Measuring Creativity

The desire to measure growth, ability, and interest is one of the major trends guiding the educational community today. We all seem to be opporating on the assumption that everyting can be measured and must be measured in order for everyone to be successful. There are things about creativity that can be measured and could be helpful to teachers, parents, and students. Surveys can be used to measure a variety of typically qualitative information because people can rate themselves and others on a scale. One's personal beliefs about creativity, one's perception of his or her own creativeness, and one's perspective on creativity in others can be measured using surveys. In addition to these areas, a person's intrest in becoming more creative can also be measured using a survey or similar data collection tool. There are inherent diffculties with surveys and similar data tools because questions can be misread or lead the participant towards a specific answer; however, most data can be examined with these unfortunate aspects in mind.

In terms of the amount of creaivity or creative potential a person has can not be measured. Because of the variety of factors involved in the process and personification of creativity, they can not all be consolidated into one single measurement tool. I do not think the amount of creativity a person can have is infinite because we are all bound by our personal and cognitive limitations; however, I believe that it is possible to determine that some people are more creative than others after products have been made to support the distinction of "creative". Therefore, one measurement of creative can be creative output. This is easier for people who have had opportunities to foster their specific talents or creative problem solving techniques than for those who may be living in poverty or a dictatorial envirnment.

I would also point out my verbage. Above I stated that a person can have creativity. This implies that creativity is something that is had instead of something that somebody just is. This reflects my belief that creativity can be fostored in most individuals who have the cognitive capacity and applicable personality characteristics to accept problems and challenges.