Time Spent on Task Positively Predicts Creative Quality of Responses for Elementary Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Research on Creativity, Talent Development, and Giftedness Roundtable 2 (Table 3)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between the amount of time participants spent on answering creativity tasks and the creative quality of their responses. Data was collected from a sample of 3rd through 5th grade students using a novel measure designed to assess the originality of responses. Results revealed that students who spent more time generating responses achieved significantly higher originality scores on all four sub-tests. Furthermore, time on task predicted quality of answers, even when socio-economic status (SES; as indicated by free/reduced lunch qualification) was statistically controlled. Implications of the findings for creativity assessment, gifted identification, and the way that student time-on-task relates to the quality of their ideas, are discussed.

Authors

• Katalin Grajzel, University of Denver

• Denis Dumas, University of Georgia

• Kelly Berthiaume, University of North Texas