Enhancing the creative problem-solving skills of educable mentally retarded students

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Special Education
• Cognitive Development

Background:

• Educable mentally retarded (EMR) students often require tailored educational interventions.
• Creative thinking is a crucial cognitive skill that can be fostered through specific programs.
• Assessing creative thinking in EMR students presents unique challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the Productive Thinking Program adaptation for EMR students.
• To determine if targeted creative thinking instruction yields measurable improvements.
• To identify the most reliable measures for assessing creative thinking in this population.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental design involved 60 EMR students receiving 9 weeks of creative thinking instruction.
• A control group of 60 EMR students received no additional instruction.
• Pre- and post-instruction assessments measured creative thinking abilities.

Main Results:

• Students who received creative thinking instruction showed significant improvements in creative thinking.
• The positive effects of the training were observed to be stable over time.
• Measures of fluency, flexibility, and originality proved most effective in assessing creative thinking gains.

Conclusions:

• Targeted creative thinking training is effective for educable mentally retarded students.
• The observed improvements in creative thinking skills are durable.
• Fluency, flexibility, and originality are key indicators for assessing creative potential in EMR students.