The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of fairy-tale activities using a tool for creative thinking on the creativity and verbal expressiveness of preschoolers. Two research questions were posed:
1. What influence do fairy-tale activities that use a tool for creative thinking exercise on the creativity of preschoolers?
2. What influence do fairy-tale activities that use a tool for creative thinking exercise on the verbal expressiveness of preschoolers?
The subjects in this study were 46 selected young children who were in two different classes of western age 5 in a kindergarten located in an urban community. Out of the two classes, one was randomly selected as an experimental group of 23 members, and the other was selected as a control group of 23 members.
This study was implemented 16 times during an eight-week period of time, twice a week. The same life themes were used in both groups. The young children of the experimental group engaged in fairy-tale activities using a tool for creative thinking, and those of the control group engaged in fairy-tale activities in accordance with the selected life themes.
The instrument used to assess creativity was Torrance Test of Creative Thinking(TTCT). There are two different types of TTCT: TTCT-Figural Form A and TTCT-Verbal Form B. In this study, TTCT-Figural Form A was utilized. The instrument used to measure verbal expressiveness was Jang Young-ae(1981)''s Verbal Expressiveness Inventory, which was appropriate at the level of four- and five-year-olds and was based on earlier studies(Lee, et. al., 1980; Jeon, 1971; Korea Research Institute In the Behavioral Sciences, 1971; Heo, et. al., 1978). This inventory consists of three sections: vocabulary, verbal comprehension and verbal expressiveness. In this study, only the verbal expressiveness section of the inventory was put to use.
A statistical package SPSS 18.0 was employed to make an ANCOVA to determine the impact of the fairy-tale activities using the tool for creative thinking on the young children''s creativity and verbal expressiveness. The findings of the study were as follows:
First, as a result of conducting the fairy-tale activities using the tool for creative thinking, there were statistical significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in overall creativity. Statistical significant intergroup differences were found in every subfactor of creativity that were originality, title abstractness, elaboration and resistance to premature closure except flexibility.
Second, as a result of conducting the fairy-tale activities using the tool for creative thinking, there were statistical significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in overall verbal expressiveness and every subfactor of it.
In conclusion, the fairy-tale activities that used the tool for creative thinking were found to have positive effects on both of the creativity and verbal expressiveness of the young children. This finding implies that it''s possible to provide creativity education using the tool for creative thinking not only in elementary and secondary schools but in early childhood education institutions. The significance of this study is in that it laid the foundation for the application of Bernstein''s thinking tool to early childhood education.