What do educators need to know about the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A comprehensive review

One of the most important questions that educators try to answer is how to prepare new generations of students for an unpredictable future. Students need to learn several skills, such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication (the 4 Cs). Creativity, especially, is an essential skill in a complex and unforeseeable world/era, and an important step in any effort to enhance creativity is to identify students’ creative strengths and relative weaknesses. This review aims to offer school psychologists and other educators such as teachers, policymakers, and curriculum designers a comprehensive and practical guide to one of the most well-known creativity assessments—the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) that was developed by E. Paul Torrance in the 1960s. The paper discusses the history, components, training, psychometric properties, and uses of the TTCT. Contrary to the notion that the TTCT is only a measure of divergent thinking skills, the current article presents its other uses. It is the authors’ hope that teachers, school psychologists, and other educators will find the information reported in this article useful to better understand the TTCT and use it most effectively.

Introduction
Education in the 21st century is more complex and challenging than ever before. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2021) lists a number of challenges related to the future of education, such as climate change and creation of educational systems that ensure equity and sustainability. Perhaps the most important question that educators are trying to answer is how to prepare students for the unforeseeable future wherein the emergent problems are still ill-defined Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org . Creativity is a core component in the 21st century skills framework (4 Cs: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity) (Abdulla and Runco, 2018), but educators are not always sure how to teach and measure creative abilities. This article bridges the gaps in translating research into practice and presents a practical guide to help educators identify and develop students' creative talents using one of the most well-known assessments, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) and to use the theoretical framework underlying the TTCT for teaching creativity in the classroom.
Although previous literature (Treffinger and Isaksen, 2013;Runco, 2016;Abdulla and Runco, 2018) supports that creativity is essential for preparing new generations of learners for an uncertain future, there is a lack of practical guides for teachers to help students identify their creative talents and enhance their creative thinking skills (Abdulla and Cramond, 2017). Despite extensive literature available on the TTCT (e.g., Cramond, 1994;Millar, 2002;Kim, 2006aKim, ,b, 2011, this article is unique in that it offers detailed information about the TTCT-from its history of development to the various ways to use it across direct and indirect assessments of creativity. Moreover, this article also covers the components of the verbal and figural forms of the TTCT, as well as information about training, scoring, interpretation of the results, and the uses of the TTCT. The main objective of the current article is to provide educators with essential knowledge and a practical guide about the TTCT and its various uses. To achieve this objective, this article is divided it into the following sections: (a) the history of the TTCT; (b) the structure and components of the TTCT; (c) the TTCT training, scoring, and interpretation; (d) the validity and the reliability of the TTCT; and (e) the practical implications for school psychologists and other educators.

