Creativity is a valuable skill for today’s workplace and one that universities should be emphasizing in the classroom. Teaching creativity usually involves the completion of “creative exercises” that help an individual understand how to think outside the box. Often individuals that are considered creative “practice” creativity on a daily basis, either through their own will or through their occupation, which increases their creative potential. Creativity is shown to be divided into multiple aspects, one of which is divergent thinking. This study examines participants’ divergent thinking skills over nine weeks as they perform a simple design task each week. The participants are split into two groups as they perform an alternative uses test on a weekly basis. Each week a new item is presented and the results are collected and entered in a database. The number of entries per card is analyzed to determine if the participants have increased their divergent thinking ability throughout the nine weeks.
Skip Nav Destination
ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
August 17–20, 2014
Buffalo, New York, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Design Engineering Division
- Computers and Information in Engineering Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4634-6
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Investigating Divergent Thinking in Creativity Exercises Through Alternative Uses Tests
Anthony Nix,
Anthony Nix
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Search for other works by this author on:
Ryan Arlitt,
Ryan Arlitt
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Search for other works by this author on:
Sebastian Immel,
Sebastian Immel
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Search for other works by this author on:
Mark Lemke,
Mark Lemke
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Search for other works by this author on:
Rob Stone
Rob Stone
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Search for other works by this author on:
Anthony Nix
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Ryan Arlitt
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Sebastian Immel
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Mark Lemke
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Rob Stone
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Paper No:
DETC2014-35335, V003T04A014; 7 pages
Published Online:
January 13, 2015
Citation
Nix, A, Arlitt, R, Immel, S, Lemke, M, & Stone, R. "Investigating Divergent Thinking in Creativity Exercises Through Alternative Uses Tests." Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 3: 16th International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies; 11th International Conference on Design Education; 7th Frontiers in Biomedical Devices. Buffalo, New York, USA. August 17–20, 2014. V003T04A014. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2014-35335
Download citation file:
29
Views
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Articles
Teaching Design Freedom: Understanding the Effects of Variations in Design for Additive Manufacturing Education on Students’ Creativity
J. Mech. Des (September,2020)
Balancing Academic Rigor and Creative Thinking: A Transformational Approach to Teaching Senior Design
J Biomech Eng (August,2018)
The Relationship Between Design Outcomes and Mental States During Ideation
J. Mech. Des (May,2017)
Related Chapters
The Consideration about Setting of Topics in Animation Creation
International Conference on Optimization Design (ICOD 2010)
Design and Application of Automated English Writing Scoring System
International Conference on Information Technology and Computer Science, 3rd (ITCS 2011)
Attentance Management Information System on the Mobile Phones
International Conference on Mechanical and Electrical Technology, 3rd, (ICMET-China 2011), Volumes 1–3