Creative Characteristics and Its Relation to Achievement and School Type among Jordanian Students

doi:10.4236/ce.2013.41004

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Creative Education

2013. Vol.4, No.1, 29-34

Published Online January 2013 in SciRes (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2013.41004

Creative Characteristics and Its Relation to Achievement and

School Type among Jordanian Students

Alia Al-Oweidi

The World Islamic Sciences and Education University, Amman, Jordan

Email: [email protected]

Received August 5th, 2012; revised September 10th, 2012; accepted September 20th, 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the creative characteristics among creative students in regular

schools and its relation to achievement and school type variables as perceived by teachers. The sample of

the study consisted of (176) male and female students with an age range (9 - 17 years), (127) of them are

high achievers and (49) average achievers chosen purposefully from (11) schools, (7) private schools and

(4) public schools. (67) teachers participated in evaluating the creative characteristics in students regard-

less of the academic achievement of students. The creative characteristics inventory is used to identify the

creative characteristic in students. The findings of the study showed that there are apparent differences in

the means between high achievers and average achievers on all creative characteristics. By using (T) test

to examine the differences between means, the findings showed that the differences were between high

achievers and average achievers on the achievement variable within five domains: fluency, fantasy, prob-

lem sensitivity, originality and intuition for the favor of high achievers. Meanwhile, there were no sig-

nificant statistical differences on the domains and other creative characteristics. With regard to school

type, the findings showed significant differences on the means of the ambiguity, fantasy, curiosity, ad-

venture and sense of humor for the favor of private schools. Moreover, there were significant differences

in the mean of fluency, problem sensitivity, and independency for the favor of public schools.

Keywords: Creative Characteristics; High Achievers; Average Achievers; Public School; Private School

Introduction

Creativity can be defined as a series of mental abilities, it is a

compound purposeful mental activity directed by the strong

desire to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities

that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with

others, and entertaining ourselves and others. Gilford tried to

describe creativity in a simple way by saying “Creativity in its

narrowest meaning refers to the abilities of creative people”.

Guilford listed several assumptions related to the abilities

which form creativity; he sees the creativity whatever its field is

not the sole factor but it is a series of abilities which he

mentioned as: fluency, flexibility, originality, and problem

sensitivity, elaboration, evaluation, reorganizing and synthesis.

It is worth to mention that creative children are those who

display the following creative skills: 1) Fluency: which is an

ability to produce a huge amount of idea, as this ability in-

creases creativity; 2) Flexibility: is an adaptability to change

instructions, freedom from inertia of thought and spontaneous

shift of set; 3) Originality: it is the most advanced characteristic

of creativity as it means novelty and uniqueness in providing

the innovative product that fits the purpose or function it stands

for; 4) Problem Sensitivity: is an ability to find problems and to

aware needs for change or for new devices or methods; 5)

Elaboration: is the realization or transformation of an idea,

which may become very general or simple or in contrary very

fantastic or enriched into details. Mostly, creative people dis-

play traits and characteristics that distinguish them from regular

people. Those traits include: persistence, tendency for research

and investigation, self-confidence, curiosity, openness on new

experiences, managing mystery and complication, diversity of

interests, lack of sophistication, achievement motivation, the

need for support, praise and care, independency, humor, fantasy

and ability to literature appreciation (Myers & Torrance, 2003).

In this context Johnson (2004) mentioned some creative

characteristics may be displayed by creative people. Those

people may acquire deep and basic knowledge, prefer compli-

cation. Have the ability to form concepts and methods in a new

way, have fluency in thinking, taking care of details, using

unique solutions for problems, asking frequent questions, dis-

play the ability for constructive criticism like risks, prefer

reading mystery novels, have a sense of humor and joke and

enjoy their time when they are alone.

Creativity and Academic Achievement

Sometimes there is a weak relation between creativity and

academic achievement; even this relation may be negative in

some cases. This means that high competency in achievement is

not a fundamental condition to accomplish creativity. This con-

firmed Torrance’s argument that learning information and re-

trieving it is not a sufficient indicator for creativity.

In this concern, Einstein was quoted as saying: “I do not ac-

cumulate my memory of the facts that I can find it easily in one

of the encyclopedias”. Therefore, the schools (and teachers) do

not reward creative students (Al-Srour, 2005).

