Date of Award
8-1978
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Department
Teacher Development
College
School of Education
First Advisor
Russell Schmidt
Second Advisor
Ed Bavery
Third Advisor
Lowell Mortrude
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Keywords and Subject Headings
teacher development, creative thinking, elementary education
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to make a historical case study of Project REACH and to report the evaluation of its progress after three years of operation. Project REACH (Reaching Educators and Actualizing CHildren) is a teacher development program that emphasizes a combination of theory and workable teaching strategies for developing creative thinking behavior on the part of students. It was developed by the staff and administration of Pike Lake Elementary School, Independent School District #621 (Mounds View), New Brighton, Minnesota.
A systematic, research based, teacher inservice program was the core of Project REACH. Classroom teachers attended these sessions to develop their understanding of thinking, behavior, and creativity. The sessions also assisted teachers in developing instructional methods which emphasized creative thinking. The traditional curriculum content became the medium for developing each student's creative thinking potential. Parents were also trained in methods for encouraging creative thinking behavior in the home.
All students were pre-tested in 1974 with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and the Multiple Talents Test. Post tests were given in the spring of 1975, 1976, and 1977. A random sampling of students were selected for analysis purposes. Students in grades four through six from a nearby school were used as a control group.
The testing showed statistically reliable increases on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and the Multiple Talents Tests in gain scores of project school students across the duration of the project and in the comparison scores of the project school students with the control school students.
Project REACH was successful in implementing a program for assisting teachers in actualizing the creative potential of their individual students. In talking with teachers involved in the project, it was evident that the majority of teachers felt their own creative potential was awakened and developed more fully. They also indicated a permanent change in their teaching style and new ways of perceiving their students.
Recommended Citation
Juntune, Joyce Elaine, "A Historical Case Study of Project REACH" (1978). Culminating Projects in Teacher Development. 79.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/ed_etds/79