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A historical review
It is interesting that creativity, such an ambiguous and complex topic, was first studied in the 1930s-an era of intelligence research. What motivated Ellis Paul Torrance to study creativity when little attention was paid to it? Indeed, it was his "sensitivity to problems, " which led him to this field of study (For a more complete description of Torrance's life and work, see Hébert et al., 2002).
The constructs of intelligence and creativity were both initially thought to be singular traits that are largely inherited. Early researchers in the assessment of intelligence, such as Binet, Simon, and Wechsler, used a composite intellectual ability (IQ) score as a measure of intelligence (For a more complete discussion of the development of intelligence testing, see, for example, the book by Flanagan and McDonough, 2018). As research continued, both constructs became broader and more multifaceted. Psychologists such as Spearman, Thurstone, and Cattell developed theories and measures to assess distinct components of intelligence. Then, Guilford (1967) broadened and articulated separate abilities for both intelligence and creativity in his Structure of Intellect Model. Building upon Guilford's work, Torrance developed his battery of tests called the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (originally the Minnesota Tests of Creative Thinking; Torrance and Gowan, 1963).
In the 1930s and 1940s, when Torrance was working as a counselor and a high school teacher in rural Georgia, he struggled with some "difficult" students. Instead of labeling them as "difficult, " Torrance had a positive vision and aimed to understand why some students struggled at school. He concluded that many students were sent to boarding school by their families because of their off-beat ideas. Moreover, energetic behavior was not tolerated by their former teachers. Reading the book Square Pegs in Square Holes (Broadley, 1943) spurred Torrance to measure creativity. In the book, Broadley (1943) explained that some children are like wild colts who must have their energy directed positively to be useful. From his experience of teaching and counseling students in schools, Broadley's (1943) description of the wild colts enabled Torrance to see that the "difficult" students have potential (Hébert et al., 2002). Although Torrance believed that all students have creative abilities that can be enhanced, it is more critical to recognize and harness the abilities of those students who may have behavioral and learning issues because of their different way of thinking or those from underrepresented populations whose abilities may not be identified on traditional IQ and achievement tests. Broadley (1943) also described a test developed by Johnson O'Connor titled Creative Imagination, which influenced Torrance to develop his own creativity test (as cited in Cramond, 1994), the TTCT, to recognize creativity among his students.
Prior to publishing the official and first version of the TTCT in 1966, Torrance had already published several articles on measuring creativity (Torrance, 1962a(Torrance, ,b,c, 1964a. Torrance initiated the idea of creativity measurement when he was at the University of Minnesota, where he developed the Minnesota Test of Creative Thinking, which was later known as the TTCT (Hébert et al., 2002). The TTCT was also influenced by J. P. Guilford's extensive work with divergent thinking (DT) (Makel and Plucker, 2008;Plucker et al., 2011).
However, it is important to mention that Torrance's interest in measuring creativity was not his ultimate goal. Rather, the TTCT was designed as a means to an end, not an end in itself: I have always been interested in empowering children, releasing their creative potential. But first I had to measure that potential. So I have a reputation as a psychometrician, but all along I have worked with the development of creativity (Torrance, as cited in Cramond, 1994, p. 231 Torrance had his own vision of the definition of creativity, which reflected the way he measured creativity. Torrance (1966, p. 6) defined creativity as: A process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on; identifying the difficulty; searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies; testing and retesting these hypotheses and possibly modifying and retesting them; and finally communicating the results.
What distinguished the TTCT from other creativity or DT tests was not only how Torrance defined creativity, but also how he made it fun, easy to use, and applicable for diverse populations and cultures. Another important distinction from other DT tests was Torrance's (1979) addition of creative strengths to the figural test in 1979. He felt that adding measures for other creative expressions in the list of creative strengths, such as humor, storytelling, and boundary breaking, widened the scope of TTCT beyond DT (B. Cramond, personal communication, 29 November 1980). As the theoretical framework underlying the TTCT covers more than merely DT, the TTCT is valuable in also recognizing and valuing the other creative strengths. As Torrance said: For any kind of use of the TTCT, it is important that the users have at least basic knowledge of the rationale for the tasks of activities, and be familiar with the concepts of creative thinking that underlie the instrument (Torrance, 2000, p. 1).

The components of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
The TTCT's entire battery is composed of Verbal and Figural components and is available in two forms, A and B. Each activity in the TTCT is based on research linking the required ability to creativity (Torrance, 1966(Torrance, , 1974.  Cramond, 1994). The little to no relationship was also replicated in a recent study testing 7th graders in Turkey, which showed a weak correlation between figural and verbal originality (r = 0.18, p = 0.06) and a moderate correlation between figural and verbal fluency (r = 0.33, p < 0.05; Ulger, 2015). It is crucial that teachers recognize that some students may achieve high scores in one form but not in the other. The two tests differ not just in the format of the responses, verbal vs. figural, but also in the underlying creative thinking components being assessed (see Table 1). Therefore, it would be ideal for teachers to administer both forms to their students to have a better understanding of students' creative abilities. However, if resources limit testing to one form, it is recommended that the figural be used because schools typically afford students other opportunities to express their creativity in verbal forms. Also, the figural form is more culture fair because of the limited need for writing. A recent study empirically supports that the TTCT Figural test is a more comprehensive and valid measure of creativity than the verbal test examining 994 participants ranging from preschool children to adults (Kim, 2017).

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking figural form
The Figural Form of the TTCT requires responses that are drawn or are pictorial in nature (Torrance, 1972a). With a very little amount of writing required (i.e., for titles), the figural tasks are suitable and appropriate to use in different cultures and socioeconomic levels. In case the examinees are not able to write for any reason, the examiner may assist them (Torrance, 1972a).
In the Figural Form of the TTCT, examinees face three figural tasks: (a) Picture Construction, (b) Picture Completion, and (c) Lines (Form A)/Circles (Form B). Each activity is followed by clear instructions. The Figural Form assesses students' fluency, originality, abstractness of titles, elaboration, resistance to premature closure abilities, and the Checklists of Creativity Strengths. Flexibility was removed from the Figural test because it correlated very highly with fluency (Hébert et al., 2002).