The results of studies indicated that the most creative stu-

dents have obtained medium or low averages in academic

achievement, this is given to one of two reasons: either the

school stages of education could not distinguish the various

creative abilities! Or can not reward those students and satisfy

their needs and their creative thinking.

A. AL-OWEIDI

In Jordan, the educational services had developed rapidly as

those services are not provided by the state only due to the

emergence of the private sector as a strong competitor in this

field.

And since there is an interest from parents to their children,

in order to sharpen their personality in the academic, personal

and creative aspects, many students had enrolled in private

schools in Jordan under the assumptions that private schools

provide services and activities better than public schools

(Al-Srour, 2005).

Thus, the current study seeks to investigate the creative

characteristics among creative students according to the type of

school (private, public).

Hoi Man Ip, Chi Hang Wu, Yim Cheng and Catherine

McBride-Chang (2005) conducted a study in China to explore

performances on three types of creativity tasks (real-world

problem, figural, and verbal; in 22 6th-grade students and 22

university students from Hong Kong. As compared to 6th-grade

students’ scores, university students’ scores (both quality and

quantity) were significantly higher on the real-world problem

and significantly lower on the figural task. On the verbal task,

the groups did not differ. Results are interpreted in terms of an

interaction between task structures and students’ knowledge

bases. Knowledge enhances one’s performance in knowledge-

rich creativity tasks, whereas functional fixedness may occur in

knowledge-lean tasks.

Lee & Seo (2006) conducted a study to examine elementary

teachers’ understanding of creativity, in particular those who

teach the gifted students. Forty-two elementary teachers were

surveyed with an open-ended questionnaire to identify their

understanding of creativity. Their answers were analyzed based

on cognitive, personal, and environmental components of crea-

tivity. Teachers who mentioned all three components were

recognized to have a balanced view. However, one third of the

teachers had a biased view, mentioning only 1 component.

Many had an intermediate view, mentioning 2 components.

Preference for the cognitive component, the disregard of the

personal component, and the partial understanding of the envi-

ronmental component were also discovered. To successfully

facilitate creativity in gifted education, teachers’ balanced view

is essential. Thus the personal component and the environ-

mental component should be emphasized to improve their un-

derstanding.

Burnett & Procter (2004) sought to develop measurement in-

strument that provides teachers with a tool to observe the per-

sonal creativity characteristics of individual students. The in-

strument was developed by compiling a list of characteristics

derived from the literature to be indicative of the personal

characteristics of creative people. The list was then reduced by

grouping like characteristics to 9 cognitive and dispositional

traits that were considered appropriate for elementary students.

The 9-item instrument was then administered in 24 classrooms

to 6 and Year 7 students. Factor analysis revealed an eigenvalue

greater than 1 and accounting for 63% of the variance. The

results indicated that the creativity checklist has very high in-

ternal consistency and is a reliable measurement instrument (α

= .93).

Furthermore, Prabhu, Sutton and Sauser, (2008) hypothe-

sized a conceptual model and tested the mediating and moder-

ating role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation respectively in

the relationship between three personality traits (openness to

experience, self-efficacy, and perseverance) and creativity. This

study, conducted in a university setting from (124) students

who did not finish study yet, the study administrated (What

Kind of Person Are You? KOPAY consisting of (50) items

designed to assess the individual’s behavior and (NEO-FFI)

scale to assess their openness for experience. The findings in-

dicated that the potential mediating role of intrinsic motivation

between creativity/openness to experience as intrinsic motive-

tion partially mediated this relationship. Self-efficacy was

closely related to creativity, with intrinsic motivation com-

pletely mediating this relationship. Extrinsic motivation moder-

ated the relationship between self-efficacy/creativity and per-

severance/creativity and had a negative association with crea-

tivity.

Oral (2006) conducted a study to investigate the aspects of

creativity among prospective teachers in Turkey. The study

sample consisted of (140) male and female students of Akdeniz

University, Faculty of Education. Regression analyses demon-

strated that although creativity dimensions (Fluency, Flexibility,

originality and elaboration) were not included in OSS in previ-

ous years, they are taken into consideration at moderate but

significant levels in recent years; however, it is not sufficient to

produce an educational reform for a creative, developed soci-

ety.

