Relationship between academic achievement and creativity of deaf and hard of hearing students

Abstract

There is vast number of different definitions of creativity. Most of them embody two essential elements of creativity: originality (invention) and validity (relevance) of creative process. The goal of this research was to determine if there is correlation between academic achievement and score levels on creativity tests achieved by deaf and hard of hearing students. Research included 49 deaf and hard-on-hearing students from two elementary schools for children with hearing impairment: Elementary School for Deaf and Hard-on-hearing Students 'Stefan Dečanski' in Belgrade and Elementary School 'Radivoj Popović' in Zemun. The sample included students of both sexes without additional disabilities and disorders. In this study Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production - TCT-DP was used. The results show that 40.7% of deaf and hard-on-hearing children are creative and are able to manifest this ability while majority of them (59.2%) obtain scores that are below average according to criteria set in Test for Creative Thinking - Drawing Production - TCT-DP. Students with excellent grades (A level) scored the highest scores (21.67 points in average), while those whose grades are the lowest (D level) obtained the lowest scores (14.33 in average). It has been determined that there is statistically relevant difference between scores obtained on the test segment New elements by children that have grade B (4) in Art and other children (F=4,106; p=0,023). The best scores on the test were achieved by students who have grade A (5) in Mathematics and it is shown that there is statistically relevant difference between these scores and scores obtained by other students (F=4,222; p=0,010). The results of this study showed that academic courses that have nonverbal contents engage creative potentials of deaf and hard of hearing children.

U literaturi se može pronaći veliki broj definicija kreativnosti. Većina definicija sadrži sledeća dva elementa kreativnosti: originalnost (inovativnost) i valjanost (relevantnost) kreativnog procesa ili rada. Cilj istraživanja je bio da se ispita povezanost školskog uspeha i postignuća gluvih i nagluvih učenika na testu kreativnosti. U istraživanju je učestvovalo 49 gluvih i nagluvih učenika iz dve osnovne škole za decu oštećenog sluha: Osnovna škola za oštećene sluhom-nagluve 'Stefan Dečanski' u Beogradu i Osnovna škola 'Radivoj Popović' u Zemunu. Uzorak su činili ispitanici oba pola, bez dodatnih smetnji i poremećaja. U istraživanju je korišćen Urban-Jelenov test za kreativno mišljenje koje se meri crtanjem (Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production - TCT-DP). Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da 40,7% gluve i nagluve dece poseduje i manifestuje svoju kreativnost, dok je veći procenat (59,2%) koja se nalaze ispod i daleko ispod proseka prema kriterijumima samog Testa za kreativno mišljenje koje se meri crtanjem. Najviše poena na testu ostvarili su učenici sa odličnim uspehom, u proseku 21,67 poena, dok su najmanji broj poena (AS=14,33) ostvarili učenici sa dovoljnim školskim uspehom. Utvrđeno je postojanje statistički značajnih razlika u postignuću dece sa ocenom 4 iz Likovnog vaspitanja u aspektu kreativnosti Novi elementi (F=4,106; p=0,023). Najbolji uspeh na testu postigli su učenici sa ocenom 5 iz Matematike, utvrđeno je da je ta razlika statistički značajna (F=4,222; p=0,010). Ispitivanjem povezanosti školskog uspeha i kreativnosti utvrđeno je da nastavni predmeti neverbalnog karaktera angažuju kreativne potencijale gluve i nagluve dece.