The Effect of
Individual versus Collective Creative Problem Solving Experiences on Fourth- and Fifth-Grade
Studentsí Compositional Products
Beatriz E. Aguilar, Ph.D.Edgewood Collegebaguilar@edgewood.edu
The purpose of the study was to explore the
effects that individual vs. collective structured creative musical problem
solving tasks had on studentsí compositional products. The treatment sessions
were characterized by an open-ended creative problem solving task, including
questions intended to guide subjects through 3 stages of the creative problem
solving process. Subjects
participated in the pre- and posttest individually. Experienced music educators
assessed the compositions in terms of pattern use, cohesiveness, and
creativity.
The data were explored with individual ANOVAs. The
Bonferroni technique was used to adjust the alpha level. Subjects exposed to
the individual condition obtained higher scores than subjects exposed to the
collective condition on six of the eight explored subtests, but these
differences were not significant. The level of interjudge reliability decreased
at each of the three measurements of the study.
The studyís results suggest that music educators
interested in observing specific characteristics of individual studentsí
compositional products, could do so regardless of the condition under which
students were exposed to compositional tasks, either individually or
collectively. Recommendations for future research include the use of a
measurement instrument specifically designed for open-ended tasks, and the
exploration of the current studyís measurement instrument with closed-ended
tasks.
Beatriz E. Aguilar, Ph.D.Edgewood College
1000 Edgewood College Drive
Madison, WI 53711
baguilar@edgewood.edu