A STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF MICROCOMPUTER CLASSROOM UTILIZATION UPON THE CREATIVE THOUGHT PROCESS OF SIXTH GRADE LEARNERS

The purpose of this study was to provide insight into the impact of microcomputer utilization upon the process of creativity. The study attempted to determine whether a relationship exists between microcomputer usage and the development of creativity in elementary students. A secondary purpose of the study was to examine whether the microcomputer intervention differentially affected subjects identified as high, moderate and low creative learners in pretesting. Two Null Hypotheses were generated: (H1) There are no significant differences in the development of creativity--fluency, flexibility, orginality and elaboration--between the quasi-experimental and control groups as measured by the scores of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. (H2) There are no significant differences in creative thinking development gains between the high creative learners and the moderate and low creative learners in both the quasi-experimental and control conditions.The study sample included 214 sixth grade boys and girls from one urban and four suburban districts in a Colorado City of approximately 250,000 people. Five classes of learners (n = 100) were considered the control group. Five classes of learners (n = 114) represented the treatment group. The treatment group received a minimum of one to two hours a week of classroom computer utilization during the 1984-85 school year. The choice of appropriate software was left to the discretion of the teachers. Bi-monthly monitoring of the treatment groups was done by the researcher.The results of the study's findings are reported in two separate creative measurement categories: figural and verbal. This study found significant growth in all verbal subtests (fluency, .001 flexibility, .001 orginality, .002) as well as the verbal subtest composite (.001) as a result of microcomputer classroom utilization. No facilitation of figural creativity appeared to be promoted in this study. No significant variation among the high, moderate and low learning groups was found in performance within the quasi-experimental or the control groups. No closure in the performance gap, therefore, was indicated. Microcomputers enhanced the verbal creative performance of children, regardless of their creative ability level.The first Null Hypothesis was analyzed by means of a One-way Nested Ancova. The second Null Hypothesis was examined through Analysis of Variance, using a blocking factor based on figural and verbal pretest scores.