creative arts therapies in the classroom: a study of cognitive, emotional, and motivational changes

Creative Arts Therapies in the Classroom: A Study of

Cognitive, Emotional, and Motivational Changes

Steve Harvey

This study investigates the use of the creative arts therapies to effect cognition, achievement, motivation, and self-concept in elementary school students. The literature review covers creative thinking, self-concept, competence motivation, and the use of creative arts therapies in the classroom. Creative arts therapies sessions utilizing movement, music, and art therapy conducted by trained dance, music, and art therapists working together, were conducted twice weekly over a three month period with normal second and fourth grade classes. Pre- and post-test measures utilized were: the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking; What I Am Like, a self-concept scale expressing competence perceptions; In The Classroom, a self-support scale of intrinsic/extrinsic motivation toward learning; and the Woodcock measure of reading comprehension. A mult ivariant analysis of variance suggests positive growth in creative thinking and reading comprehension. Correlational analysis suggests relationships between self-concept, motivation, and creativity. Finally, principle component analysis suggests that the children's resultant thinking had a more original style. The use of creative arts therapies as affective education is discussed.

T his s t udy inves t iga t e s the effects of c rea t ive a r t s t h e r a p i e s on the r e a d i n g comprehens ion , self-concept, in t r ins ic mot iva t ion , and cre-

a t ive t h i n k i n g of y o u n g e l e m e n t a r y school chi ldren. C rea t i ve a r t s t he ra -

American Journal of Dance Therapy © 1989 American Dance Vol. 11, No. 2, Fall/Winter 1989 85 Therapy Association

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pies refers to an intervention style designed to encourage spontaneous creative problem-solving of emotional/social difficulties. The use of art, movement, and music can result in metaphor-making and problem- solving of social/emotional conflicts. In this way the creative arts therapies unite the cognitive aspect of creativity and the therapeutic aspect of behavioral and personality change. Because of this integration of thinking and feeling, the creative arts therapies offer an opportunity to positively effect social/emotional and academic behavior.

Torrance (1974) defines creativity as the process of sensing gaps or missing elements in existing knowledge, forming ideas concerning them, testing these hypotheses, and communicating the results. Often these gaps appear perplexing, ambiguous, and somewhat disturbing. Several authors (Getzels & Csikszentmialy, 1976; Rossman & Horn, 1972; Harvey, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1987; Medneck, 1964) suggest that creativity is a highly complex ability consisting of a multi-step process which has several cognitive, motivational, and personality characteristics. Osborn (1967), Medneck (1962, 1964) and Torrance (1974) suggest that the essen- tial cognitive activity of creativity lies in a novel combining of existing elements. Such a cognitive process is certainly related to intelligence according to Guilford (1967) yet appears to be different from other abilities involved in learning and has the potential of psychometric isolation (Horn, 1976). Harvey (1981, 1982) identifies two distinct cognitive characteristics involved with creativity in a study investigating both intellec- tual and creative thinking abilities. He identifies creative thinking as the ability to produce many responses, or fluency, as well as the ability to produce qualitative, creative responses which involve originality and elaboration. Interestingly, the qualitative creative thinking factor also appears to be highly related to general intelligence.

Rossman and Horn (1972) found that certain personality factors are related to creative cognition, the presence of risk taking, openness, playfulness, and the need to achieve in creative activities. In their studies of highly creative and intelligent high school students (Getzels & Jackson, 1962) note that a sense of humor seems to be highly associated with creativity. Similarly, Lieberman (1965) shows that a kindergartener's playfulness appears to be highly characteristic of more creative young students.

Torrance (1965) and Hutchinsen (1963) note that the encouragement of creativity with young children in the classroom is associated with positive academic achievement and social and emotional outcomes. Torrance and Myers (1970) state that the most frequent change in their students as a result of creative teaching is from reader to non-reader, as reported by professional educators. Additional outcomes include generally improved behavior and achievement. Parnes (1967) in a survey of programs for teaching primary children to read, notes that all successes had one thing

Creative Arts Therapies and Affect 87

in common: they elicit creativity by allowing the children to make up words and stories.

