Effectiveness of khatena training method on the creativity of form four students in a selected school

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of creativity training through an adapted Khatena Training Method (KTM) treatment (experimental variable) on a sample of Form Four Subjects (N = 153) in a typical secondary school in the state of Selangor in relation to their initial creative level, gender category, and academic stream (control variables). The first objective was to determine the effectiveness of the KTM on the experimental and control groups as assessed by the Thinking Creatively with Sounds and Words (TCSW) test battery with its sub-measures of Sounds and Images (S&I) and Onomatopoeia and Images (O&I). The second objective was to determine the effectiveness of the KTM on the high creative, low creative, male, female, science, and arts subjects in the experimental and control groups as assessed by the TCSW. The third objective was to determine if there were educational transfer effects as a result of the KTM on the experimental and control groups as assessed by the Using Modality and Imagery in Writing (UMIW) checklist. The TCSW (pretest & posttest) and UMIW (pretest & delayed posttest) were the dependent variables. This study utilized an experimental (pretest-posttest, control group) design. Stratified random sampling was employed to form the experimental and control groups. Before that, to differentiate the high creatives and low creatives, the Something About Myself (SAM) inventory was used and the principle of extreme scores was adhered to. Creativity training was based on the creative thinking strategies of the KTM, namely, Breaking Away from the Obvious and Commonplace, Synthesis-Destructuring-Restructuring, Transposition, and Analogy- Imagery. The thinking strategies were supported by the Creative Imagination Imagery v model. A number of statistical analyses were used to analyse the data obtained such as descriptive statistics (means & standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Independent-samples t-tests, Pearson product-moment correlations, & Analyses of Covariance). A summary of the findings is given below: The KTM treatment provided evidence of the significant gains in the experimental subjects’ verbal originality skills compared to the control subjects as measured by the S&I and O&I measures of the TCSW. Experimental subjects from the high creative, low creative, male, female, science, and arts, groups had significant gains compared to the control subjects as measured by the S&I and O&I measures of the TCSW. Overall, experimental subjects from the experimental, high creative, low creative, male, female, science, and arts, groups performed better in the O&I measure compared to the S&I measure. The KTM treatment made a greater impact on the experimental subjects in the S&I measure, low creative experimental subjects in the S&I and O&I measures, female experimental subjects in the S&I measure, male experimental subjects in the O&I measure, and arts experimental subjects in the S&I and O&I measures; The KTM treatment provided evidence of the significant gains in the experimental subjects’ retention of creativity skills learned after two weeks as assessed in their written compositions and measured by the UMIW. The results have indicated that the KTM is a viable creativity training programme that can be used with confidence to train adolescents to enhance their creative thinking abilities and skills. This study has significant implications for educational practice in the school context in Malaysia.