Are Children Becoming Less Creative?

12/05/2017

Are Children Becoming Less Creative?

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"Kyung Hee Kim, Ph.D., an educational psychologist at the College of William & Mary, in Virginia, has spent the past decade poring over the creativity scores of more than 300,000 American K-12 students. The news is not good: 'Creativity scores have significantly decreased since 1990,' she says. Moreover, 'creativity scores for kindergartners through third-graders decreased the most, and those from the fourth through sixth grades decreased by the next largest amount.'" So writes Carolina A. Miranda in a CNN blog post.

She explains, "The scores Kim is referring to are those generated by the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking — the standard-bearer in assessing creativity in children since the 1960s. In fact, the results of the Torrance Tests are also better indicators of lifetime creative accomplishment than childhood IQ. The tests consist of open-ended questions, such as 'How many uses can you think of for a toothbrush?' Scores are awarded based on the number and originality of the ideas produced. A creative child might respond by saying that he can brush his cat's teeth, polish a rock, and clean his fingernails -- all answers that show dexterity in generating a wide range of potentially useful ideas."

Source: "Why we need to let kids be creative," by Carolina A. Miranda, January 3, 2012, CNN.com

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