Activity 1: Picture construction
The Picture Construction Activity was devised by Torrance to assess the ability of elaborating an idea (Torrance, 1964a). It was also designed to assess the tendency to create meaning out of a seemingly meaningless object (Cramond, 1994). Examinees are required to think of a picture in which the given shape is an integral part (Torrance, 1964a). Examinees have 10 min to finish this activity. Picture Construction activity is scored for originality, abstractness of titles, elaboration, and some items from the Checklist of Creative Strengths. More details will be provided in the scoring and interpretation section.

Activity 2: Picture completion (incomplete figures)
The Picture Completion Activity (also known as Incomplete Figures) is an adaptation of the Drawing Completion Test, developed by Kate Franck (Torrance, 1964a). It requires the kind of creative thinking that can synthesize and integrate incomplete Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org and relatively unrelated information, in a given structure. The ideas of this activity are adopted from Gestalt psychology, which suggests that an incomplete figure creates tensions to complete it in the simplest and easiest way. Thus, one characteristic of highly creative individuals is the ability to control this tension and delay gratification of this impulse to closure (Torrance, 1964a). This is another creative ability not typically measured by other DT tests. Like the Picture Construction activity, examinees have 10 min to complete 10 incomplete figures. This activity is scored for all TTCT Figural indices.

Activity 3: Lines/Circles (repeated figures)
The Circles/Lines Activity confronts the subjects with a task that requires different kinds of creative thinking. It confronts respondents with completed forms, which require their completeness to be destroyed to create new forms (Torrance, 1964a). It elicits the tendency to return to the same stimulus repeatedly and perceive it in a new way each time (Cramond, 1994). Examinees have 10 min to complete 30 lines/36 circles. This activity is scored for fluency, originality, and elaboration, in addition to the Checklist of Creative Strengths.

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking verbal form
The Verbal Form of the TTCT consists of six different types of activities: (a) Asking, (b) Guessing Causes, (c) Guessing Consequences, (d) Product Improvement, (e) Unusual Uses, and (f) Just Suppose. The Unusual Questions activity was removed from the verbal battery because it added length to the battery without adding significant information. In the Verbal Form of the TTCT, examinees are provided with a picture (stimuli) in each activity with verbal tasks, which they respond to in writing. The TTCT Verbal Battery assesses students' fluency, flexibility, and originality abilities. Examinees have 45 min to complete all six verbal activities.
The first three activities: Asking, Guessing Causes, and Guessing Consequences or (Ask-and-Guess), are based on research linking curiosity to creativity. Activity 4, Product Improvement, is linked with a kind of creative productivity called "improve existing product, " which is different from the kind of creative productivity wherein the individual has to create something that does not exist. The Unusual Uses activity encourages examinees to think of alternative uses for a common object such as wheels. The last activity, Just Suppose, is a hypothesis about an improbable situation, which assesses individuals' tolerance to and playfulness with unusual situations (Cramond, 1994).

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking administration, scoring, and interpretation
Because one does not need special training to administer the TTCT, teachers can do so with the aid of the manual. Although as with all standardized tests, it is important to follow the directions and timing carefully, the instructions are clear [For a recent discussion on time-on-task and instructions in DT tests, see Said-Metwaly et al. (2020) and Paek et al. (2021)]. Because the figural and verbal forms of the test can each be administered within 1 hour, they are designed to fit within the school day.
Special training is needed to learn how to score the TTCT reliably. Understanding how to score the TTCT is important because the TTCT is used in some states to identify children for gifted programs (Kim, 2009), as creativity is taken as an essential criterion in many giftedness definitions (Renzulli, 2005). Besides broadening the thinking skills measured to better match the definition of giftedness, it allows schools to identify gifted children from under-represented groups who may not be identified based on standard IQ and achievement tests. Furthermore, it helps educators understand what being good at creative thinking specifically means so that they can apply this meaning to their own creativity pedagogy in their practice. As Torrance was originally motivated by the behavior of some students seen as "difficult, " finding creative strengths of some students may also help educators in designing individual learning programs for these students. Many highly creative children may be referred for testing because of behavioral issues or learning disabilities (Torrance, 1961). Scoring the TTCT and interpreting the scores will allow school psychologists to advise teachers about ways to promote creative thinking in measurable ways. School systems that do not have trained scorers can send the completed tests to Scholastic Testing Service, the publisher of the tests, for scoring. 1

