and description of the results obtained. Study participants were adolescents from 13 public and private elementary schools and high school in the city of Araucaria-Pr. The study showed the development of higher psychological functions, computational thinking in students such as attention, memory and perception. These skills were observed during the preparation of projects, through the comprehension skills, planning, retrospect and development of individual and collective strategies to solve the problems encountered. This study differs from others already undertaken with Scratch therefore emphasizes the pursuit of freedom and creativity of the subjects students in developing their own projects, as a strategy for autonomy.