Fostering Students’ Creativity through Van Hiele’s 5 phase-Based Tangram Activities

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether Van Hiele’s 5 phase-based tangrams activities could help tofoster creativity among Grade Three primary school students. Students’ creativity was investigated in terms ofTorrance’s Figural Test of creative thinking: Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, Abstractness of title, andResistance to a premature closure. The study further examined students’ responses to learning experience intangram activities. A pre-test and post-test single group experimental design was employed in the study. Thisresearch design involved assessment on the students’ creativity based on the figural constructing task which wasimplemented prior and subsequent to the intervention. A total of 144 Grade Three students took part in the study.The students learned Two-dimensional geometry and Symmetry through the Van Hiele’s 5 phases of learningusing tangram. The intervention took place for 3 hours. Paired samples t-tests which compared the mean scoresof pre- and post- figural test were computed to determine if a significant difference existed. The results showedthat there were significant differences in mean scores between pre- and post-figural test. The in-depth analysisabout the five dimensions of Torrance’s creativity found that the applied intervention was only significant inimproving students’ elaboration, no significant changes in students’ fluency and abstractness of title, andsignificant dropping performance in originality and resistance to premature closure. Generally, students felt thatthe tangram activities had provided an opportunity for them to think creatively. In conclusion, this study showsthat the tangram, when integrated with van Hiele’s five Phases of learning is able to foster student’s creativity ingeometric lessons.