The purpose of this study was to explore whether creativity can be nurtured in an
experiential learning environment at the college level. The study investigated how well
process-based creativity models and construct-based creativity models reflected creative
behavior in an experiential and team-based learning environment.
The research design included field observations, focus group interviews, student
questionnaires, and portfolio assessments. Study participants were selected students from
Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Findings indicated that both process-based and construct-based creativity models
are good indicators of creative behavior.
Torrance’s creativity dimensions that emerged among students included problem
awareness, ability to produce and consider many alternatives, ability to put ideas into
context, ability to use humor, kinesthetic responsiveness, and ability to break through
boundaries. Treffinger’s creativity dimensions included sensitivity to problems, tolerance
of congruity, fluency, good research and management skills, cognition, memory, analysis,
application, openness to experience, confidence, independence in inquiry, willingness to respond, and readiness for transformations. Dacey’s constructs included sensitivity to
problems, divergent thinking, convergent thinking, openness, independence of judgment,
self guidance, and playfulness. Jackson and Messick’s constructs included analysis,
intuition, openness, and reflection.
Study findings also indicated that all steps of the Osborn and Parnes processbased
creativity model were fully utilized in the experiential and team-based learning
environment.
As part of the effort to seek models of teaching and learning that encourage
students to be more creative while solving complex problems in the world of agriculture,
findings of this study can be used to determine how creativity can be fostered through
experiential and team-based learning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2410 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Aboukinane, Chehrazade |
| Contributors | Dooley, Kim |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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