دراسة تورانس للابداع ١_a .. كتاب الإبداع وتربية

Chapter V

Torrance Study of Creativity

Consistency (E. Paul Torrance) defines creativity as the process of sensing problems, shortcomings, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, inaccuracies, and so on, then identifying the difficulty and identifying it, then searching for solutions and making guesses, or say if you want to formulate hypotheses about deficiencies and defects, and then test these The hypotheses are re-tested, and finally the results are formulated and refined.

Torrance says that each of these stages includes strong human needs and is related to them. If we feel a lack or inconsistency, a kind of tension arises in our souls, and therefore we feel uncomfortable and we want to get rid of the tension. And since the usual methods of behavior are not appropriate or sufficient, we start by trying to avoid common, obvious and incorrect solutions, through research, diagnosis, permutation, guessing and estimation. And until we test our hypotheses, change them, and re-test them, we remain uncomfortable, and the tension does not completely go away until we give a person the choice of what we have discovered.

Then (Torrance) says that there are other reasons that make this definition preferable to others, that it enables us to define the types of capabilities, psychological functions, and personality traits that facilitate or prevent the creativity process in a procedural manner. It gives us a way to identify the types of results that result from the process and the types of people who can advance the process most successfully. Moreover, this definition seems consistent with the historical use of the term creativity and is applicable in the fields of science, literature, arts and human relations. However, some scholars did not agree with this definition of (Torrance) and protested against it with many arguments that we do not see the need to present in our place.

It is important that Torrance considers creativity a special kind of problem-solving, and he says that Newell, Shaw and Simon see that problem-solving can be considered creative to the extent that one or more of the following conditions are met:

1_ When the product of thinking is new and of value.

2- When thinking is not unconventional, in the sense that it requires a change or rejection of previously accepted ideas.

3- When thinking requires intense excitement and perseverance and lasts for a long time (continuously or intermittently) or is deep

4_ When the problem, as posed at the beginning, is vague and undefined, so that the formulation of the problem itself is part of the task. Torrance goes on to say that if a person accepts the definition that I presented about creativity, then it becomes possible to identify creative behavior, capabilities of creative thinking, and latent creative ability through processes that use tests and other processes that do not use tests. Show this creativity and on the professional means available. Thus, from the point of view of the teacher, for example, what is important is to identify the types of latent abilities that are taken as a basis in the method to be followed in education.

Torrance indicates that the tests described by him and his collaborators to measure creativity differ from those described by Gilford and his colleagues, and that his tests include complex tasks and that they benefit from what is known about the nature of creative thinking processes, characteristics of creative production, and creative personalities. Torrance describes some of them. His tests, which we do not consider necessary to be mentioned here.

Then (Torrance) and his collaborators say that in their observational studies, they found that children who scored higher in creative thinking were giving more ideas and producing more original ideas, as they were giving more explanations about the work of unfamiliar science games, when they were comparing who were less creative than them and when they were working in teams of five people each. When the two teams were compared in terms of intelligence, gender, race, and teacher, it was found that the children were the most creative in 46 classes ranging from the first to the sixth grade. Weisberg and Springer studied a sample of class students. Fourth, gifted people with high IQ, and compared them to those without them, and found them characterized by high degrees of self-image, ease of remembering life experiences, presence of oedipal anxiety, and ego development. In Rorschach novels, they show a penchant for non-conventional responses, unrealistic perceptions, and an imaginative treatment of inkblots. He described their achievement as more sensitive and more liberating than the achievement of their comrades who are inferior to them in creativity. As for (Fleming and Weintraub), they found a significant negative relationship among the sixth grade students between the measures of originality, fluency, flexibility, humor and spirit used with them. between stiffness measurements.

The studies conducted by Torrance and his group on adults were also encouraging. In the graduate classes that Torrance was running, he found that those with higher scores on creative thinking tests were more original and more creative in application than their less creative classmates. He and Hansen found that the most creative among business teachers were asking More exciting, complex and branching questions. Hansen also found that the most creative teachers were behaving more creatively than others in their classes and that they were more original. This is evidenced by studies conducted on saleswomen in large stores, as creative women showed their originality, flexibility, and ability to expand.

Some studies have shown that the measurements that we have presented are positively related to the different types of school achievement, while other studies have indicated that such measurements are not related - or negatively related - to school achievement measurements. A careful examination of these studies indicates that the methods of assessing school achievement Teaching methods can be important in the growth of creativity. And if a person carefully examines the research on the interrelationships between the types of abilities and the different methods of education, an impressive picture will appear to him. This is because when a person obtains his information by way of domination, the measure of mental age or intelligence is a more important evidence of achievement than the measures of originality, fluency, and the like. As for when knowledge is obtained in a creative way, that is, by way of discovery or experimentation, then the measures of originality, fluency, and the like are better evidence than intelligence tests. This discovery has significance for education and educators that do not need explanation and comment.

Then (Torrance) says that many complain that we do not yet know enough about the factors that affect creative growth. But (Torrance) believes that we know enough about these factors, since the days of Socrates and Plato, to enable us to nurture creativity and creators better than what we have done and still do to this day. Socrates, for example, knew that it was important to ask provocative questions. And to encourage natural ways of learning. He knew that it was not enough to ask questions that simply called for repeating what the learner had learned. He also knew that thinking is a skill that grows through training and application, and that it is questions that ask the learner to do something with what he learns, that is, to do it and to do something.