Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2005
Capstone Advisor
Paul Verhaeghen
Honors Reader
Barbara Fiese
Capstone Major
Psychology
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
Psychology | School Psychology
Abstract
My Honors Thesis compares creativity in children taught in a Montessori classroom with students taught in a conventional classroom. I tested 58 children at BelleValleyElementary Schoolin EriePennsylvania, half in the Montessori program, half in traditional classrooms. Their ages ranged from 5-9, from kindergarten to 3rd grade. I hypothesized that the independence allowed in Montessori classrooms would help foster creativity in its students. The project uses two forms of evaluation to test the concept of creativity, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and consensual assessment to score a creative collage. Significant developmental differences were found; older children scored higher on the creativity tests. There was, however, no significant difference between Montessori and conventionally taught children. The conclusion is that in young children creativity develops over time, but that the type of schooling does not moderate this development.
Recommended Citation
Jones, Tiffany, "Comparing Montessori Education and Conventional Education on Aspects of Creativity" (2005). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 683.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/683
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
