The effectiveness of the integration of open-ended and collaborative (OE-C) learning strategies in reducing gaps of elementary school students’ creative thinking skills

Abstract

This study examines a blend of open-ended and collaborative learning strategies (OE-C) incomparison to other strategies in minimizing the gap of creative thinking skills between Upper Academic(UA) and Lower Academic (LA) students. The population of this study was 136 fifth grade students of anelementary school in Salatiga, Indonesia. The sample consisted of each 68 UA and 68 LA studentscategorized by intact group technique sampling. Research method employed was the 4x2 factorial design.The students’ creative thinking skills were measured with open-ended validated problem testing, focusingon students’ fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Data were analysed using ANCOVA with thepre-test score as the covariate. Findings suggest that OE-C learning strategy is the most effective learningmethod to elevate students’ creative thinking skills. Further, the OE-C learning strategy also serves as themost efficient to reduce gaps of creative thinking skills.