According to Torrance (1962; Torrance & Myers, 1970) children prefer to learn in creative ways through exploration, manipulation, question- ing, experimenting, risk-taking, and modifying their ideas. Creative activities in no way appear to interfere with the traditional acquisition of knowledge as measured by achievement outcomes. In fact, young children's classroom achievement can be positively influenced through the development of their creative abilities (Torrance & Myers, 1970; Getzels & Jackson, 1962). Thus, it appears that children can and do learn effec- tively through creative activities and are highly motivated to do so. Additionally, more positive social behaviors appear to result from creative education.

Creativity also appears related to students' self-concept and feelings of competence. Further creative therapies may positively impact young student's self-appraisal (Harvey, 1986, 1987). It seems that creative expressive activities are inherently motivating and tend to increase self- esteem (Torrance & Myers, 1970).

Research in the areas of self-evaluation which investigate cognitive and task approach behavior have similar findings to studies involving creativity. In their work on the development of self-appraisal Harter and Ziegler (1974a, 1974b) and Harter (1974) have shown that feelings of competency accompanying successful task mastery provide intrinsic motivation which in turn positively impacts on the development of a child's self-concept. These researchers based their work on White's (1959) model of effectance or competence motivation which proposes that people have an inborn, motivating force to effect their environment in a competent or successful manner. Such actions in meeting challenge results in pleasant, satisfying feelings of efficacy. Intrinsic motivation behavior is indicated by factors such as exploration, curiosity for novel stimuli, and preference for more challenging tasks. Hunt (1971) also suggests that manipulation, information processing, and play are included in this array of intrim sically motivated competence behaviors.

It could be that as students master their emotional and social tasks with a creative expressive process they experience a competence motivation to effect their social environments. White (1959) bases his ideas on an inherent drive to meet challenges; Torrance (1974) presents creativity as a process of identifying and providing solutions to ~gaps" in knowledge. Both effectance motivation (White, 1959) and creativity utilize exploration, curiosity, sense of challenge, and play. It appears that a student's processes of creative thinking and the development of self-concept may overlap.

While some authors discuss creative arts therapies in the classroom (Tropea, 1982), little has been written about creative arts therapies ap-

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proaches to affective education. Affective education refers to classroom group activities, special programming, and other interventions which focus on a students social and emotional difficulty (Long, Morse, & New- man, 1980). In general these interventions include the use of specifically designed curriculum or approaches which address such topics as self- control, self-concept, understanding of emotions, and socialization, among others.

Newman (1974) briefly mentions classroom use of the expressive art therapies in her review of group approaches to affective education. In this regard, Lyons and Tropea (1987) describe an initial model in which creative arts therapists can serve as consultants to special education teachers assisting them to develop expressive and affective activities appropriate to students' academic and social difficulties. However, there are few outcome studies concerning such classroom activity utilizing the creative arts therapies.

In one reported outcome study, Berrol (1984) compares dance therapy with sensory motor intervention activities for first grade children who were experiencing learning and perceptual motor difficulties. The study reports no significant main effects on such dependent measures as academic achievement, physical performance, and social/behavioral adjust- ment. While some treatment effects were noted the author points out the difficulty in the quantitative measurement of important variables such as body image.

Recent work (Harvey, 1986, 1987) suggests that elementary school children evidence significant positive gains in verbal, figural, and movement creative thinking as well as social problem-solving when involved in year-long creative arts therapies programs which directly address social and affective issues. Some gains among special education students were also evidenced. It is important to note that older elementary school children, diagnosed as experiencing significant social and emotional difficulties, showed no statistically significant, objectively measured improvement in these areas. However, videotaped observations of the social and emotional behavior of these older students in movement, art, and drama therapy activities reveal evidence of positive social interaction. Informal comments by teachers further suggest some generalizability of increased positive social interaction.

