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ERIC Number: ED165628
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1977
Pages: 88
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Effect of Contemporary Engineering Education on the Creative Potential of Engineering Students.
Costello, Francis J.
The possibility that a specific engineering curriculum reduces the creative potential of its students was investigated, along with the relationship between pre-cognition, the ability to foresee events, and creativity. Engineering freshmen and seniors were tested and compared on creative potential. Liberal arts freshmen and seniors were also tested and used as a control. The Torrance Figural B Creativity Test was used to measure creativity; the Dean-Mihalasky test was used to measure pre-cognition. Results indicate that contemporary engineering education has no effect on the creativity of students, since freshmen and senior engineering students had the same creativity index. The creativity of engineers, on the dimension of originality, was significantly higher than the liberal arts group. Some strong correlations and patterns are shown between creativity and pre-cognition. The main conclusion is that the four-year undergraduate education at the University of New Haven did nothing to increase the student's creative propensity; if anything, the student's creative potential was decreased. The proposition that creativity and pre-cognition are related is somewhat supported by statistical evidence, but the relationship is not consistent. It is suggested that the successful development of the creative ability of students depends on a university-wide commitment to creativity as an objective of the institution. Appendices include IQ-to-creativity correlations and creativity and pre-cognition scores. (Author/LBH)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A