Finding the Problem: Students' Approaches to Problem Identification Within a Creative Problem-Solving Context

• In Event: 15.049 - Advancing Creativity for Talent Development

Abstract

This study used a new measurement tool, Creative Problem Solving-Microanalysis Interview Protocol (CPS-MIP), to explore students’ approaches to problem identification. Eighth and ninth grade students (N = 90) completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking-Figural (TTCT) and participated in semi-structured interviews. Their problem identification approaches included Resource Management (i.e., regulating attention/perception), Elaborative Efforts (i.e., exploring/connecting information), Analysis (i.e., considering/dissecting specific components), and Manipulation (i.e., actively altering information). Students’ reported strategies were differentially related to specific creative outcomes on the CPS-MIP and TTCT-Figural. Three strategies, Elaborative Efforts, Analysis, and Manipulate, accounted for 34% of the variance in problem identification fluency. This study (a) provides a new assessment method and (b) delineates problem identification strategies to support research and classroom instruction.

Authors

• Lisa DaVia Rubenstein, Ball State University

• Gregory L. Callan, Utah State University

• Kristie Neumeister, Ball State University

• Lisa Marie Ridgley, Ball State University