AN EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE USE OF INQUIRY INSTRUCTION TO FOSTER CREATIVITY IN INTERMEDIATE GRADE STUDENTS

The problem of this study was to determine if the use of inquiry science instruction could foster creativity in fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. Thirteen intermediate grade teachers formed the treatment group; the students in their classes served as the treatment subjects. Eleven intermediate grade teachers formed the control group; the students in their classes served as the control subjects. The treatment group received intensive training in the use of inquiry instructional techniques which provided them with a unique mastery of the necessary procedures.;The Inquiry Profile Instrument was used to determine that inquiry instruction was occurring in the classes of the treatment group, and not occurring in the classes of the control group. Using this instrument, each participant was observed twice, unannounced, by an additional Pennsylvania State University specialist.;Prior to the beginning of the investigation, the treatment and control groups were in-serviced in the procedures of administering the Verbal and the Figural Test of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. These two instruments were chosen to measure pre- and post-treatment creativity. All subjects were pretested with Form A of the two tests, and then, ten weeks later, posttested with Form B. A random sampling of the completed forms was professionally scored by the Publishers Testing Service of the Georgia Studies of Creative Behavior.;To test the problem of this study, eight research hypotheses were formulated. Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 stated that there would be no significant difference in the scores on the Verbal Test for those students who received inquiry instruction versus those students who received non-inquiry instruction in grades four, five, and six respectively. Hypothesis 4 made this same statement relative to all intermediate grade students considered collectively. Hypotheses 5, 6, and 7 stated that there would be no significant difference in the scores on the Figural Test for those students who received inquiry instruction versus those students who received non-inquiry instruction in grades four, five, and six respectively. Hypothesis 8 made this same statement relative to all intermediate grade students considered collectively.;During their training the treatment group became well versed in Science for the Seventies, a curriculum supplement developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and The Pennsylvania State University. It was chosen as the vehicle by which inquiry instruction would be provided to the treatment subjects. Three Pennsylvania State University specialists served as consultants to assist the participants with their training throughout the project.;To analyze the data a two-way Analysis of Variance with a covariate was run using the General Linear Model subprogram of the Statistical Analysis System computer package. The results of these analyses supported Hypothesis 1 since no significant difference was found between the scores on the Verbal Test for the fourth grade treatment and control subjects. Hypotheses 2 and 3 were rejected, however, since the fifth and sixth grade treatment subjects scored significantly higher on the Verbal Test than the control subjects. Hypothesis 4 was also rejected in favor of the treatment subjects when all intermediate grades were collectively examined. Hypotheses 5, 6, 7, and 8 were all supported by the data since no significant differences were observed between the scores of the two groups on the Figural Test.;These results would suggest that creativity as it is measured by the Verbal Test is significantly fostered in grades five and six, but not in grade four, indicative perhaps of the well documented fourth grade slump. They further suggest that the Verbal Test is a more sensitive instrument than the Figural Test for measuring creativity that has been fostered through the use of inquiry instruction.