Kids today really are less creative, study says

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44122383/ns/today-parenting/#.TkW-NmNGZhk

By Rachael Rettner, Staff Writer
updated 8/12/2011 3:19:19 PM ET

It sounds like the complaint of a jaded adult: Kids these days are narrow-minded and just not as creative as they used to be.

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But researchers say they are finding exactly that. In a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said.

Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth?

Experts say creativity is innate, so it can't really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured.

"It's not that creativity can necessarily disappear," said Ron Beghetto, an education psychologist at the University of Oregon. "But it can be suppressed in particular contexts."

The current focus on testing in schools, and the idea that there is only one right answer to a question, may be hampering development of creativity among kids, Beghetto said. "There's not much room for unexpected, novel, divergent thought," he said.

But the situation is not hopeless, Beghetto said. In fact, there's evidence to suggest that, worldwide, youngsters are very creative, particularly with their use of digital media, Beghetto said. And a recent study found that, at least in their playtime, kids are becoming more imaginative.
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Experts agree changes can be made in the classroom to cultivate creativity.

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