DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVITY IN YOUNGER SCHOOLCHILDREN IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NEW UKRAINIAN SCHOOL

Abstract

The article explores the issue of creative thinking and the development of creativity in younger schoolchildren within the new educational paradigm of the Ukrainian school system. There is no universally accepted approach to understanding the nature of creativity or defining its content. Generally, creativity is seen as the ability to generate unique ideas, find new solutions, and deviate from traditional thinking patterns. Using E. Torrance's creativity test, the study empirically reveals specific aspects of verbal and non-verbal creativity in younger schoolchildren: all creativity indicators fall within normal ranges; the verbal creativity indicator "flexibility" scored 47 T-scores, and the non-verbal creativity indicator "elaboration" scored 55 T-scores. The structural profile of creativity in younger schoolchildren is characterized by uniformity in both verbal and figurative creativity. Gender differences were found in the main creativity indicators, such as elaboration, titles, resistance to closure (p < 0.05). Girls displayed better abilities in developing and expanding ideas than boys.