THE ROLE OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION AND INTERDEPENDENCY IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT.
Item
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Title
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THE ROLE OF CREATIVE EXPRESSION AND INTERDEPENDENCY IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT.
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Identifier
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AAI8222984
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identifier
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8222984
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Creator
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SUTTON, SHARON EGRETTA.
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Contributor
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Susam Saegert
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Date
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1982
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Education, Educational Psychology
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Abstract
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This thesis describes an applied pre-test, post-test control group design. The study was conducted at a predominantly lower income elementary school during a program which introduced children to principles of architectural design.;A theoretical model was extrapolated after making extended observations of reactions to the hands-on, community-oriented curriculum. Because of the children's excitement about this curriculum, improvements were expected in self esteem, architectural knowledge, cooperative skills and values, environmental awareness, task commitment, appreciation of the creative process, and general intellectual skills.;One hundred twelve fourth and fifth graders participated in the experimental program. Two control groups comprised of 30 in-school children and 47 children from a nearby school were employed. The California Achievement Test, the SRA Mental Abilities Test, and five tests designed for the study were administered. Report cards, interviews, questionnaires, observations, and children's logs provided additional data.;There were significant improvements in both fourth and fifth graders' attitude toward the value of cooperation (p < 0.05 and p < 0.00, respectively). The fourth graders rated themselves significantly higher on being able to cooperate (p < 0.05), and the fifth graders received significantly higher marks on their report cards in areas relating to cooperative abilities (p < 0.05). Both fourth and fifth graders improved significantly in environmental awareness (p < 0.02 and p < 0.00, respectively), and fifth graders made significant improvements in their knowledge of architecture (p < 0.00). Improvements were correlated with involvement, but there was no correlation between improvement and previous academic achievement.;The expectation that self esteem would improve could not be confirmed because these data were incomplete. In the remaining measures--task commitment, appreciation of the creative process, and general intellectual skills--there were no significant improvements. Although the program failed to yield improvements in basic skills, involvement with the project did not detract from academic performance. Further, the social improvements which were made do not occur as a result of the traditional curriculum.;It can be concluded that the experimental children improved in those areas which were most salient to participation in the hands-on project regardless of previous academic performance. Further, the informal data suggest that the reality-based quality of the curriculum contributed to those improvements.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
