In spite of the growing popularity of virtual worlds for gaming, recreation, and education, few studies have explored the efficacy of 3D immersive virtual worlds in post-secondary instruction; even fewer discuss the ability of virtual worlds to help young adults develop creative thinking. This study investigated the effect of virtual world education on creative thought for university level students. Over the course of two semesters, a total of 97 university students participated in this study. Forty-six of these participants (experimental group) spent time in a specially designed virtual world environment, the V.I.E.W., while 51 of the participants (control group) met exclusively in a real-world classroom. Creative thought was measured before and after the intervention with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking Verbal Forms A and B. Although the experimental group's ending scores did not reach the level of the control group's scores, results showed overall statistically significant gains for the experimental group at p = .033. The experimental group also achieved greater gains in the subcategories of fluency and flexibility, with significance at p = .036 and p = .043, respectively. At the end of the course, independent raters measured the creativity expressed in student art critiques, using a scale developed for this study. No overall significant differences between groups were found in the art critiques, except in the category of spatial awareness, where the experimental group's scores were significantly higher than the control group's scores at p = .039. For both instruments, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate statistical data. Results suggest that immersive worlds can be at least as well suited as traditional university classrooms for developing creative thought—particularly in the context of art education. Implications for researchers, students, educators, and administrators are discussed.

The aim of this field study is to investigate the relationship between creative thinking abilities and an Industrial Design course. The report contains an analysis of the background to current teaching methods in Industrial Arts within the Australian Capital Territory. A link between design education and creativity is investigated, as well as the nature of creativity and its relationship to the learning process and teaching strategies employed in design education. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking was used in this study and the subjects were grade nine students in selected high schools in the Australian Capital Territory.

This thesis deals with the so called "positive aspects" of dyslexia, specifically enhanced creativity in dyslexics. It has recently become common to associate dyslexia not only with its symptoms and deficits, but also to emphasize its possible gains. Anecdotal evidence refers to enhanced creativity and more specific abilities of individuals with dyslexia. Based on the results of foreign studies that suggest a relationship between dyslexia and increased creativity, this research study was carried out in the environment of Czech secondary schools. The research group consisted of 67 adolescents with dyslexia and 67 intact counterparts at the age range from 17 to 20 years (including 108 boys and 26 girls). The data were obtained via figural Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. We then compared levels obtained within experimental and comparison groups in three specific fields - originality, elaboration and provision of non-standard and unusual responses. This was to lead to confirmation (or refusal) of a presumption that dyslexics show significantly higher scores in all three areas. Although the overall results of the research did not demonstrate a significant difference between the groups, we observed a trend indicating a higher score in dyslexics in all the defined areas. Results of our research study...