Investigation of formal creativity of 6th, 7th and 8th grade students according to different program approaches

With this study, it was aimed to evaluate the creativity levels of 6th, 7th and 8th grade adolescence students by examining them in terms of various variables such as school program, gender and grade level. In order to determine the effects of the relationship between the variables of the study and the creativity levels of the students, the relational screening model used. The sample of the study was taken for the 2021-2022 academic year at Ataturk Secondary School and Uğur School located in Antalya / Muratpaşa district with the Waldorf School is located in the Antalya/Alanya district with 6.,7. and 8. the class consists of students. In order to collect the data, the Torrance Creative Thinking Test Formal A Form was used. The total creativity scores related to measuring the level of creativity and the sub-dimension scores of creativity (Formal Fluency, Formal Originality, Abstractness of Titles, Enrichment, Resistance to Early Closure, List of Creative Forces) were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 package program. Since some data did not show a normal distribution, both parametric and nonparametric analyses were used, Kruskal Wallis Test, Mann Whitney U Test, Tamhane's T2 Test and Anova Test were used for evaluation. According to the results of analysis, there was a significant difference between the total creativity scores of the students and their grade levels. It has been determined that this difference is predominantly in favor of 8th grade students. A significant difference was found between the total creativity score and the type of school in favor of only Waldorf schools. There was no significant difference in total creativity scores according to gender type. When the sub-dimension scores of creativity were examined in terms of the whole group, a significant difference was observed in favor of 8th graders. Only in the enrichment sub-dimension, there was a significant difference in favor of both 8th and 6th grades. With the evaluation of the sub-dimensions in terms of school type, a significant difference was found in the "fluency" scores in favor of Waldorf schools. There was a significant difference between the "originality" scores in favor of both Waldorf and Uğur schools. On the other hand, it was concluded that there is a meaningfulness in favor of both Atatürk Secondary School and Uğur Schools in the "Abstractness of Titles" score. No significant difference was found between the other sub-dimensions of "enrichment", "resistance to early closing" and "list of creative forces" dimension scores and school types.