The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a learning sequence involving copy related activities and to provide clarifying evidence regarding copying effects on personality and artistic development. Improvement in selected aspects of creative behavior was hypothesized. The aspects of creative behavior selected for the study were: Figural Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and Elaboration as identified by researchers in creative behavior, and two drawing tasks developed by the investigator. In addition, improvement in self-concept ratings was also hypothesized.Three intact groups made up of 58 fourth grade students from the Milwaukee Public Schools comprised the sampling. A random cluster sampling procedure was used to identify three schools from the population of 123 elementary schools in the system. Random procedures were used to identify the specific class within the schools and also to assign specific classes to treatment and control groups. The intact groups represented broad socio-economic and cultural backgrounds and were representative of racially balanced schools in the system.The Copy Activity Group of 18 subjects received the copy treatment, a second group of 20 subjects received an art activity treatment, and the third group of 20 subjects, a control group, received no treatment. All groups received pre- and posttests consisting of the Fluency, Flexibility, Originality and Elaboration categories of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Forms A and B, and two drawing tasks designed by the investigator. The drawing tasks included an imagination or memory task (IDT) and an observational task (ODT). The tasks were rated by experienced judges on a rating scale designed specifically for the study. In addition, all groups received a posttest only administration of the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale. Five treatment sessions were administered to the Copy Activity Group and the Art Activity Group on five consecutive days between the pretest and posttest sessions.Two similar yet different treatments were used in the experiment. One utilized structured copy activities designed to promote the mastery of specific concepts, and the other stressed similar concepts and subject matter but utilized more traditional, open ended art activities. Both treatments made use of similar art media and were of identical length. The copy activities provided information which was abstracted from the natural environment and artist's interpretations of the environment. Subjects were instructed to attend to points of maximal information, peaks of curvature, distinctive features, naturally occurring elaborations and artist's interpretations of the visual world in the context of the treatment. The activities, structured from simple to complex, involved tracing, dot-to-dot activities, copying, and coloring activities.The data were subjected to analysis of covariance during the hypotheses testing. The statistical results indicated improved overall performance on all instruments in favor of the Copy Group over the Art Activity Group. The data analysis also indicated that the ability to perceive and subsequently delineate perceptions may have been positively influenced by the copy treatment. While clearly significant differences were noted in the analysis of the self-concept data in favor of the Copy Group, generalizations as to cause-effect relationships were considered to be hazardous and therefore subject to further analysis.

Thesis (M.L.A.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

No description available.

