The Effect of Hypermedia Authoring on Elementary School Students' Creative Thinking

Min Liu
Journal of Educational Computing Research, Vol 19 No 1, 1998, p. 27-51

Promoting creative thinking in children has been an issue of critical importance to educators. Research shows that appropriate uses of computer programs such as word processing, computer imaging, and Logo programming have the potential to enhance children's creativity. Little is known, however, about the impact of hypermedia technology on children's creative thinking. This study examined whether engaging elementary school students in hypermedia authoring would promote their creative thinking. It was found that after engaging in an extended period of hypermedia authoring, the fourth graders increased their creativity scores in a number of areas. The low and intermediate ability students appeared to benefit from the hypermedia authoring environment more than the high ability students and working collaboratively on the hypermedia authoring projects enabled students to demonstrate higher higher creativity scores than when working individually. The findings are consistent with research on hypermedia and creativity with Logo in showing that by offering a new dimension for expressing thoughts and encouraging novel ways of presentation, hypermedia authoring is another way to facilitate children's cognitive development and promote their motivation toward learning.

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