Thus, while some positive social and emotional gains through the use of creative arts therapies have been evidenced among young students, little research supports these general, anecdotal claims. Few relevant dependent variables have been isolated which can serve as reliable indicators of improvement or predict individual and group behavior change. While some variables, such as the development of individual body image through the use of movement expression, have been suggested, (Berrol, 1984) a reliable measurement technique is yet to be developed. Harvey's


work (1986, 1987) suggests that verbal, figure, and creative movement thinking show promise as indicators of a portion of the change evidenced through the experience of creative arts therapies with young children.

Creative arts interventions which specifically focus young children to express themselves imaginatively and to develop metaphors for their classroom conflicts, might also contribute to and encourage their natural competence motivation to solve personal problems and, thereby, contribute to more positive self-regard. It may well be that students develop problems of alienation from school and lose their intrinsic interest through a constant demand to solve academic problems having no perceived relevance to them. The creative arts therapies might offer an important avenue for children to become interested in the cognitive activities of problem-solving while, at the same time, addressing their needs to understand emotional/social difficulties. While some studies (Maw & Maw, 1963; Torrance, 1965; Parnes, 1967) show that creative programming can produce short term gains in students' creativity, thinking, and achievement, the addition of self-concept and motivational measures to the array of variables considered adds further construct validity to such interventions and helps to understand how longer gains can be achieved.

Method

This study is designed to investigate the effects of the creative arts therapies on four variables: creative thinking, self-concept, motivation, and reading achievement of elementary school students. The study asks three basic questions: 1) Is there a relationship among the above four variables? 2) If so, do these relationships change after an activity which encourages creative affective expression? And 3) do creative arts therapies contribute to positive gains in these areas? By focusing the creative process on important social/affective issues, this study attempts to assess the potential benefits of the creative arts therapies as affective education in the classroom.

Population

The present study was conducted in a public elementary school in subur- ban Denver, Colorado. Second and fourth grade classes were selected to allow for comparisons among older and younger students. The students came from middle- and lower middle-class working families, were pre- dominantly white, had normal intelligence, and were achieving at grade

90 Harvey

level. The specific classrooms were selected because the teachers volun- teered when the project was presented to their local school district. The population consisted of 28 second graders and 28 fourth graders for a total of 56 subjects. Attrition (n = 4) was relatively small and was not considered a factor in the statistical analysis of the results.

Procedure

Creative arts therapies sessions, which included integrated movement, art, and music activities were conducted twice weekly for 30 minutes over a 12-week period.

For each grade sessions were led by music, art and dance therapists. Each therapist was present in every session. Activities from each modality were presented in an alternating fashion as the main focus of the session. The other modalities were then used to extend the basic theme.

These therapists had completed graduate training in their respective disciplines. The music therapist was registered by his professional orga- nization; the art and dance therapists were in the final process of completing their post-graduate hours needed for their respective registries. The therapists were new to the students. The music and dance therapists were male and the art therapist was female. Each of these therapists contributed both structured and processed interventions from their respective areas of training. Since the three therapists had worked together in previous group settings, their activities and intervention styles were related.

The techniques of the music therapist included the development of pupil-generated chants and songs, musical and vocal expressions of affect, and the use of listening to affectively oriented recorded or live music. Guitar or piano music played by the music therapist had clear emotional tones and included lullabies, strong rock themes, etc.

The art therapist utilized techniques which included spontaneous graphic representations of emotions, self-portraiture, mask-making and student-generated group murals. The dance therapist facilitated ges- tural, postural, and facial expressions of affect, dyadic and group mirroring, physical sculpturing, and the development of individual and group dances expressing feelings. In these activities children were asked to make faces, hand gestures, and show walking styles which communi- cated anger, happiness, sadness, fear, and confusion.

