HowardJones PATaylor J and Sutton L The effects.docx
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HowardJones PATaylor J and Sutton L The effects.docx
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HowardJonesPATaylorJandSuttonLTheeffects
Howard-Jones,P.A.,Taylor,J.andSutton,L.(2002)Theeffectsofplayonthecreativityofyoungchildren,EarlyChildDevelopmentandCare,172(4),p323-328.
Theeffectofplayonthecreativityofyoungchildrenduringsubsequentactivity
PAULA.HOWARD-JONES,JAYNER.TAYLORandLESLEYSUTTON
CardiffSchoolofEducation,UniversityofWalesInstituteCardiff.
ABSTRACT
Thisstudyinvestigatedwhethertheexperienceofunstructuredplayinaprecedingtaskmayinfluencethecreativityofyoungchildreninsubsequentactivity.52childrenintheagerange6-7wererandomlyallocatedtotwogroups.Thefirstgroupwasallowedtoplaywithsalt-doughfor25minutes,whiletheothergroupfollowedastructuredexerciseinvolvingthecopyingoftextfromtheboard.Allchildrenwerethenaskedtoproduceacollageofacreature,usingacontrolledrangeoftissue-papermaterials.Theprocedurewasthenrepeatedsomedayslater,withthetwogroupsexperiencingtheotherprecedingtask.10judges(7traineeteachersand3lecturers)judgedthecreativequalityoftheworkarising.Therangeofcoloursandtotalnumberofpiecesusedbyeachchildineachcollagewasalsorecorded.Analysisoftheresultsrevealedasignificantpositiveeffectofprecedingtaskuponcreativityandrangeofcolours.
Keywords:
Play,creativity
Emailcontact:
PAJones@uwic.ac.uk
INTRODUCTION
Playhasbeenreferredtoasthe“work”ofchildren(PapiliaandOlds,1990)andtheimportanceofplayinthecognitivedevelopmentofchildrenhasfrequentlybeenacknowledged.Inparticular,children’stendencytowardsplay,orplayfulness,hasbeenlinkedtocreativethinkingskills(Lieberman,1965,Wallach,1970,Lieberman,1977)andtendstoindicateadispositiontowardscreativityinlaterlife(Clark,GriffingandJohnson,1989,Schmukler,1982-3,Russ,RobinsandChristiano,1999).
Someimmediateeffectsofplayinghavealsobeenexamined.AnearlystudybySutton-Smith(1967)demonstratedhowchildren’sabilitytothinkupusesforanobjectwasimprovedbybeingallowedtoplaywithit.DanskyandSilverman(1973)exposedgroupsofpre-schoolchildrentoconventionalobjectsfor10minutes.Onegroupwasallowedtoplayfreelywithit,anotherimitatedanadult’sactionsontheobjectsandthethirdgroupobservedanadultactupontheobjects.Thefree-playgroupscoredsignificantlyhigherthantheothertwogroupsinanalternateusestestinvolvingtheobjects.DanskyandSilverman(1975)latercarriedoutasimilarinvestigationbutassessedthechildren’sability,afterexposuretoobjects,toproducealternateusesfornewobjectstheyhadnotseenbefore.Thegroupwhohadbeenallowedtoplaytransferredtheirplayfuldispositiontowardsthenewobjectsandagainscoredsignificantlyhigherthantheothertwogroups.Ininterpretingthisandotherstudies,Pellegrini(1984-1985)distinguishesbetweenexplorationandplay,suggestingthatexplorationcanbecharacterisedbyabehaviourthatseekstoanswer“Whatisit?
”“Whatcanitdo?
”.Thisexplorativebehaviourthenwanesandisreplacedbyaplayfulbehaviourthatismoreconcernedwith“WhatcanIdowithit?
”.Pellegrini(1983-1984)suggests,giventheshorttimethatthechildrenwereallowedwiththeobject,thatitmayhavebeenthetransferofanexplorativemindsetthatsupportedthechildrenindeterminingusesforthenewobject.Thisideawassuccessfullyexploitedinlaterstudiesthatshowedadult-ledexploratoryquestioningtobemoreeffectivethanfreeplayinimprovingthegeneralassociativefluencyofchildren(Pellegrini,1981,1982,PellegriniandGreene,1980).
Affectmayalsoplayaroleininfluencingthecreativityobservedintasksfollowingplayfulactivity.InastudybyIsen,Johnson,MertzandRobinson(1985),adultsubjectswhowatchedfilmsdesignedtoinduceahappymoodmademoreunusualassociationsonsubsequentverbaltasks.However,thesefindingsappeartoconflictwiththoseofTighe,(1992),whofoundthatsubjectsinpositivemoodconditionswrotestoriesthatwereratedaslesscreativethandidsubjectsineithernegativeorneutralconditions.Further,Amabile(1996)reportsthatshehasfailed,inseveralattempts,toshowthatinducingapositiveaffectsignificantlyinfluencesthecreativityofhersubjects.Suchapparentlycontradictoryfindingsmaybeduetotherelationshipbetweenassociativefluencyandmoregeneralmeasuresofcreativity(seebelow).Additionally,thelevelofrelaxationinducedbytheexperimentersmaybeamoresignificantfactorthanthepositivemoodoftheirsubjects.Byconsideringmodelsofcreativecognitioninvolvingmovementbetweenfocusedandunfocusedstatesofmind(Martindale,1995,Howard-JonesandMurray,inpress),itcanbepredictedthatrelaxationofsubjectsshouldleadtogreaterassociativefluency-asdemonstratedforadultsbyForgaysandForgays(1992).
