Divergent thinking shows an overall upward developmental trend across Grades 1–12, peaking in Grade 9, with significant drops in Grades 7, 10, and 11¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Meta-analytic three-level modeling of 2,139 standardized means shows DT significantly higher at each successive grade level, peaking in Grade 9, with significant drops in Grades 7, 10, and 11. → Said-Metwaly 2019

Evidence¶

Said-Metwaly 2019¶

Said-Metwaly, S., Fernández-Castilla, B., Kyndt, E., Van den Noortgate, W., & Barbot, B. (2019). Does the Fourth-Grade Slump in Creativity Actually Exist? A Meta-Analysis of the Development of Divergent Thinking in School-Age Children and Adolescents. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Does+the+Fourth-Grade+Slump+in+Creativity+Actually+Exist

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Three-level meta-analysis of overall DT across 41 studies (2,139 SMs, 40,918 subjects), reported in Results. The analysis found "DT was significantly higher at each successive grade level" with a peak in Grade 9 and significant drops in Grades 7, 10, and 11.

"In essence, DT was significantly higher at each successive grade level, and reached its peak in Grade 9. No overall drop in Grade 4 was observed; rather, there was a plateau (i.e., non-significant difference between Grade 3 and Grade 4). Further, significant drops were obtained for Grades 7, 10, and 11."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Creativity — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• A seventh-grade slump in divergent thinking is observed at the overall and indicator level — related
• The seventh-grade slump is moderated by DT test, task content domain, and gender, with larger drops for WKCT, figural tasks, and a higher proportion of males — related
• No general fourth-grade slump in divergent thinking: Grade 4 shows a plateau relative to Grade 3 — reports the opposite
• A recent large-scale meta-analysis failed to find convincing evidence of developmental slumps in children's divergent thinking — reports the opposite