In all sessions, these leaders attempted to integrate movement, art, and music expression by relating both structured and process interventions to the other modalities. Themes introduced in one modality were extended and elaborated using the other expressive possibilities. For example, each session usually began with structured activities including rhythmic


self-naming chants and songs. Individual movements, gestures, and faces were then developed followed by drawing self-portraits in order to expand a basic theme of self-identification. As individual students introduced divergent ideas, had difficulty with expression or became bored or opposi- tional, the leader incorporated the children's spontaneous communica- tions into these structures. For example, a chant called the name game which included making faces to show a student's name in a physical manner would become the '%ored" name game as a student made a bored facial expression during the game.

The creative arts therapies activities allowed the children to express their experiences, both individually and as a group. Rather than focusing upon a predetermined goal or product, the activities encouraged the students to develop their own art work, songs, dances, and movement enactments within the basic structure offered by the leaders. Major conflicts among the students were addressed by the leaders. The strategy used was to encourage students to use dance, art, and musical elements to resolve such instances. These activities usually consisted of dyadic or small group dances, songs or murals about the identified conflict areas.

As expected, the conflict areas resembled those commonly expressed by young children. Themes included disagreement about rules, resentment concerning unequal attention by the leaders, anger towards school, difficulty in integrating aggressive or isolative group members into group activities, and difficulties with self-control. These conflicts were addressed as they occurred in the group process. These activities addressed the affective and school experiences in creative ways rather than merely attempting to teach creative problem-solving as a cognitive method.

The framework of the activities followed four stages in which the students experienced all of the art forms. Approximately three weeks were devoted to each stage: Stage 1) The introduction of the use of each creative medium as a method of self-expression. Activities used to develop self-expression included developing group and individual rhythmic chants to express names, personalized gestures, faces, movements, and other forms of affective self-identification. Stage 2) The use of art, music and/or dance to express different social and affective qualities. Activities to express affective qualities included use of graphic representation of basic emotional qualities, development of student movement, movement and musical expression of basic affective experience, and student identification of different affective qualities in presented music. Stage 3) The development of group relationships through the expressive activities. Activities used to develop relationships included student development of '~hello" and "good-bye" songs, dyadic and small group mirroring, and varying forms of graphic mural-making. Stage 4) The use of group activities to express a group feeling or to solve social conflicts. Group activities included group body sculpture-making concerning conflict areas, student-

92 Harvey

generated chants, and group mural making. Self-portraiture and solo dances supported by group rhythms were also included.

Test Instruments and Statistical Analysis

To answer the research questions, the students were given the following pre- and post-test measures immediately preceding and following the 12- week intervention period:

1. For self-concept andmot iva t i on -The Har ter Scales, W h a t l A m L i k e (1978) and In The Classroom (1981).

2. For creative th ink ing-ve rba l and figural portions of The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: Form A and B (Torrance, 1974).

3. For reading comprehens ion- the word and passage comprehension of The Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests (Woodcock, 1973).

Each instrument includes several subtests to measure specific items. What I A m Like assesses a student's self-appraisal of competence in school, social, physical, and general abilities. In The Classroom assesses student's self-statements concerning motivations for completing school- work. Subscale scores used in this study measure the polarities of seeking challenge versus doing easier tasks, and seeking independent mastery versus doing work given by the teacher. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking measures ability to produce verbal, figural or fluency responses; ability to produce verbal or figural responses with mental shifts or flexibility; ability to produce verbal or figural originality or responses which are statistically infrequent; and the elaboration of figural responses. In addition, a variable was created to estimate the creative strength of each response by averaging originality and elaboration for each response. The Woodcock Tests measure reading comprehension- word and passage comprehension tests were used for this study.

The pre- and post-score on these instruments were used as the dependent measures. A Multivariant Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to assess pre- and post-test change. Additionally, correlational and principal component analysis were done in order to gain a further understanding of relationships among these variables on the pre- and post- observations.

Because no control group was used in this study raw scores on all the measures were used for statistical analysis. The scores were then con- verted to percentiles in order to compare study group students to the population means estimated from the normal bell curve obtained from the normal population used in the tests' constructions. The use of percentiles allowed for comparing the results of this study to what would be


statistically expected by the test publishers from a similar group of normal students.