Training for scoring
To ensure qualified scorers for the TTCT, ongoing training is offered by the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development at the University of Georgia for both Verbal and Figural Forms. Trained school psychologists, who already are familiar with testing procedures and scoring should not have difficulty learning to score the TTCT. Studies of scorer reliability indicate that individuals specially trained and experienced in scoring the TTCT are capable of scoring them with a very high degree of reliability (Torrance, 2008b). Despite the documented evidence of scorer reliability on the TTCT, it is still important for scorers to accurately and comprehensively understand the underlying purpose and mechanism of assessment in the TTCT and specific protocol to follow in scoring. Otherwise, a substantial amount of variability is likely in scores yielded by scorers with different backgrounds and understanding. Yarbrough (2016) examined variability at the item-level in 35 Turkish scorers and suggested that ambiguity of test takers' responses, cultural and linguistic backgrounds of scorers, and the lack of scorers' clear understanding about individual indices can threaten scorer reliability, which highlights the importance of training for scoring.  (Torrance, 2017) consists of the following indices:

Fluency
It is the number of relevant responses. It is scored in both Figural and Verbal Batteries. In scoring Figural fluency, two important criteria must be met; the stimulus must be identifiable and used. However, scorers should be careful in scoring the first criterion because some examinees' drawings may not be easy to identify. In such a case, it is always good to ask another scorer if they could identify the picture drawn by the examinee or ask the examinee what they drew. In scoring Verbal fluency, the scorers should be sure that the examinees' verbal responses are relevant to the tasks given. Fluency in both Figural and Verbal Batteries is the "gatekeeper" for scoring the other TTCT's components; in other words, any responses that do not meet the criteria for fluency are not scored for anything else. Figure 1 shows an example wherein the stimulus was used as part of the drawing, and thus, the student received one point in fluency for their response.

Flexibility
It is the number of different categories or shifts of ideas, which is scored only in the Verbal Battery. Scorers categorize responses using the list of categories provided in the Verbal Manual for Scoring and Interpreting Results. Examinees gain one point for each new or different category.

FIGURE 1
Example of a response where the stimulus is identifiable and used as part of the idea (i.e., flower).

Originality
It is the number of unusual ideas as determined by statistical infrequency, implying that rare ideas are original. The scoring guide includes a list of common responses. If the response is not on the list, it is given a point for originality. In Figure 1, the idea of a flower is common for this stimulus, and therefore, the student received a score of zero in originality. Examinees could gain additional points (bonus) in the Figural Form in specific cases (i.e., combining two or more incomplete figures; see Figure 2), which are illustrated in the test and training manual. The list of common responses may change with the passage of time and from one culture to another; therefore, the TTCT is normed separately in different cultures and renormed every 10 years to account for differences by cultures and generations.

Elaboration
It is the addition of ideas beyond the minimum necessary for the response. To determine what elaboration is and is not, it is always good to think of the basics. For example, the basics of a door are the door and the knob. Any additional elements such as the door design or dimensions are considered as elaborated detail. As people may disagree on what the basics are, there is a range for each point as shown in the Streamlined Scoring Sheet. For instance, examinees receive 1 point if the additional ideas range between 0 and 5, and 2 points if the additional ideas are between 6 and 12 ideas. Figure 3 shows an example of elaboration.

Resistance to premature closure
It is a gestalt measure of a person's ability to stay open and tolerate ambiguity long enough to come up with a creative response. In his article entitled "Resistance to Premature Closure as a Possible Indicator of Incubation Ability, " Torrance (1979) stated: Evidence from many sources makes it clear that once the human mind attains closure on a problem, i.e., jumps to a conclusion, the incubation of original, breakthrough ideas is unlikely. Ability to maintain openness is influenced by motivation and the use of certain deliberate creative problemsolving procedures (p. 59).
Resistance to premature closure is scored only in Activity 2 of the Figural Form. Each incomplete figure has one or more focus areas that create tension to close them.

