TESTING FOR

CREATIVITY
IN DESIGN EDUCATION.
Could the use of creativity
assessment help improve design
pedagogy practices?
Joseph Harb,
Dr. Russ Marshall,
Dr. Sam Porter,
Dr. Stephen Summerskill

LETS HAVE A THINK ABOUT CREATIVITY.

Are you creative?

Does good design require creativity?
Can anyone be creative?
Can creativity be taught or learned?

THE ANSWER IS YES!

You are all creative to one extent or another.
Good design strives for innovation, which is the successful

implementation of creative ideas.1

Everyone has the potential to be creative.
Aspects of creativity can be taught and anyone can learn.

1Amabile, T. M. (1997). Motivating

Creativity in Organizations:
California Management Review, 40(I), 3959.

HOW IS CREATIVITY DEFINED?

A creative solution is one that solves an open

ended problem in a novel way that is both

appropriate and effective.

A FEW HELPFUL THEORIES.

Rhodes 4 Ps of creativity.
Amabiles Componential Theory of Creativity.

WHAT ARE THE 4 PS?

Person.

Psychological creativity, concerned with the individual.

Product.

Physical creativity of an artifact, solution or system.

Process.

The psychological and physical processes that lead to creativity.

Press.

The external forces that influence creativity.

THE COMPONENTIAL MODEL.

WHAT WE WANT TO LEARN.

We would like to investigate the usefulness of creativity tests.
We hope to find out if creativity tests are accurate.
We hope to find out if the information they provide us can give us some

new insights.
We hope to find out if there is a relationship between a students

creativity and their academic achievement.

We hope to find out if there is a relationship between a students

academic achievement and how creative their designs are.

HOW WILL WE DO THIS?

We have selected two tests.
The first tests the Creative Person.
The second tests the Creative Product.
We invite you all to take the first test next week.
The second test will occur once you have finished the module.

NEXT WEEK.
The test takes between 15 and 20 minutes.
The test has 3 questions.
Question 1 is a verbal question. It asks you an open ended problem and

you are asked to write down as many answers as you can think of.You
will be given 3 minutes to answer.
Questions 2 and 3 are figural questions. You will be asked to make

drawings for each questions by finishing incomplete figures provided in

the test booklet.You will be given 3 minutes to answer each question.
You may use pen or pencil for the test and colouring pencils or markers

are allowed for the 2nd and 3rd question but are not required.

AFTERWARDS.
By taking part in this study, you will be given your own personal score

of creativity.
Remember, this is only one way of assessing how creative you are and is

not a definitive evaluation of your creativity.

You will be provided with some suggestions on how you could have

achieved a higher score.

At the request of interested students, debrief sessions may be

scheduled in order to discuss further for those who would like to learn
more.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.

We look forward to administering the test next week, we hope you find it

challenging and interesting.

Please feel free to approach me with any questions you may have.
Contact details;
Joseph Harb
j.harb@lboro.ac.uk
Postgraduate (Research)
Loughborough Design School, LDS.2.24
Loughborough University, LE11 3TU, UK
Office: 01509223569