Results

A repeated measures multivariable analysis of variance with selected pre- and post-scores yielded a significant treatment main effect (F (1,33) = 9.51, p < .0001). No sex, grade or academic level interactional effect was significant. The results suggest that a creative arts therapies approach produces significant results equally for young children of both sexes, for both second and fourth grade level students, and for children at all levels of academic reading achievement.

To better understand the nature of this result, a univariate analysis of variance was completed using theoretically significant variables (Table 1). Word comprehension, verbal, and figural creative originality, were significantly higher at the post-test observation. A creative value composite was obtained by averaging (creative value = elaboration and originality divided by fluency) originality and elaborative scores for each verbal or figural response given. These scores yielded an estimate of the creative development contained in each response. The post-test scores of these values were likewise significantly higher following the intervention. However, no such difference was noted for the self-concept or motivational variables. This may be due to the fact that self-concept measures are usually somewhat stable over time.

It is clear that the gains in creative thinking and reading achievement so often noted in creative programming were produced by using the

Table 1 Univariate F-tests with (1,37) for Selected Dependent Measures

Dependent Measures Variable F-Value Significance

Cognitive Self-competence Social Self-competence Reading Comprehension Verbal Originality Figural Originality Verbal Creative Composite Figural Creative Composite

.05813 .811 1.6471 .207

36.9621 .000"* 6.6235 .014" 5.6031 .023*

12.8953 .001"* 4.687 .038*

* Significant ** Highly Significant

94 Harvey

creative arts therapies (Table 2). While no control group was used to which these gains could be directly compared, the large changes in percentile scores give evidence that the use of creative arts therapies increased creative and reading performances as compared to what would be expected given the standard bell curve.

The reading achievement scores indicate a six-and-one-half month gain as a result of the two-and-one-half months of intervention. The post-test creativity percentile scores also indicate large positive jumps of relative performance compared to peers used in the norming and standardized sample from the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (1974). The positive increase in the creative value composite (originality and elaboration divided by fluency) suggests that the students' responses were more original and more elaborately developed than those given before they were exposed to the experimental intervention. These results suggest that when young students are given the opportunity to creatively express their social/affective concerns, their creative thinking becomes significantly more cognitively complex and has more creative energy in a qualitative sense.

The correlations between self-concept and motivational variables of seeking challenge and seeking independent mastery with the creativity results also yield some significant and relevant findings (Table 3). Cogni- tive self-concept, seeking of challenge, and independent mastery had little relationship to creative thinking prior to intervention. However, following the 12-week period, student self-appraisal of cognitive mastery (r = .42, .25, .30, .27), perceptions of seeking challenge (r = .40, .47, .41, .32, .25, .35) and personal independent mastery (r = .37, .38, .24) became significantly more positively correlated to their verbal and fignral creative abilities, at post evaluation measurement. No significant correlations were apparent between those variables at the pre-testing.

Table 2 Pre- and Post-Percenti le Ranks for Significant Creative

Thinking and Achievement Scores (n = 56)

Creative Thinking Variables Pre Post

Verbal Originality Figural Originality Verbal Creative Value

(originality fluency) Figural Creative Value

(originality & elaboration fluency) Reading Achievement

70 90 64 90 60 84

38 46

38 51


Table 3 Pre- and Post-Pearson-Moment Correlations Between Creative Thinking and Self-Concept and Motivational Self-Statements

(n = 56)

Creative Thinking Variables

Cognitive G e n e r a l Seeking Self-Concept Self-Esteem Challenge pre post pre post pre post

Verbal Fluency NS .42 - .33 NS NS .40 Verbal Flexibility NS .25 NS NS NS .47 Verbal Originality NS .30 NS NS NS .41 Figural Fluency NS NS - .37 NS NS .32 Figural Flexibility NS NS NS NS NS NS Figural Originality NS NS - .22 NS NS .25 Figural Elaboration NS .27 NS .25 NS .35

Verbal Fluency Verbal Flexibility Verbal Originality Figural Fluency Figural Flexibility Figural Originality Figural Elaboration

Seeking Independent Mastery

pre post

NS .37 NS NS NS .38 NS NS NS NS NS NS NS .24

NS = Not s i g n i f i c a n t - a l l l i s ted cor re la t ion are s ign i f i can t a t .05 level.