The checklist of creative strengths
Thirteen criterion-referenced measures were added to the TTCT Figural Battery in 1984 (Torrance, 1990 Figure 4 shows examples of three Creative Strengths.

Interpretation
The TTCT only assesses creative potential, more specifically, the creativity process among many elements of creativity. Torrance himself believed that administering the full battery of Verbal and Figural Forms to an examinee would not guarantee that they would behave in a highly creative manner; creative productivity also requires other factors, such as motivation, skill, and opportunity (Cramond, 1994).
After the scoring process is conducted by a well-trained school psychologist, the scores need to be interpreted in a meaningful way using the Figural and Verbal Norms-Technical Manuals. For each grade level and age group, there is a table that converts the raw scores of each component and the composite measures-average to the national percentile. The tables start from (00) for pre-school children and cover all grades from 1 to 12 and adults. The age norms range from 5 to 20 years old. The age-related derived measures are identical to those given for grade-related groups (Torrance, 2008a). There are six categories for interpreting the average standard scores: (a) Weak (0-16%), (b) Below Average (17-40%), (c) Average (41-60%), (d) Above Average (61-84%), (e) Strong (85-96%), and (f) Very Strong (97-100%). Although the overall score indicates examinees' standing in their creative potential on average, we strongly recommend looking at each sub-score in addition to the average scores because the sub-scores are fairly informative about the different aspects of creative strength: some students, for instance, may score low or average overall, but high on some subtest(s) indicating that some of their creative strengths could be uncovered otherwise.

Reliability of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
Because there is no universal agreement on what creativity is, except that it requires both originality and appropriateness (Runco and Jaeger, 2012), or on how to measure it, many creativity assessments are available. The same is true of intelligence. Teachers know that their students have many different backgrounds, abilities, and potentials. Their students' creative potential profiles should be as diverse as they are. For example, Tony may prefer drawing, whereas Nataly may prefer reading. Garrett is hyperactive, but Jean is introverted. Some teachers might be interested in identifying the creative potential in their bright, ESL (English as second language) students who cannot speak English well; others may implement a culturally responsive curriculum to support African American students; and some may want/need to support students from low SES families. It may be very challenging for teachers to do many kinds of assessments. Although students from diverse backgrounds may take various kinds of assessments, educators may be dubious about the results, and may raise the following questions: "Can this assessment measure their creative potential accurately (or consistently) across diverse populations?" or "Can this assessment really predict their creative achievement?" The former is labeled as reliability and the latter as validity. Reliability and validity are crucial components for valid or trustworthy psychological measures. The TTCT has proved high reliability and validity for the last six decades, through application and validation in over 2,000 studies worldwide, in 35 languages (Millar, 2002) such as Arabic (Said-Metwaly et al., 2021), Persian (Karimi et al., 2010), Kiswahili (Humble et al., 2018), Turkish (Bart et al., 2017), Spanish (Krumm et al., 2016a,b), Korean (Yoon, 2017), and Japanese (Higuchi et al., 2012). Therefore, the TTCT can measure the creative potential consistently across diverse backgrounds with minimal cultural, language, and IQ bias (Torrance, 1966(Torrance, , 1974. Moreover, it can predict creative achievements concurrently and for the future (Runco et al., 2010;Erwin et al., 2022).
There are three activities in the Figural test and six activities in the Verbal test. Items within each activity were established to assess the same construct-creative potential-consistently across items. Reliability indicates how each activity measures the same construct consistently (Barlow and Proschan, 1974). High reliability implies that students who score high on one activity should also score high on the other activity. In 2016, the Scholastic Testing Service, Inc., (STS) investigated the reliability of the tests with nationwide samples, which ranged between 0.87 and 0.97 (Torrance, 2017), indicating good reliability. Some people may raise questions about whether different raters could make different decisions on scoring the same test. The agreement among raters was 90% and above in the 2016 STS study with 60,917 samples nationwide, including students from kindergarten through 12th grade (Torrance, 2017). This indicates that the TTCT is solid in terms of consistency. Example of scoring elaboration.

Validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking
The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking on predicting creative achievements concurrently A measure consists of items that are supposed to investigate the same abstract attribute or quality operationally defined with a theoretical basis. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all items measure the same construct; this is called construct validity. Construct validity indicates how well items represent the construct being examined (Cronbach and Meehl, 1955). The TTCT was designed to measure six sub-constructs of creativity and creative strengths: fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, titles, closure, and creative strength. There are a few studies wherein the TTCT measured one dimension of creativity (Hocevar, 1979) and sub-indices of the TTCT were moderately correlated (Runco et al., 2010). However, a composite score of all indices was not suggested, as it was felt that a single score could not represent all different aspects of creative potentials (Torrance, 1966). However, the composite score could be considered as overall creative energy (Torrance, 1995). Recent research has suggested that the TTCT consists of at least two different factors-innovative and an adaptive orientation (Kim, 2006b). Sub-indices and the composite score were used to predict many types of creative behaviors for diverse developmental groups.

The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking on predicting creative achievements in longitudinal studies
Torrance was interested to see the possibility of how the test would influence later creative productivity. The development Example of responses on three creative strengths indices.
of creative assessment fundamentally aims to measure creative potentials that translate into creative achievements in the real world, at present or in the future. How long can a test reliably predict futuristic creative achievements? How about 1 year, 10 years, or even 50 years? Obstacles in conducting longitudinal studies are expected: deficit of funding; mobility of students, which is daunting because it is difficult to track participants over years; disparity of pencil and paper tests from the real world; accomplishments; unexpected factors in longitudinal studies; and a 50-year gap from 1958 to 2008.

The four follow-ups of elementary school students at 22-, 40-, and 50-year intervals
The most recently completed longitudinal study (Runco et al., 2010) showed that the TTCT still holds moderate correlations with later creative achievements in personal domains over 50 years later, but not in public domains. This longitudinal study was initiated in 1958 to show the long-term predictability of the TTCT. There were four follow-ups for two different initial groups. It would be more reasonable to show everyday creativity, rather than publicly recognized creativity for people in their 60s, as specific criteria are more fitting for those specific samples (Runco et al., 2010). Runco et al. (2010) found an optimal level of DT in their recent longitudinal study. In other words, too much divergence in thinking may not work for most achievements, whereas DT could contribute to creative achievements up to the optimal degree.
The initial study was conducted with elementary school students enrolled in grades 3-5 at two Minneapolis elementary schools (Torrance, 1981). Students completed various instruments: TTCT, a biographical inventory, creative writing samples, checklist of creative activities performed on their own, an intelligence measure, and socio-metric questionnaires. The first follow-up was in 1979-1980, after 22 years, when 211 boys and girls turned 30-32 years old. In the study, five criteria for creative achievements were rated by expert judges: (a) number of high school creative achievements, (b) number of post high school creative achievements, (c) number of "creative style of life" achievements, (d) quality of highest creative achievements, and (e) creativeness of future career image. All correlation coefficients between the TTCT and the five criteria of creative achievements ranged from 0.38 to 0.58 (Torrance, 1981), which is conventionally interpreted as moderate to large effects (Cohen, 1988). Forty years after the initial testing, the predictability of the TTCT was conducted again with the same predictors and criteria for creative achievements (Cramond et al., 2005). It included 99 respondents-one-fourth of the initial sample. The predictive validity of Fluency, Originality, and IQ in childhood was significant and ranged from 0.23 to 0.30, which could be interpreted as a moderate effect (Cohen, 1988). In contrast, IQ, Flexibility, Originality, and the creative index significantly predicted the quality of creative achievements. In the study, the TTCT contributed to 23% of the variance in creative productivity, which is impressive, considering the span of 40 years. This finding implied other important mediators, such as motivation and opportunity to bloom creative potential.

The two follow-ups of high school students at 7-and 12-year intervals
The 1959 study of Minnesota high school students included 69 participants. Of them, 67% completed measures after 7 years, initiated in 1966. In this study, intelligence, high school achievements, and peer nomination of creativity were used as predictors along with the TTCT scores (Torrance, 1969). The criteria for creative achievements included three indices: (a) quantity of creative achievements, (b) quality of creative achievements, and (c) creative motivation (Torrance, 1972b). All fluency, flexibility, and originality showed significant predictive validity coefficients ranging from 0.34 to 0.48, larger than intelligence, high school achievement, or peer nominations that ranged from 0.09 to 0.37 (Torrance, 1972b). This implied that the TTCT scores predict later creative achievements better than intelligence, high school achievement, or peer nominations. The second follow-up was conducted 5 years later in 1971. There was high correlation between the sets of predictors and criteria (0.59).

