© Kamla-Raj 2015 Anthropologist, 22(2): 211-218 (2015) How the Project Approach Affects Pre-schoolers’ Creativity Zuhal Gizir¹ and Aysel Koksal Akyol² ¹Mersin University, Faculty of Education, Department of Preschool Teacher Discipline E-mail: zuhalgizir@gmail.com ²Ankara University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Child Development E-mail: koksalaysel@gmail.com KEYWORDS Child Education. Creativity. Preschool. Project Approach ABSTRACT With this paper, the researchers aim to determine whether the project-based approach affects preschoolers’ creativity. An experimental design was used involving a pretest, post test, and retention test to compare an experimental and control group, as well as a general information form for collecting basic information about the participating students and their families and the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking: Figural Form A. Results showed that project-based education influenced the students’ creativity, since the statistical evaluations of each mental characteristic assessed in the creative thinking test revealed no significant difference (p > .05) between the pre- and post test scores of the experimental and control groups regarding the subdomain of elaboration. However, significant differences emerged concerning the subdomains of fluency, originality, abstractness of titles, resistance to premature closure, and overall creativity between the pre- and post tests (p < .01). INTRODUCTION In today’s rapidly developing world, raising individuals who reflect upon, conduct research about, and are sensitive to what happens in their environments has become increasingly impor- tant. By extension, educational institutions should foster their students’ self-confidence, research skills, and creativity so that these indi- viduals can adapt to sudden changes and devel- opments, analyze knowledge and ideas, gener- ate and implement new ideas, establish open and safe communication, and work readily with others. Each individual displays differences in how his or her creativity emerges. In this context, cre- ativity means using objects or concepts in atyp- ical ways, while a review of definitions of cre- ativity suggests that the concept is character- ized by novelty, innovation, originality and in- vention. Establishing a previously undiscovered relationship between two concepts, grasping similarities and differences, and associating past experiences with new situations all indicate cre- ative thinking skills (Dokmen 2001; Mindham 2005). Since any new idea is often a reconstitu- tion of known ideas or a translation of an exist- ing idea into a new form or with a new frame of reference, creativity is considered to be a signif- icant characteristic in adaptation skills, as well as useful in facilitating individuals’ searches for new ways to resolve interpersonal problems (Butcher and Niec 2005). Though the emergence, development, degree, and continuance of cre- ativity differ from one individual to the next, cre- ativity is generally associated with multidimen- sional reflection, vigilance in newly encountered situations, and the abilities to think and act eas- ily, quickly, and independently and to deduce various conclusions (Hildebrand 1991; Mayosky 1995). Creativity is a pivotal concept in many disci- plines. Especially in education, creativity is con- sidered to constitute a significant output (Goree 1996; Aslan 2007). In this sense, educational in- stitutions assume the responsibility of nurtur- ing individuals who can think creatively, as well as of retaining and improving their potential. Cre- ative individuals are curious, self-confident peo- ple who can find practical solutions to problems, think flexibly and independently, enjoy complex and challenging tasks, and easily establish em- pathy, as well as are open to novelty, are imagi- native, and energetic (Yildiz et al. 2003; Aslan 2007). As a reflection of these anticipated quali- ties, several educational models have been im- plemented in educational institutions, though the content knowledge and skills of the objectives of the different models vary. In general, howev- er, these models aim to raise individuals who are emotionally and behaviorally strong, open to novelty and are creative. To foster such person- alities, preschoolers in particular must be pre- pared by engaging rich, affirmative and construc- tive experiences (Berretta and Privette 1990; Yildiz et al. 2003; Aslan 2007).