Creative Potential of School Children in Hong Kong: Norms of the Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests and Their Implications

Abstract

In this research, we normed the Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests (Wallach & Kogan, 1965) for the school children in Hong Kong. A representative sample of 1418 students (148 1st graders, 155 2nd graders, 159 3rd graders, 163 4th graders, 162 5th graders, 160 6th graders, 162 7th graders, 159 8th graders, and 150 9th graders) was administered a Chinese version of the Wallach-Kogan Creativity Tests (WKCT), developed in a large-scale pilot study. There was some preliminary evidence of reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the WKCT. Results of the norming study showed that there was generally an increase with grade level in the mean of various indexes (Fluency, Flexibility, Uniqueness, and Unusualness) of creativity from Grade 1 to Grade 3 (individual administration mode) and from Grade 4 to Grade 9 (group administration mode) for both verbal tests and figural tests, besides a significant drop in the mean of the various indexes of creativity for figural tests in Grade 7. No gender differences in the indexes of creativity were found. The norms of this first norming study of the WKCT not only provide information about the creative potential of the school children in Hong Kong, but also facilitate future cross-cultural comparison of the scores of the WKCT in different cultures and societies