It is noteworthy that, prior to social and other adult reinforcement, students with high nonverbal creative thinking initially evaluated themselves with low positive general self-esteem. In fact, at pre-test, students with higher figural creative originality rated themselves with significantly lower general self-esteem. However, this negative relationship disappeared following the intervention period suggesting that with adult directed creative activities these students could quickly develop less negative self-statements.

The pattern of these results suggests that within a normal class setting young children's self-appraisals of mastery and motivation are not related to their actual creative ability. However, creative arts therapies appear to assist these students in bringing their self-evaluations in line with their creative abilities. It is interesting to note that unless classroom interventions focus students on their creativity and expressiveness, their creative abilities do not appear to influence their self-perceptions of

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mastery and intrinsic motivation. The significant correlations between cognitive mastery and the motivational attributions of seeking challenge and independent mastery with creative thinking strongly suggests that creative arts therapies bring students' attention to the relationship between personal creativity and feelings of independent mastery, challenge, and cognitive competency. These results suggest that with a creative arts therapies approach students' personal creative abilities can begin to work for them in assisting the development of positive self- regard.

The principal component analysis gives information as to characteristics of creative thinking before and following the creative arts therapies sessions (Table 4). Each solution yields three components using the eigen value greater than one criteria to reduce the 7 x 7 matrix of correlations of the verbal and figural subtests. These solutions are in line with previous factor studies. Both Cicirelli (1964) and Harvey (1981, 1982) found that the factor analysis of creative subtests suggests that creative abilities contain three factor solutions consisting of both verbal and figural quantitative fluency characteristics as well as a qualitative factor of creative energy.

Table 4 Principal Component Loadings of Pre- and Post-

Creative Thinking Scores

Pre-Intervention Creative Thinking Variables Verbal Fluency Figural Fluency Creative Energy

Verbal Fluency .17 .48 Verbal Flexibility .90 Verbal Originality .95 Figural Fluency .81 Figural Flexibility .84 Figural Originality .83 .35 Figural Elaboration .84 .92

Verbal Fluency Verbal Flexibility Verbal Originality Figural Fluency Figural Flexibility Figural Originality Figural Elaboration

Post-Intervention

Verbal Fluency .52 .88 .94

Figural Fluency

.59

.95

.40

.21

Creative Energy

- .73 .86

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Present results suggest that these factors described by Harvey (1981, 1982) and Cicirelli (1964) are present both before and after intervention. However, investigations of component loadings suggest that the creative energy factor has a quite different characteristic when comparing the pre- and post-test results.

In the pre-test results the creative energy component was composed of relatively equal loadings in both figural originality (.83) and figural elaboration (.84). However, in the post-test observations, this creative energy component was composed of loading from figural originality ( - .73) and figural elaboration (.86). The results suggest that the originality scores were inversely related to the elaboration scores. As students became more original in their figural responses they were less likely to elaborate their productions. These results suggest that young children who experience creative arts therapies appear to develop a characteristic of thinking that is more original but they may lack a concomitant ability to develop fully these ideas.

Several hypotheses for this result are possible. It could be that young children's development of creative thinking at first involves the emer- gence of more original thoughts while other abilities, including more flexible or elaborate thinking, emerge only after longer intervention periods. Twelve weeks of group intervention may be too short a time for elementary school children to adequately deal with affective and social difficulty in a fully developed, creative fashion. Another possibility for the development of this original thinking characteristic might be related to the novelty of creative arts therapies which offer students new experiences which are important to them because they are different from regular school programming.