BerrettaandPrivette(1990)measuredthecreativityofchildrenusingtheTorranceTestsofCreativeThinkingforaftertheyhadexperiencedstructuredorflexibleplayexperiences.Thesetestsprovidedscoresforover-allcreativethinking,fluency,flexibilityandoriginality.Childrenwhoparticipatedinflexibleplayexperiencesexhibitedgreatercreativethinkingthanthechildrenwhohadreceivedhighlystructuredplayexperiences.Thesehigherscoresderivedfromincreasesinoriginalityofthinkingratherthanfluencyorflexibility.ThelackofaneffectforfluencymaybeconsideredsurprisinginthelightofstudiessuchasDanskyandSilverman(1975).BerrettaandPrivette(1990)suggestthatthoseactivitiesthatbenefitfromimprovedcreativethinkingshouldbescheduledafterfree-play,sothattheymaybenefitfromincreasedoriginality.
Studiesthatusemeasuresofassociativefluency,andeventhosethatincludeflexibilityandoriginality,maynotprovideuswithadirectindicationofcreativityinthebroadersense.Creativityismostoftendefinedastheabilitytoproducesolutionswhicharebothappropriateandoriginal.Theabilitytoaccessremoteassociationsmaybeconsideredfundamentalinproducingoriginalideas.However,theappropriatenessofanideareliesuponanindividualsabilitytofocuscriticallyuponitandrefineit(Martindale,1995).TheConsensualAssessmentTechnique(Amabile,1996)providesamoregeneralmeasureofcreativevalue,bygainingameasurementofthecreativityofanoutcomeaccordingtoapanelofindividualsaccordingtotheirownindependently-formulatedcriteria.Thistechniquehasbeenusedtoassessthepositiveimpactofcreativeactivityuponcollegestudents,showingittohavebeneficialeffectsuponcreativity,intrinsicmotivationandlong-termretention(Conti,AmabileandPollak,1995).Thecreativetaskemployed,however,wasdirectlyrelatedtothelearningtopic(dreams),andthiswaschieflyastudyoflonger-termeffectsthanthoseconsideredinthepresentstudy.
Thefocusofthepresentstudywastodeterminewhethershortperiodsoffree-playhaveaninfluenceuponthecreativitydemonstratedbyyoungchildreninanactivitytypicalofthecurriculum,whenthissubsequentactivityisnotrelatedtoeitherthemediumortopicoftheprecedingfree-play.Inthisrespect,itevaluatedthepotentialeffectivenessofthetypeofscheduleproposedbyBerretaandPrivette(1990).Unlikepreviousstudies,however,itassessedtheeffectofprecedingtaskuponcreativityusingtheConsensualAssessmentTechnique(Amabile,1982)-inwhichanindependentpanelofjudgessubjectivelyratethecreativevalueofoutcomesproducedbychildren.
METHOD
DESIGN
Participantswereattendingasemi-rural,English-mediuminfantsschoolintheSouthWalesarea.Theywereinthesameyear(aged6-7yearsold),andrandomlyallocatedintotwogroupsoftwenty-sixchildren:
AandB.
Arepeated-measuresdesignwasfollowed.Onthefirstday,allfifty-twochildrenassembledintheclassroom.GroupAlefttheroomaccompaniedbyateacherandtakenaspareclassroomwheretheywereallowedtoindulgeinfree-playwithsaltdough.Therewereabout3to4childrenpertable,andeachchildwasprovidedwithapproximatelythesamesizepieceofbluesaltdough.Theywereinstructedto“Dowhateveryouwantwithit”andgivennootherguidance.Interactionwiththeadultpresentwaskepttoanabsoluteminimum.Atthesametime,GroupBwereinstructedtocompleteahandwritingexercisethatinvolvedthecopyingoftextfromtheboard.Theywereseatedingroupsof6to7andwereeachsuppliedwithapencilandalinedpieceofpaper.Ifthewrittentaskwascompletedtheywereaskedtorepeatit.After25minutesGroupAwereescortedbacktotheclassroomwherebothgroupsAandBwereaddressedandaskedtomakeacollageofacreatureusingthematerialsprovided.Thechildrensatingroupsof6-7atatable.Onthetablewerethefollowing:
100sheetsoftissuepaper(10sheetsof10differentcolours),4gluepots,8gluespreaders,8pairsofscissorsandasheetofpaperforeachchildtomaketheircollageon.Thechildrenweregiven35minutestocompletetheircollageandpencilswerethendistributedforthechildrentowritetheirnameupontheirwork.
Thenextday,atthesametime,thewholeprocedurewasrepeatedwiththegroupscarryingoutthealternativeprecedingtask.Beforecreatingtheircollage,GroupAwereallowedtoplaywiththesaltdoughinthespareclassroomwhileGroupBcarriedouttheirhandwritingexercise.
SCORING
TheoutcomesofthechildrenwerescoredfortheircreativityaccordingtoAmabile’sconsensualassessmenttechnique(Amabile,1982).Thistechniqueinvolveshavingjudgesindependentlyandsubjectivelyratethelevelofcreativityofthe
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