Assessment of High School Students' Creative Thinking Skills: A Comparison of Dance and Nondance Classes.

This study compared the creative thinking abilities of students taking dance class in high school to nondance students ( n =286). The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) was the basis of the comparison using a pre-test/post-test format. Dance subjects were enrolled in classes that included a variety of dance forms plus some creative work. Comparison of changes in dancers' and nondancers' overall TTCT scores demonstrated no significant differences with a repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). However, significant differences were found between dancers and nondancers for originality and abstractness of title TTCT subscale scores with a repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results also showed a different profile for dancers' scores at the six high schools.