1) Additionally, Kim (2008) conducted a study entitled “Un-

derachievement and Creativity: Are Gifted Underachievers

Highly Creative?” To answer this question the researcher re-

views the available literature that suggests that the under

achievement of gifted students may be tied to their inherent and

unrecognized creativity. Apparently, many gifted students are

underachievers and up to 30% of high school dropouts may be

highly gifted. Finally, it reviews the studies and theories that

have shown that once underachievers are placed in an environ-

ment that fosters their needs, with motivation, mentors, under-

standing, freedom, and responsibility, they can become highly

productive.

2) In Malaysia, Habibollah, Rohani, Tengku, Jamaluddin and

Vijay (2010) conducted a study to examine if a relationship

exists between creativity and academic achievement and if the

relationship differs between males and females. The sample of

the study consisted of (153) male and female students (male =

105 and female = 48) completed creativity test. Cumulative

grade point average (CGPA) was used to select the participants.

Creativity was measured using the Khatena-Torrance Creative

Perception Inventory (KTCPI). Pearson Correlation analysis

indicated that aspects of creativity are related to academic

achievement. Moreover, the findings indicated that there are

differences between males and females on some domains as the

means of males performance on the innovation and artistry

domains were higher, while it was higher for females on envi-

ronmental sensitivity, intellectuality and independency do-

mains.

Moreover, Kim and Van Tassel (2010) aimed to examine

whether there is a relationship between creativity and behavior

problems among underachievers. Forty-one elementary and 89

high school students and 4 teachers in Korea participated in this

study. To achieve this aim three measures were used, those are,

(Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking-Figural, Runco Ideational

Behavior Scale [RIBS], and Scales for Rating the Behavioral

Characteristics of Superior Students-Revised Edition [SRBCSS-R]),

with their scores on a measure of behavior problems reported

by their teachers. The results indicated that, among under-

achievers, there is a relationship between behaveioral problems

A. AL-OWEIDI

and students’ scores on the three measures of creative potential.

Both underachievers and high achievers showed high scores on

creative abilities test more than other students. Meanwhile,

there were no significant statistical differences on both RIBS

and SRBCSS-R.

Ai (1999) conducted a study in Spain to investigate the rela-

tionship between creativity and academic achievement and to

examine the differences between males and females according

to this relationship. The sample of the study consisted of (68)

schools selected randomly. The instruments were administrated

on (2264) male and female students. To achieve the aim of this

study Torrance Tests of creativity thinking (TTCT) and Abedi-

Schumacher tests of creativity test were administrated. The

findings of the study indicated that creativity is related to

achievement for both males and females. Moreover, males

showed more flexibility than females while females were better

in elaboration than males.

Significance of the Study

The importance of the current study is as follows:

1) Identifying the creativity characteristics displayed by high

achievers and average achievers in regular schools since ex-

ploring those characteristics among students and its relation to

achievement may help teachers in enhancing procedures of

teaching to fit and support those variables (achievement and

creativity characteristics).

2) Investigating the role of school type (private, public) in

developing creativity among students and observing which

system is the one developing the creativity characteristics

among students.

Procedural Definitions

- Creativity Characteristics: Those are ( Fluency, mystery,

fantasy, elaboration in thinking, problem sensitivity, inde-

pendency, curiosity, originality in thinking, flexibility and

sense of humor) in case of being assessed by the teacher

above average on the scale of the creative characteristics

quartet measurement, so that the average is above (3) for

the item and (12) for the domain.

- High achievers: Students who achieve (80) and above on

the school achievement test scores at the end of the school-

ing year of (2010/2011) in private and public schools in

Jordan.

- Average achievers: Students who achieve less than (79) on

the school achievement test scores at the end of the school-

ing year of (2010/2011) in private and public schools in

Jordan.

- Public school: Schools following the Jordanian Ministry of

Education in academic, financial and administrative affairs

and considered a property of the Jordanian state.

- Private Schools: Schools following private education de-

partment academic, financial and administrative affairs and

owned by one person or a group of people.

Study Question

The objective of this study is represented in the following

question:

- Are there any significant statistical differences in the crea-

tive characteristics among creative students in regular

schools as perceived by teachers attributed to Academic

Achievement (Regular, Higher Achievers)?

- Are there any significant statistical differences in the crea-

tive characteristics among creative students in regular

schools as perceived by teachers attributed to school type

(public, private)?

