Does Analogical Reasoning With Visual Clues Affect Novice and Experienced Design Students' Creativity?

Design students' creative thinking abilities should be enhanced. Yet the educational tools that will lead to this goal are not entirely clear. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether analogical reasoning with visual clues could help to achieve this goal. The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)-Figural form was given 103 undergraduate students in a design-based program. Novice and experienced design students' creative-thinking skills were tested under 3 conditions: with (a) no visual clues, (b) few visual clues, or (c) many visual clues. The results showed that (a) the presence of visual clues enhanced some aspects of creativity (fluency and flexibility); (b) compared to experienced design students, novice design students showed better performance on some aspects of creative potential (elaboration); and (c) the number of visual clues influenced novice and experienced students differently. Whether the results will apply to different subject groups and methodological situations remains to be seen. Still, findings of this study have practical implications for design education. To enhance creative thinking skills, instructors may encourage design students' use of visual clues