Children and Creativity

Nowadays fostering creativity constitutes an important educational goal, even though teachers notice some difficulties to identify in their students abilities related to the creative thinking. In order to overcome such difficulties teachers should be enabled to apply easy-to-administer tests which allow them to assess students' creativity levels. The purpose of this study was to devise an easy multiple-choice instrument aimed at evaluating the main mechanisms underlying students' creativity. A large sample of students attending Primary and Secondary Schools in South Italy were involved. For each age-level an online test was administered. The test consisted of three sections corresponding to the three mental operations identified by the WCR model (Antonietti and coll., 2011a). The widening process (subtest A) concerns the tendency to generate many ideas. The connecting process (subtest C) refers to the capacity to combine different elements in unusual ways. The reorganizing process (subtest R) consists of changing the perspective and inverting relationships among elements. Results suggested that the test is suitable to evaluate the three mental operations involved in creative thinking. In addition, ANOVAs showed some significant age-level differences in widening, connecting and reorganizing abilities, even though a clear developmental trend failed to emerge. Findings supported the evidence that creativity is multidimensional and that the mental mechanisms involved are affected by ageand context-related variables in different ways.

Nowadays fostering creativity constitutes an important educational goal, even though teachers notice some difficulties to identify in their students abilities related to the creative thinking. In order to overcome such difficulties teachers should be enabled to apply easy-to-administer tests which allow them to assess students' creativity levels. The purpose of this study was to devise an easy multiple-choice instrument aimed at evaluating the main mechanisms underlying students' creativity. A large sample of students attending Primary and Secondary Schools in South Italy were involved. For each age-level an online test was administered. The test consisted of three sections corresponding to the three mental operations identified by the WCR model (Antonietti and coll., 2011a). The widening process (subtest A) concerns the tendency to generate many ideas. The connecting process (subtest C) refers to the capacity to combine different elements in unusual ways. The reorganizing process (subtest R) consists of changing the perspective and inverting relationships among elements. Results suggested that the test is suitable to evaluate the three mental operations involved in creative thinking. In addition, ANOVAs showed some significant age-level differences in widening, connecting and reorganizing abilities, even though a clear developmental trend failed to emerge. Findings supported the evidence that creativity is multidimensional and that the mental mechanisms involved are affected by ageand context-related variables in different ways.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets' robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet's robot-application improved their performance significantly better compared with those who used the other types of robots.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets' robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet's robot-application improved their performance significantly better compared with those who used the other types of robots.

Abstract:

This research paper explores the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and child creativity. Despite extensive philosophical and scientific inquiries in psychology and computer science, our understanding of the workings of a child's mind remains limited. Children absorb information through their senses and develop patterns to comprehend the world, but the process of organizing, pairing, and reorganizing concepts in response to new experiences is still not well understood. Researchers have investigated how children form hypotheses to understand concepts, words, and behaviors, suggesting that the Bayesian rule could aid in evaluating the most probable hypothesis. This research holds promise for the development of AI, aligning with Alan Turing's proposition to simulate the mind of a child. However, while the Bayesian rule, intuitive physics, intuitive psychology, and model building provide insights, they also highlight the vast gap between hypotheses and the discovered structure that computers struggle to bridge. This gap, described as the creative leap, may be a distinguishing factor between human creative intelligence and machine capabilities.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets' robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet's robot-application improved their performance significantly better compared with those who used the other types of robots.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets' robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet's robot-application improved their performance significantly better compared with those who used the other types of robots.

