REPOR TRESUMES ED 018 273 24 PS 000 778 UNDERSTANDING THE FOURTH GRACE SLUMP IN CREATIVE THINKING. FINAL REPORT. BY- TORRANCE, E. PAUL GEORGIA UNIV., ATHENS REPORT NUMBER BR-5-0508 PUB DATE DEC 67 REPORT NUMBER CRP-994 CONTRACT OEC-SAE-8995 ECRS PRICE MF-$1.75 HC-$17.80 443P. DESCRIPTORS- *COMPARATIVE EDUCATION, GRACE 4, *CREATIVITY RESEARCH, *CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT, CREATIVE THINKING, INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT, *CULTURAL FACTORS, *CULTURAL DIFFERENCES, NONVERBAL ABILITY, VERBAL ABILITY, CONFORMITY, BEHAVIOR DEVELOPMENT, LONGITUDINAL STUDIES, STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS, CULTURAL IMAGES, FOURTH GRADE SLUMP, USA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, WESTERN SAMOA, WEST GERMANY, NORWAY, INDIA, STUDIES OF CREATIVITY AND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTURBANCES IN CHILDREN HAVE SUGGESTED THE PREScNCE OF SLUMPS (OR INVERSIONS) WHICH MAY BE CORRELATED WITH DEVELOPMENTAL TRANSITIONS. THE MOST NOTABLE OF THESE OCCURS AT ABOUT THE FOURTH GRADE AND IS THE OBJECT OF THIS STUDY. THREE SETS OF INVESTIGATIONS WERE UNDERTAKEN--(1) A STUDY OF CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT IN 7 CULTURES, (2)A STUDY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONFORMITY TENDENCIES, AND (3) LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT. THE 7 CULTURES SELECTED WERE (1) UNITED STATES, DOMINANT, ADVANTAGED,(2) UNITED STATES, SEGREGATED, NEGRO,(3) WESTERN AUSTRALIA,(4) WESTERN SAMOA,(5) WEST GERMANY,(6) NORWAY, AND (7)INDIA. THE BASIC DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM A BATTERY OF VERBAL AND NONVERBAL TESTS GIVEN TO THE CHILDREN AND WERE SUPPLEMENTED WITH INFORMATION FROM TEACHERS ABOUT THEIR TEACHING PRACTICES AND THEIR CONCEPTS OF AN "IDEAL PUPIL." SAMPLE SIZES FOR EACH CULTURE RANGED FROM 500 TO 1000 CHILDREN COVERING GRADES I THROUGH 6. THE CONFORMITY TENDENCIES WERE EXPLORED IN A SERIES OF 6 STUDIES, EACH INVOLVING FROM 150 TO 500 U.S. ADVANTAGED-CULTURE CHILDREN IN GRADES 2 THROUGH 6. THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY WAS BASED ON A SAMPLE OF 100 U.S. ADVANTAGED-CULTURE CHILDREN WHOSE PERFORMANCES IN THE THIRD, FOURTH, AND FIFTH GRADES WERE COMPARED. THE INTERCULTURAL STUDY FOUND THAT DISCONTINUITIES IN DEVELOPMENT OCCUR IN MOST CULTURES AND CONCLUDED THAT THERE IS EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THEY ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE IMPOSITION OF ADDITIONAL SOCIAL DEMANDS. THE TEACHERS' RESPONSES ON AN IDEAL PUPIL CHECKLIST PROVED ABLE, WHEN COMPARED WITH THOSE OF AN EXPERT PANEL ASKED TO DETERMINE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A CREATIVE CHILD, TO PREDICT THE RELATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE DIFFERENT CULTURES' CHILDREN IN CREATIVITY. THE CONFORMITY STUDIES REVEALED AN INCREASED TENDENCY FOR CHILDREN TO CONSULT WITH THEIR PEERS AT ABOUT THE FOURTH GRADE, AND THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY CONFIRMED THE EXISTENCE OF THE SLUMP IN INDIVIDUALS. (DR) FINAL REPORT Cooperative Research Project No. 994 Contract No. SAE-8995 Understanding the Fourth Grade Slump In Creative Thinking E. Paul Torrance 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. U. S. Department of HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research g. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH,EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCTION THIS DOCUMENT tin P" EX:TTLY !s.S Rt::7:IVED FROM THE PERSON OR OP:VI4fri I ril,%T.S.'Or: 11;;;I 0:-IMONS STATED DO NUT NECE,.;SA1:11.t KarREST.141 0A-iCIAL OFFICE OFEDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. FINAL REPORT Project No. 994- 5-05011;2-12-1 Coiittact SWE 0 15 UNDERSTANDING 'ME FOURTH GRADE SUMP IN CREATIVE 'DUNKING December 1967 U. S. DEPARNENT OF MOH, EDUCATION SAND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research UNDERSTANDING THE FOURTH GRADE SLUM) IN CREATIVETHINKING Project No. 994- 5-0508-2-12-1 Contract SAE-899% E. Paul Torrance December 1967 The research reported hereinwas performed pursuant to a contract with the Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projects under Government sponsorshipare encouraged to express freely their professional judgment in thecon- duct of the project. Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarily representofficial Office of Education position or policy. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Minneapolis, Minnesota and THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA Athens, Georgia ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research projects described in this report became far more complex, expensive, and time-consuming than I had dreamed at the time they were undertaken. Naturally, they also in- volved far more people and the cooperation of far more arouns than I had originally intended and it is not possible to acknowledge all of these coatributions. In terms of financial support, I am of course indebted to the Cooperative Research Program of the United States Office of Education. Contract Number SAE-8995 made it possible to initiate the series of projects but insome way almost all of the cooperating school systems made financial contributions. The Office of Education contract funds and the support of these cooperating groups, however, barely