Enhancing fluent and flexible thinking through the creative drama process

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine whether flexible and fluent thinking skills, two important elements in divergent thinking, can be enhanced through creative drama process. The research was conducted on 30 subjects, 15 in an experimental group and 15 in a control group. Each group consisted of 9 females and 6 males. All subjects were postgraduate students, and the average age was 25. Flexibility and fluency were assessed through "circle drawing" and "alternate uses of objects" sub-tests. Both groups were given an initial pre-test. Then the experimental group attended a 10-week creative drama course, 3 ha week. A week after drama process was completed, a post-test was applied to both groups. Determining the pre-test and post-test score differences of the two groups, the one-way MANOVA analysis with a 2 x 2 design was applied. The results show that creative drama process can help enhance the two important aspects of divergent thinking, fluency and flexibility, in adult groups. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.