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Two studies are reported to give insight in the nature of creative problem solving in primary school students. Study 1 focused on the process and aimed to determine to what extent behaviors in response to a task matched the Creative Problem Solving model (CPS model; Isaksen et al., 2011; Treffinger, 1995). Study 2 focused on the product and aimed to determine the relations among creative problem solving outcomes and the overlap of these outcomes with divergent thinking and academic achievement outcomes. 13 fourth graders participated in Study 1; 594 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders participated in Study 2. In study 1, students were asked to think aloud while completing a structured task. Their behaviors were coded based on the CPS model. In study 2, students completed similar tasks for three problem situations. Students' ideas were rated on four CPS indicators. A measurement model and structural model were tested. Study 1 showed that behaviors could be described with the CPS model. All elements were found: understanding the challenge, generating ideas, preparing for action, and planning your approach. The number of utterances within elements and the sequence of the creative problem solving processes varied across students. Study 2 showed that the relations of the creative problem solving indicators corresponded with theory and with relations found in earlier studies. The CPS model can be applied in the primary school context and creative problem solving capability is already evident in primary school students. • A think-aloud study showed the CPS model matched the CPS processes of the students. • A large scale study showed the CPS indicators describe the CPS product well. • Relations with divergent thinking and academic achievement matched earlier findings. • CPS capability appears to be already present in primary school students. • The CPS model can be applied in the primary school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Generalizability theory is applied step-by-step on CPS assessment data. • The impact of elements of the assessment system differed slightly across aspects. • Three to five tasks and two raters may produce reliable relative CPS scores. • Implications for the assessment of CPS and creativity in general are discussed. • The non-technical manual assists in applying G-theory in future creativity studies. The assessment of creative problem solving (CPS) is challenging. Elements of an assessment procedure, such as the tasks that are used and the raters who assess those tasks, introduce variation in student scores that do not necessarily reflect actual differences in students' creative problem solving abilities. When creativity researchers evaluate assessment procedures, they often inspect these elements such as tasks and raters separately. We show the use of Generalizability Theory allows researchers to investigate creativity assessment procedures - and CPS assessments in particular - in a comprehensive and integrated way. In this paper, we first introduce this statistical framework and the choices creativity researchers need to make before applying Generalizability Theory to their data. Then, Generalizability Theory is applied in an analysis of CPS assessment tasks. We highlight how alterations in the nature of the assessment procedure, such as changing the number of tasks or raters, may affect the quality of CPS scores. Furthermore, we present implications for the assessment of CPS and for creativity research in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fact finding, problem finding and solution finding were included in creative problem solving tasks • Fact finding and problem finding were positively associated with fluency and originality • Problem finding seemed to help in finding complete ideas, fact finding did not. • Primary school students were able to identify their most creative ideas • Students did not undervalue certain aspects of creativity when applying solution finding Interest in fostering creative problem solving (CPS) from primary education onwards is growing. However, embedding CPS in Education seems to be a challenge. One problem is that generating creative ideas (idea finding) is often taught in isolation, rather than also including processes such as exploring knowledge (fact finding), defining the problem (problem finding) and comparing ideas to identify the most creative ones (solution finding). In the current study, we prepared CPS tasks for primary education that represent this more complete CPS model and studied whether successful fact finding and problem finding were positively associated with the creativity of the ideas found. Additionally, we studied whether solution finding is doable for these young students and how they select the most creative ideas. Bayesian analyses indicated a positive association of fact finding and problem finding with the number of ideas generated and the originality of these ideas. In addition, problem finding seemed to be positively associated with the completeness of ideas, whereas fact finding seemed not. We also found that primary school students were able to identify their most creative ideas. Students did not seem to undervalue certain aspects of creativity when applying solution finding. Our results indicate that when aiming for more and original solutions, teachers could embed fact finding and problem finding in their CPS teaching practices. Our results also indicate primary school students are able to recognize creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]