Concept Maps for Creative Development

Abstract

This research is based on the premise that creative application of narrative elements requires organization and problem solving skills, hypothesizing that skills taught to support organization will improve creative development. Creativity was defined as “aesthetic appeal” pertaining to the dimensions of novelty, interest, clarity and the ability to understand. In this experimental design, undergraduate education students (n= 28) were randomly assigned to either concept map planning or text planning for the production of digital photo stories. The highest scoring photo stories were novel, interesting, clear, and able to be understood. The older participants scored higher for each of the dimensions, yet the concept map group was younger than the comparison group. Using age and concept map experience as covariates, a multivariate effect was found, and the concept map group produced photo stories with significantly higher clarity. These results suggest that the use of concept maps for planning aids aspects of creative development, and results in clearer creative communication. In terms of participants’ experience, feedback was positive for the use of concept map planning. These results suggest there is support for further investigation of using concept mapping for creative development. It is recommended that this study be replicated with a larger sample size.