Methodology

Study Population

The population of the study consisted of all private and pub-

lic schools and all male and female students in (3-11) grades in

Amman city for the schooling year 2011.

Participants

The sample of this study consisted of (11) schools (7 private

schools and 4 public schools). Sixty-seven teachers participated

in assessing the creative traits among students regardless of

their academic achievement. Noting that the assessed sample

consisted of (176) male and female high achievers, (49) average

achievers chosen intentionally.

Study Instrument

To achieve the aim of this study the researcher administrated

(Al-Srour, 2011) scale to assess the creative characteristics

among students, this scale is consisting of (48) items distributed

on (12) items, those are (Fluency, mystery, fantasy, elaboration

in thinking, problem sensitivity, independency, curiosity, intuit-

tion, originality in thinking, adventure, flexibility and sense of

humor), the scale has high rates of validity and reliability. To

detect the validity content: instrument has been jugged by (5) of

specialists in the areas of educational psychology and special

the percentage of agreement was (.90).

Validity construction procedure:

The instrument was applied in pilot study (n = 60) students,

correlation coefficient between items and dimension has been

reached, the coefficient values of the correlation coefficient

were between (.60 - .82). Cronbach’s alpha was used to detect

the reliability of instrument, values of reliability coefficient on

the dimensions in order are as follows: (.60, .71, .79, .63, .76,

.61, .60, .81, .76, .66, .68, .81). The value of consistency on all

the paragraphs of the scale was (.84).

Administration Procedures

 The researcher met teachers who had a good knowledge of

students since they had a long experience in teaching those

students in previous years. Teachers were assigned to select

students who display creative characteristics regardless of

their academic achievement. Moreover, the researcher em-

phasized that teachers should choose students who are en-

rolled in at least two years in the school, teachers have been

informed of the study objective, and that the information

and results of the study will be used only for the purposes

of scientific research.

Significance of the Study

The importance of the current study is as follows:

1) Identifying the creativity characteristics displayed by high

achievers and average achievers in regular schools since ex-

ploring those characteristics among students and its relation to

A. AL-OWEIDI

achievement may help teachers in enhancing procedures of

teaching to fit and support those variables (achievement and

creativity characteristics).

2) Investigating the role of school type (private, public) in

developing creativity among students and observing which sys-

tem is the one developing the creativity characteristics among

students.

Administration Procedures

The researcher met teachers who had a good knowledge of

students since they had a long experience in teaching those

students in previous years. Teachers were assigned to select

students who display creative characteristics regardless of their

academic achievement. Moreover, the researcher emphasized

that teachers should choose students who are enrolled in at least

two years in the school, teachers have been informed of the

study objective, and that the information and results of the

study will be used only for the purposes of scientific research.

Results

To answer the study main question (Are there any significant

statistical differences in the creative characteristics among crea-

tive students in regular schools as perceived by teachers attrib-

uted to academic achievement? The means and standard devia-

tions were calculated on the sub-domains of the scale. Table 1

shows the results of the means and standard deviations on the

sub-domains.

Table 1 shows differences in the means between high

achievers and average achievers on all the creative characteris-

tics for the favor of high achievers. Meanwhile, there were

significant statistical differences on five domains (fluency,

imagination, problem sensitivity, originality and intuition) for

the favor of high achievers. Moreover, the findings showed that

the most important creative characteristics according to

achievement variable were curiosity and fluency while the least

apparent domains were sense of humor and imagination.

It is noted in Table 2 that there are significant statistical dif-

ferences on the variable of school type (public, private). The

findings showed that there are differences on the following

creative characteristics (Mystery, imagination, curiosity, ad-

venture and sense of humor) for the favor of private schools.

Moreover, there were differences in means on the following

characteristics (fluency, problem sensitivity and independency)

for the favor of public schools. However, (t) test results didn’t

show any significant differences except on independency do-

main for the favor of public schools and the least apparent

characteristic is the sense of humor.

Discussion

The findings of the study indicated that there are differences

in the means between high achievers and average achievers on

all the creative characteristics for the favor of high achievers.

Meanwhile, there were significant statistical differences on five

domains (fluency, fantasy, problem sensitivity, originality and

intuition) for the favor of high achievers. Meanwhile, there

were no significant statistical differences on the domains and

other creative characteristics. This result can be interpreted that

traits such as fluency, fantasy, problem sensitivity, originality

and intuition are related in its nature with high achievers. Those

Table 1.

