Divergent Thinking: a Tool for Assessing Students' Creativity in Architectural Design Course

creativity is the main and necessary element in architecture education.Many thinkers and researchers around the world have thought about creativity.They have tried to solve its mystery.In terms of psychology,creativity can be seen in both convergent and divergent thinking.But it is more inclusive in divergent thinking.Adesigner with divergent thinking directs his design towards different, new and extensive situations that play a significant role in its creativity.Therefore,it is important to consider creative education in architecture education,especially for architectural design courses.The purpose of this study is to discuss creative education and how to implement it into architectural education,especially architectural design courses.The research method is mixed(quantitative-qualitative)and applied in terms of purpose.The sketch has been used to gather information from library sources and students' opinions through the questionnaire along with holding two-day workshop.The statistical population is all undergraduate architecture students(associate's and bachelor's degrees)of Karoon HigherEducationinAhvaz.To assess the students' creativity,in addition to the questionnaire formulation,the standard test of "Torrance test for creativity" has been used.The sketch testing held in two-day workshop, and Cropley's creative solution diagnosis scale(CSDS)was used to assess the sketches.To analyze the questionnaire data,SPSS software was utilized.The results of the research explain that the level of architecture students' information about creativity and ways of its development are not enough and the creativity issue is not obvious and known for most of them.It is suggested that design professors use various methods to reach the desired designs in order to achieve desired designs in order to achieve creative studios.Also,asignments should be implemented in curriculum,specially during the entry and basic courses to familiarize architecture students with the phenomenon of creativity and creative education in order to develop creativity.Authors suggest designating graduate studies and discertations on Classification of creative exercises and their learning and teaching methods in architecture to elevate the creativity in architecture courses in the country.