There is no abstract available for this thesis.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of ambiguous visual stimuli in art instruction with ninth grade girl art students on the four divergent thinking abilities of fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration, as measured by Torrance's Tests of Creative Thinking, Figural Forms (1966).The research hypothesis was formulated as follows: Students exposed to ambiguous visual stimuli in art will exhibit a greater increase in divergent thinking abilities than students exposed to non-ambiguous visual stimuli.A group of 40 freshmen high school girls studying art at West Philadelphia Catholic Girls' High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the 1969-1970 school year, constituted the sample of subjects for the study. These subjects were matched for IQ and previous art teacher, then randomized into two treatment groups. The assignment of the ambiguous stimuli treatment to one group was done at random by the researcher. The second group thus became the non-ambiguous stimuli treatment group.The art instruction given to both treatment groups consisted of projects in design, watercolor painting, print-making, and the production of 2 x 2 acetate transparencies. A variety of materials were used. The study lasted nine weeks, averaging 4 meetings weekly, with 42 minutes per meeting.Each treatment group was exposed to a separate set of slides during the art classroom activities. One set, the ambiguous visual stimuli, contained 51 slides of the Rorschach "projective" and the Gestalt "figure-ground" ambiguity types. The non-ambiguous visual stimuli set of 45 slides was composed of representational or non-abstract pictures, paintings, designs, etc.The two art instructors for the study exchanged places with each other several times during the nine weeks in order to minimize any possible differences due to teacher "style" and/or personality.The results of the study showed high positive correlations between the factors of fluency and flexibility, moderate to high correlations between fluency and originality, and between flexibility and originality, with low positive correlation between elaboration and the other three factors.There was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the two treatment groups on Torrance's Tests of Creative Thinking, Figural Forms. The ambiguous visual stimuli-treatment group, however, showed significant net mean gains on fluency and originality. No significant net mean gains were made by the non-ambiguous visual stimuli treatment group.The conclusions drawn from the findings are:1. Torrance's Tests do not seem to be measuring four distinct factors; to know an individual's flexibility score is to know her fluency and originality scores.2. A Gestalt-like figural flexibility factor, similar to the "spontaneous" flexibility of Guilford, seems to be the factor or ability being measured by the Tests.3. The use of Rorschach "projective" ambiguity and Gestalt "figure-ground" ambiguity in art instruction with ninth grade girls does not inhibit growth in divergent thinking abilities.4. High school girl subjects in an art instructional setting are not adversely affected on divergent thinking measures by either ambiguous or non-ambiguous visual stimuli.Recommendations for further research included:1. Replication of this study, employing a randomized sample of boys and girls (or boys only), restricting the visual stimuli to the Gestalt "figure-ground" ambiguity, administering several measures of divergent thinking, increasing the treatment time and exposure to the visual stimuli, and evaluating the art products of the subjects.2. Continued utilization in art education research of Guilford's "Structure-.of-Intellect" model, with particular emphasis on the figural content of the divergent thinking (production) operation.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of body posture, task time, and attitudes toward drawing and problem-solving on the ideational fluency of two experimental groups and one control group of student draftsmen. The drawings produced were assessed on the basis of the quantity and quality of ideas generated during a specific drawing task.Five major questions were under investigation. Hypotheses were developed to determine whether significant differences existed (1) in the quantity or quality of ideational fluency between the three groups; (2) in the groups' attitudes toward drawing and problem-solving or their background experiences in art and teaching; (3) between the judges' responses to a series of fifteen bipolar scales which were used to assess judge strategies; (4) between the rate of idea generation for' any group; (5) in the interaction between time interval and posture for any group. Drawings produced for a forty-five minute task session and responses to a two-part questionnaire designed for the study provided the data. A team of five expert judges individually rated the quantity and quality of production of a seven-point scale and responded to the drawings via fifteen bipolar scales of the semantic differential type.A random sample of fifty-seven subjects was drawn from a population of seventy-three students enrolled in three sections of a personal development course in art for non-art elementary education majors. Sections were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups.The statistical treatments employed were: (1) One-way analyses of variance were computed to determine whether variances were in effect for (a) the groups' responses to the questionnaire, (b) groups' quantitative production, and (c) groups' qualitative production. (2) A two-way analysis of variance was computed to determine whether any variances occurred between the groups' production rates for nine time intervals and to test interaction between interval and group. (3) T tests for unequal means were used to determine which between group comparison(s) contributed to differences obtained for (a) quantity and (b) quality of production. (4) Multiple regressions were computed for each judge's quantity and quality ratings with the samples' responses to the questionnaire. (b) Pearson product-moment correlations were obtained for each judge's quantity and quality ratings with his responses to scales of the semantic differential.Significant differences in both the quantity and quality of ideation were found between the groups. The effects of posture and task time, and the interaction effects of time and posture were significant. These effects were confounded, apparently by teacher factors that were not detectable through the questionnaire. The draftsmen rated high on the quantity measure were, for the most part, not the same draftsmen as were rated high on quality.The multiple regression analyses indicated the following factors have significant predictive value for the quantity of ideation: (1) exposure to art programs at the senior high level and exposure to certain college-level art courses; (2) an approach to problem-solving that is neither chaotic nor doggedly systematic; (3) an indication that the draftsman does not react irritably to persons who are more ideationally fluent. These factors had significant predictive value for the quality of ideational fluency: (1) the draftsman's indication that his approach to problem-solving is relaxed and systematic, is not aided by isolated meditation but rather by involvement in other activity; (2) an indication that it is unwise or unproductive to plunge oneself into problem situations; (3) an indication that the draftsman would react both with admiration and irritability to someone more ideationally fluent.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 4, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Fine Arts, Classics & Archaeology, and Cinema Studies, 1998. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 389-436).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2004. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy) Biblography: leaves 270-275.