Practical implications Identification
In the current article, we suggest a few ways of using the TTCT. Of course, the TTCT has been used as a formal assessment for gifted identification. E. Paul Torrance developed the TTCT to assess creative potential, and discover, release, and nurture children's creativity (Torrance, 1966(Torrance, , 1974(Torrance, , 1979. Creativity is one of the criteria for being identified as gifted in 31 states out of 44 states in the USA participating the nationwide survey conducted by the National Association of Gifted Children (Rinn et al., 2020) and is becoming increasingly important to other countries (Abdulla Alabbasi, 2020;Ayoub et al., 2022). For example, because European countries have recognized the importance of creativity, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) chose Creative Thinking as the innovative domain for the 2021 testing and enlisted the aid of the LEGO Foundation to investigate possible assessments (McClure and Jaeger, 2020). Asian countries have also seen an increase in interest in the nurturance of creativity in students (Alnabhan et al., 2014;Cramond et al., 2020). The TTCT has been used to measure creativity, and the TTCT composite scores have been used to identify students for gifted programs like other standardized scores, such as achievement tests (i.e., reading or math tests) or mental ability tests (e.g., CogAT). In addition, the TTCT detailed scores (fluency, originality, elaboration, abstractness of titles, resistance to premature closure, and 13 Creative Strengths) are helpful in profiling individuals' creative strengths and weaknesses. This profiling can provide additional information and individualized instruction for each person in their creative development.
In the overall gifted identification process, the conceptual basis of the TTCT can also be employed for informal assessment when teacher nomination or referral takes place. If teachers understand the theoretical underpinning of the TTCT, they would be better aware of the ways in which creative students express their creativity. For instance, the scoring indices of the TTCT, such as fluency, originality, elaboration, flexibility, resistance to premature closure, humor, and storytelling, may also serve as behavioral indicators when teachers observe students in the classroom.
At the same time, informal assessments, including homework, writing samples, discussions, projects, and art products, are undertaken through daily learning activities in the classroom (Navarrete et al., 1990). Such informal assessments are critical in providing students with educational opportunities that meet their needs, as these assessments often compensate for formal assessments.
Schools implement screening procedures based on formal assessments to find students with potential giftedness, who then complete more formal identification assessments. However, there may exist creative students who are not recognized through formal assessments owing to several reasons, such as the lack of motivation or academic excellence and behavioral issues. Thus, nomination takes place based on informal assessments to compensate for screening, and teachers or parents are commonly involved in the identification process thereof. Such assessments are widely used as an entry point, especially for elementary school students in the gifted program identification process (McBee et al., 2016;Callahan et al., 2017). Teachers generally observe and evaluate students in the classroom and nominate them to be tested for a gifted program based on a standardized checklist of gifted behaviors (a formal teacherrating instrument) and high achievement test scores. As the nomination stage is part of the screening for gifted program identification, many gifted students are missed at this stage and never get tested. McBee et al. (2016) investigated the effect of the nomination stage on gifted program identification and found that the reliability of nomination was poor. Teachers might have different implicit theories of giftedness based on their different backgrounds and experiences, heavily influencing the nomination process. Therefore, all possible gifted students from diverse cultural backgrounds, who might not align with the teacher's traditional expectations for gifted students, could miss out on being nominated for gifted program referrals. For example, gifted Black males tended to be under-represented in gifted programs compared to other populations because their giftedness, including creativity, was not easily identified through the traditional lens of giftedness.
Torrance contributed to redefining giftedness and different types of intelligence (Grantham, 2013). As a result, underrepresented populations (ethnic minorities, low-income students, and English as second language learners) benefited from the multiple criteria for giftedness, and their creative strengths became recognized. Thus, if teachers and educational practitioners are aware of the theoretical frameworks of the TTCT, including creative strengths, and use them as a tool for informal assessment in a classroom, they will have more opportunities to recognize and nurture students' hidden creative potentials.
In addition to identifying students for a gifted program, the TTCT can be used to find strengths in students who do not perform well in traditional classrooms. Such students may be seen as having behavioral problems or may have learning disabilities that prevent them from high performance in highly structured academic settings. Yet, these students might flourish in a classroom with activities designed to develop their creative strengths. For example, Steven Jobs was becoming quite a discipline concern until he got a teacher who recognized his creativity and got him started on building things. Jobs credited that experience, along with opportunities to build with his father, for the inception of his fascination for building things (Isaacson, 2011).