Means, standards deviations (SDs) and (T) test results according to

school type.

sig SD T M variables

1.824 2.680 13.69 Public

.103

2.233 13.62 Private

Fluency

2.290 1.562 11.60 Public

.213

2.476 12.58 Private

Mystery

2.886 .413 10.55 Public

.521

3.014 12.07 Private

Imagination

2.609 .469 12.55 Public

.495

2.525 12.74 Private

Elaboration

2.528 .489 12.98 Public

.485

2.805 12.76 Private

Sensitivity to the

problems

1.865

*5.717 13.51 Public

.018

2.426 13.16 Private

Independently

1.990 .458 13.49 Public

.500

1.839 14.16 Private

Curiosity

2.568 .002 12.33 Public

.967

2.574 13.01 Private

Originality

2.313 .013 12.38 Public

.910

2.485 13.01 Private

Intuition

2.208 .976 12.29 Public

.325

2.473 13.54 Private

Adventure

2.070 2.194 12.58 Public

.140

2.419 13.09 Private

Flexibility

3.084 .089 10.51 Public

.766

3.227 11.79 Private

Sense of Humor

Note: *Significant at p < .05.

students usually have the ability to maintain and store informa-

tion and therefore, increasing their fluency as they are capable

of self regulation, facing problems and solving the difficult

problems they may face. Furthermore, the related literature

indicates that fantasy, originality and intuition are special char-

acteristics of high achievers. Moreover, there were differences

on the means of school type as the findings showed that that

there are differences on the following creative characteristics

(Mystery, fantasy, curiosity, adventure and sense of humor) for

the favor of private schools and there were differences in means

on the following characteristics (fluency, problem sensitivity

and independency) for the favor of public schools. This result

can be explained that traits such as fantasy, adventure and curi-

osity are linked to financial facilities. For example, to develop

adventure trait among students the school must make trips ad

sport facilities and this needs a lot of money that can be pro-

vided by private schools more than public schools. Furthermore,

The sense of humor occurrence in private schools is higher than

public school can be explained by the opportunity given by

A. AL-OWEIDI

Table 2.

Means and standards deviations (SDs) and (T) test results according to academic achievement.

sig T SD M Variables

1.751 14.17 High Achievement

.015

*5.977

2.343 12.27 Moderate Achievement

Fluency

2.271 12.68 High Achiever

.502 .453

2.624 11.22 Moderate Achievement

Mystery

2.777 11.94 High Achievement

.014

*6.165

3.547 10.71 Moderate Achievement

Imagination

2.502 12.98 High Achievement

.805 .061

2.524 11.92 Moderate Achievement

Elaboration

2.323 13.39 High Achievement

.001

*10.705

3.128 11.39 Moderate Achievement

Sensitivity to the problems

.404 .701 2.178 13.54 High Achievement

2.363 12.57 Moderate Achievement

Independently

1.924 14.17 High Achievement

.522 .411

1.752 13.37 Moderate Achievement

Curiosity

2.305 13.12 High Achievement

.015

*5.989

3.068 11.96 Moderate Achievement

Originality

2.116 13.26 High Achievement

.012

*6.457

2.847 11.65 Moderate Achievement

Intuition

2.493 13.31 High Achievement

.681 .169

2.327 12.71 Moderate Achievement

Adventure

2.156 13.17 High Achievement

.342 .908

2.633 12.33 Moderate Achievement

Flexibility

3.119 11.72 High Achievement

.363 .831

3.392 10.55 Moderate Achievement

Sense of Humor

Note: *Significant at p < .05.

those schools for students to show jokes and give a sense of

humor, while students in public schools are not allowed to

show jokes and this is due to the character of the teacher, which

prefer to work and seriousness in dealing. As for a independ-

ency characteristic, it was higher for public school students

since teachers help students in carrying out their tasks person-

ally and help them on self-regulation.

Conclusion

The findings of the current study confirmed that the teachers

should prepare educational activities from curriculum and

achieve it within the classroom to develop imaginative abilities

and sense of humor in students; also the creative aspects of

students in public schools need to be developed. Therefore,

teachers may conduct some activities and add several teaching

strategies to enhance and develop the creative characteristics

among their students in public schools.

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