Art projects and creative thinking of elementary school students in Bangkok

Abstract

Background : Researchs found Thai children’s creative thinking remained low. However, the creative thinking can be developed by encourage the appropriate activities.

Objective : To study the effect of art projects on creativity of elementary school students.

Materials and Methods : Grade 2 and 3 students of elementary school were requested to complete the test on creative thinking drawing production (TCT-DP) as a pre-test measure. Then, they were assigned to experimental and control group, each group consisted of 21 students. The experimental group was given 10 creative thinking activities (1 hour per activity, 2 activities per week) and the control group received no creative thinking activities. Both groups completed the TCT-DP as a post-test measure. After then, the control group was given 10 creative thinking activities. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistic analysis, non – parametric Mann – Whitney Test and non – parametric Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test.

Results : The experimental group had creativity post-test mean scores higher than creativity pre-test mean scores at a 0.01 level of significance (P = 0.002). Although the control group had higher creativity post-test mean scores, there were no significant difference. After the control group received creative thinking activities, creativity mean scores increased significantly compared with before receiving activities at a 0.01 level of significance (P < 0.001), likewise the experimental group.

Conclusion : Participants who received the creative thinking assignments could increase their creativity mean score.