Human creativity has been claimed to rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine, but evidence is still sparse. We studied whether individual performance (N=117) in divergent thinking (alternative uses task) and convergent thinking (remote association task) can be predicted by the individual spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), a clinical marker of…

The purpose of the present paper is to investigate how different occupational groups explain why children have problems in school, how they believe schools should help these children and the role they believe that special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) should have in such work. A questionnaire was distributed to all teaching and support…

This study illustrates the processes by which 8 pairs of adolescents in Northern Ireland struggled to come to grips with tensions between school and community history. Findings are based on data collected through open-ended, semi-structured interviews with students from a variety of backgrounds. Although these students appreciated the attempt by…

Objective: Two studies were performed to assess both divergent and convergent thinking in adults with ADHD. Method: The first study compared the problem-solving abilities of healthy participants (N = 144) and unmedicated adults with ADHD (N = 144). In the second study, problem-solving abilities of adults with diagnosed ADHD (N = 22) were examined…

As evidence-based practices become increasingly advocated for and used in the human services field it is important to integrate issues raised by three perspectives on evidence: empirical-analytical, phenomenological-existential, and post-structural. This article presents and discusses an evidence-based conceptual model and measurement framework…

There is consensus within child welfare services that the provision of timely and effective support to families in the community is of critical importance in terms of protecting children. "Family support" is a term used to refer to a broad range of activities aimed at supporting the functioning of families. It is generally accepted that…

This case study demonstrates how the Osborne-Parnes Creative Problem-solving Model (CPS) can be used to enhance teacher creativity through the collaborative and inviting processes found within Invitational Education, which counter the individualistic and product-oriented enterprises often associated with creative endeavors. Conclusions indicate…

Empirical studies of creativity have focused on the importance of divergent thinking, which supports generating novel solutions to loosely defined problems. The present study examined creativity and frontal cortical activity in an externally-validated group of creative individuals (trained musicians) and demographically matched control…

A novel paradigm was developed to study the behavior of groups of networked people searching a problem space. The authors examined how different network structures affect the propagation of information in laboratory-created groups. Participants made numerical guesses and received scores that were also made available to their neighbors in the…

This paper deals with a course intended to teach individuals a method of convergent thinking, or "idea focusing", in seeking inventive solutions to problems and designing innovative artefacts. The course participants (mathematics, science, or technology teachers) learned a range of "inventive principles" often used for problem-solving in…

This study analyzes what characterizes the negotiations of seventh graders at a public school in Bogotá when working in pairs to develop speaking tasks in EFL classes. The inquiry is a descriptive case study that follows the qualitative paradigm. As a result of analyzing the data, we obtained four consecutive steps that characterize students'…

Although the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is offered by many high schools in the United States and considered to be challenging and rich in content, the curriculum has not been analyzed to determine its alignment with college readiness standards or state educational standards in the U.S. The research methodology employed by…

The Systems Theory Framework (STF) is presented as an integrating and organising concept for the predominant theories of career. In order to test the integrative capacity of the STF, this research merges the STF's theoretical element of story with the Theory of Dialogical Self's model of personality. Implications for the practice of career…

Understanding complex systems is fundamental to understanding science. The complexity of such systems makes them very difficult to understand because they are composed of multiple interrelated levels that interact in dynamic ways. The goal of this study was to understand how experts and novices differed in their understanding of two complex…

The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354…