made possible the data collection andsome of the translation. During the early years of the project, the regular budget of the Bureau of Edu- cational Research of the University of Minnesota made possible a small amount of continued work on the project. Since 1963, however, the project has been dependent almost entirelyupon the personal funds of the principal investigator derived pri- marily from the royalties on Guiding Creative Talent, Reward- ing Creative Behavior, and GirreaOhildren in the Classroom, from honorariums from speaking engagements, and from regular salary. Since 1966, the College of Education of The Univer- sity has also made available such facilitiesas calculators, work space for research assistants, and the like. Much hard work, frequently far beyond the call of duty, has gone into the projects described in this report. Most critical have been the all-out performances during vacation periods of 1967 by my wife, Pansy, who coordinated the produc- tion of the report, proof read, and the like; Carole Poore who almost singlehandedly scored or rescored all of the tests of creative thinking ability for all of the subjects; Jim Coone and Joe Khatena who performed most of the statistical analyses; Larry E. Orcutt who aided in the project over the past four years and who made the all-out performance at the last minute to score all of the tests taken by the 100 subjects in the longitudinal study; Mrs. Joan Burns who typed most of the final manuscript; and Mrs. Dorothy Werblo, Annette Khatena,, and Allan Khatena who carried forward on the production job at a critical and stressful time. For the collection of the Western Samoan data, Iam in- debted to Dr. Richard T. Johnson, his chief assistant and translator Tavita Fitisemann, and personnel in both the mission and government schools of Western Samoa. For the data obtained in a segregated Negro school, Iam indebted to Superintendent Frank E. Lawrence and Miss Mary E. Gordon, Elementary Supervisor, who personally supervised the testing in this school and conducted the interviews with the teachers. Of all of the interviews, Miss Gordon'swere the most complete. Dr. Ronald J. Goldman, now head of Didsbury- College in England, did much of the analysis of these data. In Western Australia, I am indebted to Dr. Gordon E. Eastwood who arranged for the initial data collection, con- ducted a preliminary analysis of the data, and conducted additional follow-up and supplementary studies in Western Austnalia.Dr. T.L, Robertson and S.W. Woods gave critical assistance in making arrangements for data collection. For the data collected in West Berlin, Germany, my chief indebtedness is to Dr. Dietmar Schenitzki who made the initial contacts and translations into German; Wolfgang K8eplin and Kurt Gruhn who made local arrangements and personally col- lected and supervised the administration of the tests and con- ducted the interviews with teachers. My colleague, Professor Gordon M.A. Mork, patiently arranged for the collection of the Norwegian data, supervised the translations, personally collected the data in one school, and gave much useful information concerning Norwegian culture and literature. We are also indebted to the Educational Research Institute of the University of Oslo, Hans-Magne Eikeland, Trygve Kvale, and Wenche Haaland.Dr. Gerald Middents and Mr. Michael Pesci made special analyses for these studies. For the data collected in India, I am most indebted to Dr. Som Nath Ghei who had participated in the initial develop- ment of the tests and personally arranged for and supervised the collection of the data. We are also indebted to his corps of four assistants and the personnel of the seven cooperating schools. Mrs. Gargi Luthra and Mr. A.O. Prakash made many very useful analyses for these studies. In the comparison group school, I am indebted to Miss Frances Blake, Elementary Supervisor, and Mr. Harry Segal, the building principal of the cooperating school. In the longitu- dinal schools, my chief indebtedness is to Professor James Curtin of the University of Minnesota and to Dr. Orville Aftreth, now Superintendent in San Diego, California. Mr. Joseph Buzzelli was extremely helpful in arranging for the conduct of the conformity experiments. At the University of Minnesota, other assistants making notable contributions include: Mrs. Dorolese Wardwell, Dr. Paul R. Henrickson, now at the College of Guam; Dr, Noel Iver- son, now at the University of Newfoundland; Dr. Keyser Arsan, now at the University of Istanbul, Turkey; Dr, John E. Bowers, now at Haile Selassie I University, U.S.R.; Dr. Kaoru Yamamoto, now at the University, of Iowa; Dr, Balderaj Luthra, now at Queens College, Kingston, Ontario; Miss Victoria J. Punsalan, now at Queens College, Kingston, Ontario; Dr. Gerald Middents, now at Actin College in Sherman, Texas; Mrs. Gwendolyn Green; and Mrs, Darleen Ulrich. At The University of Georgia, essential services have been performed by Mrs. Myrna Minnis, Miss Pat Winn, Mrs. Diana Blalock, Tom Allman, Nicholas Aliotti, and those already mentioned. University of Georgia E. Paul Torrance iv PREFACE The project described in this report consists of threesets of rather complex studies, each employingrather different sets of methods and procedures and each investigatinga different aspect of the problem of understanding thefourth grade slump in creative thinking.