Creativity test http://www.creax.com/csa/frame.asp?session=zero http://mindmedia.com/cgi-bin/site/jump.cgi?ID=4937 http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_rig ht/rb_test.htm http://www.mampu.gov.my/pdf/arkib/gp_kik011109.pdf (Kumpulan kreatif dan inovatif) Mampu.

Teaching creativity through testing

The test formats below are roughly listed in order. They start with the formats and types of items that require the most divergent and creative thinking. The last items require the most convergent thinking and least creative thinking. I am writing as an art teacher, but every teacher in every content area needs to consider the merits of helping their students go beyond knowledge. Students in every discipline can be asked to practice and be tested on their habits of creative thinking.

We cannot expect all students to favor tests that ask them to think creatively about what they have learned in our classes. It will be contrary to some of their expectations. However, if we are fair, and if we explain the benefits of learning to do creative thinking, they will have good reasons to push themselves. These ideas may need refinement, but I believe we need to think outside the box in testing if education is to foster creative thinking and better life skills.
1. Flexibility test items Give more points for the least expected and most unusual correct answers to a question. Tell the class how you are scoring these items. Give correct answers credit in relation to their infrequency as well as a feasibility ranking. Example question: How does an artist get the viewer's attention? Common responses would get less credit than uncommon responses that seem equally feasible.

2. Fluency test Items. Ask questions that have more than one acceptable answer, and give credit based on the number of correct and tenable answers a student offers. Ask the student to rank the answers according to which answers are best, which are average, and which are less than average in quality. Example question: What are the reasons that an artist might be inspired to make a drawing of a landscape? 3. Draw the opposite test. Ask students to create a one-inch drawing next to each test word or concept that illustrates the opposite of the meaning of the selected word. This provides creative thinking practice because it requires both knowledge and imagination. 4. Write the opposites test. The students are asked to fill in the blank after each word by writing the opposite meaning of the word. In research, highly creative people have been found to intuitively come up with opposites faster and more frequently than average creative people. 5. Draw it test. Ask students to create a one-inch drawing next to each word to illustrate the meaning of the selected word. This requires both knowledge of the meaning as well as imagination or memory to think of a visual example of the concept. 6. Essay test. Essay tests can assess creative thinking or they can be directed at only memory and knowledge. Good questions can be posed to require imagination and problem solving that builds on knowledge acquired in the course and on thinking skills practiced in the course. For example, "List and describe the drawing and seeing skills you practiced during our 'Negative Space' assignment. Then write a different assignment that you could do at home to practice the same skills. Make it as different as you can, but still practice the same seeing and drawing skills." Also see grading below. 7. Image/word matching. Include a group of small images on the test and ask students to match the word that best fits each image. 8. Short Answer and Definition test. Ask students to write short definitions of the terms. This is good for knowledge testing, but creativity is not being tested unless you ask for opposite definitions. See #4. 9. Multiple choice. This is time consuming to write an assortment of responses that look correct, with only one correct response per item. This can test knowledge well if the items and choices are well written. To make it a bit more creative, you can ask which is the wrong answer. It is easy to grade. 10. Matching test. Matching probably encourages the least creative thinking of these test formats. The teacher supplies a second matching list of definitions, names, etc. that is based on how these things have been explained in the course. This test form is both fast to write and easy to grade. If the lists are not too long, it is fast for students to complete it. Because of these advantages, I often combine this form with one or more of the more creative test formats.

top of page

Concepts to test
The test writing described on this page does not test actual drawing skills. Drawing and other art skills are probably best assessed by assessing studio assignments themselves. I provide a sample rubric on another page to assess artwork itself. Tests can be used to assess the knowledge and creative thinking abilities that are also learned in the course. This page includes a list of idea words (below) to use in an exam for a drawing class. As a teacher you can form a similar list for any subject. I was able to generate this list of words in about one hour. If you teach another subject, you can do the same This drawing was done from a for your subject. If students are figure wrapped in ribbon. Only the ribbon was drawn. required to study a book or other click here to see the method materials, some words would come directly from those materials. As you Learning to draw involves skills, scan the list, you will eliminate many knowledge, and creativity. See this link for words, and new words will come to more specifics about the skills needed to draw well. mind. Steal this list, but make it your own. top of page You can combine several or all of the above formats in a test with several sections, or you could administer a series of short tests during the term using a different test format each time to see which of your students like each of the test formats. Once you are comfortable with the way several of your tests forms work, keep refining them until you and your students agree that they achieve both valid and reliable results. A valid test faithfully measures what your course teaches rather than general knowledge that many student would know anyway. A reliable test consistently measures which students learned the most and you can be confident that luck was not a major factor in the results.

Word list below

Not all of the words on the list below are suited to all of the test formats. As a teacher, you will want to assemble appropriate lists and take the test yourself before administering it to students. Fellow teachers who agree to read each other's tests can be very helpful in finding problems. If your course consistently requires divergent thinking and imagination, it is quite valid to require this on the tests as well. If your course emphasis is on following directions correctly and being very careful and neat, it would be unfair to require creative thinking on the tests. I think many tests are unfair to highly creative students because most tests do not require creative and divergent thinking. Unfortunately, course content is often taught without asking for enough critical and creative thinking.

top of page

Open ended options

Often I add a test section that allows students to add a limited number of points by listing additional things they learned. Their list of items must be only things that were included in the course and not included elsewhere on the test. This allows creative students to use their imaginations and "smart" students to list things they studied or memorized that were omitted from the test.

http://www.lumosity.com/app/v4/personalization

http://www.creax.com/csa/frame.asp?session=zero