Direct observational notes and video assessments of these students' creative behaviors suggest that behaviors demonstrated at the end of intervention contained more originality and strength of creative thinking than behaviors observed during the earlier sessions. However, such observations were not recorded in any systematic way and more formal measurement of these positive behavior changes offer anecdotal rather than statistical evidence for shifts in creative thinking. Further research is needed to more adequately isolate and statistically define qualitative effects of the creative thinking of young students given creative arts therapies sessions.

Conclusions and Discussion The main results of this study suggest:

1) The creative arts therapies can significantly increase verbal and figural creative thinking as well as assist in positively influencing reading comprehension among young elementary age students.


2) Young students can become aware of their creative abilities and can begin to relate their perceptions of mastery, challenge and cognitive competency to these creative abilities following the use of creative arts therapies.

3) The creative thinking of young students appears to develop the characteristic of being more highly original and less elaborate when given the opportunity to creatively express their personal social/ emotional experience.

The findings suggest a number of important conclusions. Interventions designed specifically to address personal/social affective conflicts produce positive gains in creative thinking and school achievement. Creative problem-solving which extends into the highly subjective and volatile realm of a child's emotional experience can significantly increase cognitive abilities and academic achievement. Creative activities no longer have to be developed exclusively from neutral or academic themes but can be achieved when emotional themes are addressed in creative expressive ways.

Additionally, it is highly possible in a classroom setting that children are not made aware of their naturally occurring creative abilities and hence, do not use their creativity in forming self-perceptions in a con- scious way. One possible outcome of a creative arts therapies session is that it helps young children become aware of their creativity and imag- ination and this outcome is related to self-evaluations of mastery, challenge, and self-esteem. Therefore, the experience of the creative arts therapies may provide the social reinforcement necessary for children to relate their creative thinking to positive self-assessments.

Lastly, it appears that a creative arts therapies approach with elementary-age students might produce a form of creative thinking which is highly original but lacks concomitant elaboration. Given the current results this finding is not completely understood. While observational notes and analysis of video taped sessions suggest that the young children's creative activities contained more originality and creative cognitive activity during the final sessions of this intervention, the design of the current study does not contain quantitative description of these changes because of the lack of control groups. Further research using control groups which receive no intervention and a group receiving more academically oriented creative intervention would be necessary to further isolate the specific effects of the creative arts therapies with this population.

Finally, a standardized questionnaire for teachers would be helpful in understanding changes in classroom behavior during and following intervention. Such information would be of importance in understanding if the effects of the creative arts therapies generalize to student social behaviors.

In conclusion, these results suggest that the creative arts therapies

99 Harvey

h a v e p o t e n t i a l a s a m e d i u m for a f f ec t i ve e d u c a t i o n a n d m i g h t h a v e b e n e f i c i a l r e s u l t s i f r e g u l a r l y i n t e g r a t e d i n t o t h e t r a d i t i o n a l c l a s s r o o m . F u t u r e r e s e a r c h i n t h i s a r e a m i g h t f u r t h e r a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g of h o w t h e c r e a t i v e a r t s t h e r a p i e s c a n be i n t e g r a t e d i n to c l a s s r o o m r e a d i n g or soc i a l s t u d i e s c u r r i c u l u m a n d w i t h t h e c o m m o n p r a c t i c e s o f c l a s s r o o m disc i -

p l i n e . P e r h a p s t h e n r e s u l t s of t h e c r e a t i v e a r t s t h e r a p i e s i n t e r v e n t i o n

m i g h t p r o d u c e l e s s i m p u l s i v e t h i n k i n g a n d g e n e r a t e c r e a t i v e r e s p o n s e s

w h i c h a r e m o r e i n b a l a n c e w i t h c l a s s r o o m a c t i v i t i e s w i t h o u t l o s i n g pe r -

s o n a l r e l e v a n c e .

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creative arts therapies in the classroom: a study of cognitive, emotional, and motivational changes

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