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STUDYING A PERSON'S THINKING AND CREATIVITY THROUGH TESTING
from:Author J Sharkey
Not every student is expected to agree to tests that require them to use their creative faculties, mostly because some find it rather tedious and time-consuming. However, testing has been found to be an effective way to measure a person's thinking style and creativity, though it does not guarantee accuracy.
True, because creativity is a concept that is all too general, whose definition may vary depending on culture, background and political or economic orientation, it is something that is hard to calculate.
Testing, however, gives us, at least, an idea of where a particular person's creativity lies. Instead of groping in the dark, testing allows us to make intelligent inferences an individual's style and preferences. If we execute them fairly and explain the merits of learning to think creatively, people will have valid reasons to do so.
Here are some examples of creativity tests that have been employed through the years.
- Draw the opposite
Students are asked to draw a one-inch figure next to a test concept or word that is represented by the opposite of the highlighted word. This test pushes creativity as it makes use of our imagination and knowledge.
- Essay test
Essays can help examiners study creative thinking or they may hole in directly on knowledge and memory. Questions are asked to allow the test-taker to use his problem solving skills and imagination.
- Flexibility tests
Higher points are given to answers that are most unusual, least expected, but may still be considered correct. Inform students beforehand how they are going to be graded.
- Write the opposites
Like the draw the opposites tests, students are asked to write down the opposite of a particular word next to it. Researchers have shown that people who are very creative have the ability to come up with answers more quickly than the average creative thinkers.
- Word and image matching
Place a small group of figures in the test and ask the students to match words with the image that are a best fit with them.
- Multiple choice tests
Multiple choice tests are rather tedious to make because you have to come up with a number of items for just one question. However, it can serve as a good measure of a person's creativity if you ask him to, instead, select the wrong item from the choices and see how fast he or she responds to it.
- Short answer and definition
This test does not really measure creativity because students are merely asked to write down short descriptions of a certain term. It, however, becomes a creativity gauge if they are asked to jot down the opposite meaning of the given term.
- Fluency test
Ask students to answer a question that has more than one right answer and grade them according to the uniqueness of their responses and how many alternative answers they can come up with. Test-takers may also be asked to rank their answers according to degree of correctness, in their perceptions.
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