The effectiveness of a creativity-based educational program with a family-oriented and therapist-based approach on critical thinking of gifted students

This research was conducted with the aim of studying the effectiveness of the creativity-based educational program with a family-oriented and therapist-based approach on the gifted students. A semi-experimental research design was carried out with pre-test-post-test-follow-up in the experimental and control groups. The research community consisted of all the gifted female students of Tehran in the age range of 6 to 8 years. According to the research community, by using the latest version of the Tehran-Stanford-Bineh intelligence test and through the available targeted sampling method, a sample of 45 high-achieving female students who had an IQ above 120 was chosen. They were selected as samples and then randomly were assigned in three groups: experiment 1 (15 people), experiment 2 (15 people) and control (15 people). Critical thinking questionnaire (Ricketts, 2003) was the tool used in this research. The training program based on creativity was conducted for 12 sessions on experimental groups. The statistical data were analyzed using SPSS-18 software and the statistical model of repeated measurement. The obtained results showed that the educational program based on creativity with two family-oriented and therapist-based approaches on critical thinking and its components which included creativity, growth and commitment has been effective and according to the effect size, it was determined that the family-oriented approach shows more effectiveness. Therefore, this educational program, specially family-oriented approach can be used to improve the critical thinking of children, especially gifted children.