Measuring Creativity in Visual Arts Teaching Methodology in Elementary School / Mjerenje kreativnosti u metodici likovne kulture
Authors: Huzjak Miroslav , Županić Benić Marijana 
Published: June 2018

AbstractIn the contemporary society, creativity is one of the most desirable abilities which an individual can possess in all the fields of human activity. On the other hand, educational policy and national curriculums marginalize the importance of art subjects in most countries in the world, while the advantage is given to STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). Although creativity, according to many educational standards, is one of the key abilities, in teaching practice routine activities are still valued more than creative ones. However, it is the art subjects which develop creativity (constructive) potential within an individual, although this also heavily depends on a teacher/professor, on his/her methodological approach and abilities within the scope of professional activity. Therefore, we conducted empirical research in Visual Arts Teaching Methodology training and non-training primary schools. We expected that we would foster students’ development of creativity through regular collaboration with university, problem-based learning of art and artistic language, inventiveness in creating art assignments and through increasing public awareness of harmfulness of stereotypical artistic expression. Among a large number of verified tests of creativity, Urban-Jellen test “The Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production (TCT-DP)”, which is based on the activity of drawing, was selected and used in this study. We wanted to know whether there was a statistically significant difference between training and non-training schools in students' performance on the test used to examine the level of creativity. The level of statistically significant difference between the control group and the experimental group was determined by a chi-squared test. The research has been carried out in elementary schools in the area of the city of Zagreb, on the sample that included the students of fourth and eighth grade. The results of the research indicate that there is a possible influence of collaboration between the mentors and university professors and students of teacher-training college within the scope of Visual Arts Teaching Methodology course on students' creativity.Key words: collaborative mentoring; creative capacity; problem-based teaching; stimulation of creativity; visual arts. ---SažetakU suvremenom je društvu kreativnost jedna od najpoželjnijih sposobnosti koju pojedinac posjeduje u svim područjima ljudskog djelovanja. S druge strane, obrazovna politika i nacionalni kurikuli u većini zemalja svijeta umjetničke predmete marginaliziraju po važnosti, a prednost se daje STEM (engl. science, technology, engineering, mathematics) disciplinama. Iako je, prema mnogim obrazovnim standardima, kreativnost jedna od ključnih kompetencija u nastavničkoj praksi, i dalje se vrednuju rutinske više nego kreativne aktivnosti. Upravo umjetnički predmeti u obrazovanju razvijaju u pojedincu kreativni (stvaralački) potencijal, ali to uvelike ovisi i o učitelju/nastavniku, o njegovu metodičkom pristupu i kompetencijama u okviru profesionalnog djelovanja. Stoga smo proveli empirijsko istraživanje u mentorskim (za Metodiku likovne kulture) i nementorskim osnovnim školama. Očekivalo se da će se redovitom suradnjom s fakultetom, putem likovnojezične problemske nastav, inventivnosti u osmišljavanju likovnih zadataka i osvještavanjem problematike štetnosti stereotipnog likovnog izražavanja utjecati na razvoj kreativnosti kod učenika. Između većeg broja provjerenih testova kreativnosti, upotrijebljen je Urban - Jellen „The Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production (TCT-DP)“, koji se temelji na crtačkoj aktivnosti. Zanimalo nas je postoji li statistički značajna razlika između mentorskih i nementorskih škola u rješavanju testa kojim se ispituje stupanj kreativnosti. Stupanj značajnosti razlike između kontrolne i eksperimentalne skupine statistički je utvrđen hi-kvadrat testom. Istraživanje je provedeno u osnovnim školama na području Grada Zagreba, na uzorku koji je obuhvaćao učenike četvrtih i osmih razreda. Rezultati istraživanja ukazuju na moguć utjecaj suradnje učitelja mentora sa sveučilišnim nastavnicima i studentima učiteljskih studija u okviru Metodike likovne kulture na kreativnost učenika.Ključne riječi: likovna kultura; poticanje kreativnosti; problemska nastava; stvaralaštvo; mentorska suradnja.