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This practicum project used a combination of strategies to improve creative thinking skills in second- and third-grade gifted students. Sixteen students were targeted for the intervention. Over a 12-week implementation period, students participated in 90-minute interventions twice weekly. The intervention was comprised of 30-minute creative problem-solving encounters with peers; 30 minutes of computer software use to produce original writing, and to experiment and create in open-ended settings; and a 30-minute period of activities alternating between relaxation and imagery exercises and the use of imagery in creative writing. There were four objectives to the intervention: (1) increasing verbal and figural creativity; (2) increasing figural and verbal fluency; (3) increasing figural and verbal originality; and (4) increasing verbal flexibility. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Figural and Verbal Models and the Inventory of Creative Behaviors were used to assess the impact of the intervention. Informal teacher observations were conducted throughout implementation. The Inventory of Creative Behaviors was completed weekly and at the conclusion of the implementation period. Findings indicated that the proposed number of students met the projected percentage of increase of 80 percent or above in overall figural and verbal creativity, verbal originality, and verbal flexibility. Fewer than the proposed number of students met the projected increase in figural and verbal fluency and figural originality, although all students showed significant increases in these areas. (Eighteen appendices include School Profile, Inventory of Creative Behaviors, software evaluations, schedule of computer use, and pre- and posttest results and comparisons. Contains 17 references.) (Author/KDFB)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert