Self-assessment Creativity among Students Who Show Different Tendencies to Spontaneous Application of Analogies

Applying analogies in teaching and learning can significantly improve their outcomes. It is pedagogically important to know the various factors on which depend the frequency and manner of application of analogies. Such factors include creativity. We can see the relationship between creativity and analogy from several angles. In this paper, we are dealing with the connection between self-assessment of creativity and the tendency to apply analogies in a pedagogical context. On a sample of 305 students, the Kaufman Creativity Domain Scale (K-DOCS) and inventory were applied to measure the propensity to spontaneously apply analogies. The results suggest that there is a connection between self-assessment of creativity and a tendency to apply analogies, but also that the nature of that connection is complex. The connection was registered with two areas of expression of creativity (personal-everyday and academic area), while the connection with other areas was not registered. The meaning and pedagogical significance of the obtained results were discussed.

Assessment of Creativity: Theories and Methods

The history of creativity assessment is as old as the concept itself. Researchers from various cultures and disciplines attempted to define the concept of creativity and offer a valid way to assess it. Creativity is generally defined as the ability to produce work that is novel and appropriate. Researchers in the field attempted to measure creativity from different perspectives and tried to answer the question like “What are the mental processes involved in creative thought?, Which personality traits are associated with creativity?, How can a product can be judged to be creative? and, What are the external forces that affect creativity?”. The answers of these questions constitute the most commonly used creativity assessment instruments. This chapter presents a brief overview on assessment of creativity through the eyes of the psychometric perspective and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of various instruments used in the field.