Hello all,

My daughter may be taking the Torrance Test of creativity. I know the basic gist of the test. Will giving her "sample tests" of my own design in any way invalidate the test?

Thanks!

I would be interested too; I only just saw a snippet of this test in a scientific american article. Some of the answers looked sort of subjective to me. The one I am thinking of is the person is asked to make a drawing using just one element, like a circle. The answer of a linked chain of circles is considered less creative than a face made all of circles...I wasn't sure I even 'got' it. Others seemed more reasonable, but I suppose there is a good bit of science behind it.

I am curious to find out more about this one...how old is your daughter? What sorts of things are you thinking of showing her?
Has she had other testing?
Also, Welcome!

I think we read the same article. The idea is that the test consists of a variety of lines or shapes and the test is to draw something that incorporates the shapes. It is scored based on the originality of the picture drawn, the level of detail provided, whether they go outside the lines, and the abstractness of the title.

I was just going to give her a variety of "nonsense" shapes and squiggles and tell her to make them into a picture then give it a title and see what she comes up with.

The only test she has done is the WISC-IV.

Thanks!

Interesting. I have never heard of the test. Any one have a link for the article. We have not done any testing so I don't know alot about it.

DD4 has been really into drawing books she gets at the library. She is doing one now. Yay quiet time! Anyway the pictures in these drawing books are like what you discribed. There is a clown made up of all circles and a bear. Some are all ovals. Most are a collection of geometric shapes and it shows step by step how to draw the different things.

DD pointed out a few days ago that the clown was all circles. We have not done any testing so I do not know if it would be a good idea but if your going to show her that kind of stuff the drawing books would at least be a pretty fun way to do it.

I know DDs approach to drawing has changed significantly in the past week after getting these books she found. She uses the different shapes to make all sorts of drawings she never could have done before. My kitchen will be covered in artwork untill she gets on to something else.

Do not know if this helps. The books were mixed into the childrens section under letter D.

http://www.bm.technion.ac.il/courses/334303/Obligatory%20reading%20material/Creativity.pdf
This is a better link

Here it is; I found it googling on 'divergent thinking'.

Just wondering what value there is to giving this test to a child? Could it be used to qualify them for a gifted program or anything else?

Thanks!

My DS4 will be having some testing in the spring when he is almost 5yo (we want to get it in before school). the psychologist that we are going with is well known in working with gifted children and she says that she gives this test as well. I think it is a basic test to see their level of creativity, and whether they have difficulty being creative, seeing outside the box, etc. Maybe how literal they can be as well. That's my (limited) understanding of it.