This research analyzes the effectiveness of the non-humanoid robot Ozobot as interactive-tool for schoolchildren to enhance their potential of creative thinking. The study compares three experimental condition (Ozobot Single Work, Ozobot Pair Work, and Control) in a problem-solving task (programming the robot to perform a given route in a paper labyrinth) in 171 children aged between 9 and 10 years (85 females, 86 males). Results show that children who performed the task alone with the robot (Ozobot Single Work) improved their potential of creative thinking significantly compared with those who perform the task in pair with the robot (Ozobot Pair Work) and the control group. No gender

Nowadays fostering creativity constitutes an important educational goal, even though teachers notice some difficulties to identify in their students abilities related to the creative thinking. In order to overcome such difficulties teachers should be enabled to apply easy-to-administer tests which allow them to assess students' creativity levels. The purpose of this study was to devise an easy multiple-choice instrument aimed at evaluating the main mechanisms underlying students' creativity. A large sample of students attending Primary and Secondary Schools in South Italy were involved. For each age-level an online test was administered. The test consisted of three sections corresponding to the three mental operations identified by the WCR model (Antonietti and coll., 2011a). The widening process (subtest A) concerns the tendency to generate many ideas. The connecting process (subtest C) refers to the capacity to combine different elements in unusual ways. The reorganizing process (subtest R) consists of changing the perspective and inverting relationships among elements. Results suggested that the test is suitable to evaluate the three mental operations involved in creative thinking. In addition, ANOVAs showed some significant age-level differences in widening, connecting and reorganizing abilities, even though a clear developmental trend failed to emerge. Findings supported the evidence that creativity is multidimensional and that the mental mechanisms involved are affected by ageand context-related variables in different ways.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets’ robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet’s robot-application improved their performance significantly better compare...

This research analyzes the effectiveness of the non-humanoid robot Ozobot as interactive-tool for school- children to enhance their potential of crea-tive thinking. The study compares three experimental condition (Ozobot Single Work, Ozobot Pair Work, and Control) in a problem-solving task (programming the robot to perform a given route in a paper labyrinth) in 171 children aged be-tween 9 and 10 years (85 females, 86 males). Results show that children who performed the task alone with the robot (Ozobot Single Work) improved their potential of creative thinking significantly compared with those who perform the task in pair with the robot (Ozobot Pair Work) and the control group. No gender differences occurs.

Wayfinding is one of the most important skills that children have to learn in order to safely move in the environment. One problem that 6-7-year-old children encounter with wayfinding is changing their point of view to that of another person in different position in the same environment, such as that of a person opposite them whose perspective is turned 180° with respect to their own. Robots could help children in learning this skill, since children can instruct them to move in the environment, in predetermined paths, by starting from a rotated perspective. This study uses three different types of robot (humanoid robot, two types of non-humanoid robots, tablets’ robot-application) in order to evaluate how a specific activity (instructing a robot to perform a given route) enhances the wayfinding skills of 227 6-7-year-old children. The research shows that children who performed the wayfinding task with tablet’s robot-application improved their performance significantly better compare...

This research analyzes the effectiveness of the non-humanoid robot Ozobot as interactive-tool for schoolchildren to enhance their potential of creative thinking. The study compares three experimental condition (Ozobot Single Work, Ozobot Pair Work, and Control) in a problem-solving task (programming the robot to perform a given route in a paper labyrinth) in 171 children aged between 9 and 10 years (85 females, 86 males). Results show that children who performed the task alone with the robot (Ozobot Single Work) improved their potential of creative thinking significantly compared with those who perform the task in pair with the robot (Ozobot Pair Work) and the control group. No gender

The paper reports the attempt to synthesize the main theoretical positions about creative thinking in order to define a coherent framework to be applied in education. Three general mental operations seem to rely on the basis of creativity: widening (W), connecting (C) and reorganizing (R). W concerns the tendency to keep an open mind and to deal with a great number of elements. C refers to the capacity to establish relationships among different elements and to combine them in unusual ways. R consists of changing the perspective and inverting relationships among elements. The model of creativity resulting from the integration of W, C and R: (i) inspired the investigation of the folk conceptions of creativity; (ii) was the basis of a test to measure creative thinking skills; and (iii) was the foundation of a training programme aimed at enhancing such skills in children. The instruments which were devised on the basis of the WCR model are described and some results coming from their application in educational settings are reported.