Teaching in the classroom
Teachers can also use the TTCT framework to guide their pedagogy in supporting student creativity in the classroom. They can integrate the TTCT framework into their instructions and warm-up activities promoting students to think creatively. Warm-up activities have been tested to encourage students to be cognitively flexible before they take on creative tasks (Aliotti, 1973;Nash, 1975;Dunphy and Milbourne, 2009

Warm-ups Description TTCT components
Brainstorming Encourage students to generate many ideas to find a solution to the problem. Usually, this is used in groups as a problem-solving exercise in spontaneous discussion settings.

Fluency, flexibility
Encounter lesson Imagine being something. It could be anything from any subject area (i.e., historical events, characters in books). This helps students to learn to emphasize or better understand by taking others' perspectives.
Fluency, originality, flexibility Force fit Ask students to combine two or more seemingly unrelated concepts from different subject areas.
Originality, flexibility, resistance to closure Guided visualization Read a story and ask related questions. This helps students to understand and build up their own images related to the story.

Imagination, visualization
Inkblot Blot ink or paint on a piece of paper and fold the paper in half horizontally and vertically (there will be four sides). Each student looks at one side of the inkblot and writes down what he/she sees. Then, the students share their perspective.
Fluency, originality, elaboration, flexibility, unusual visualization, emotion SCAMPER (Eberle, 1996) SCAMPER means Substitute, Combine, Adjust, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, and Reverse. One or all of these thinking methods can be chosen to solve the problem.

Elaboration, flexibility
Six thinking hats (De Bono, 2004) Each hat's color represents a different view-White (neutral objectivity), Red (the emotional view), Yellow (the logical positive), Green (creativity), Blue (process control), and Black (the logical negative). Students can look at a problem from six different perspectives with this thinking process.

Flexibility
Spinning a yarn Tie knots with different lengths and make a ball of yarn. Begin by telling an imaginary story until a student get to a knot. Then, the next student takes the string, and continues to tell imaginary story until they get to another knot.
Fluency, elaboration, resistance to closure Frontiers in Psychology 11 frontiersin.org creativity in the classroom, one of the most critical factors is a proper learning environment, wherein students do not feel their thoughts and behaviors to be judged or evaluated (Beghetto and Kaufman, 2014). Activities similar to those of the TTCT can be used as warm-up activities that can contribute toward a psychologically safe classroom environment. We suggest using various strategies such as multimedia, multisensory approaches, a sense of humor, or movement to encourage students to generate many new and detailed ideas, while doing warm-up activities based on the TTCT. For example, there are open-ended questions to guide students to answer with multiple solutions. Torrance (1979) (as cited in Cramond et al., 2005) developed the Demonstrator Form, which is a short version of the TTCT consisting of two figural activities and two verbal activities. One of the verbal activities is about product improvement: "Try to improve this stuffed toy rabbit so that it will be more fun to play with." Students are encouraged to try and think of as many ideas as possible (Fluency), things that no one else will think of (Originality), and additional details to make their ideas more elaborate (Elaboration). This warmup exercise provides not only a psychologically safe classroom environment, but also an opportunity for students to take initiatives of thinking and speaking up about their thoughts which are essential in effective learning. More sample warm-ups are described in Table 2.
Further, the TTCT frameworks can be used as effective instructional strategies. In any subject class, the TTCT-Verbal questions (Asking, Guessing Causes, Guessing Consequences, Product Improvement, Unusual Uses, and Suppose) and the creativity criteria (Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, and Flexibility) can be used as tools to complement lesson plans and course objectives. For instance, a teacher teaching about the American Civil War in a Social Studies class. In this class, the learning objectives would involve understanding the historical and cultural background of the American Civil War, comparing and contrasting the North and the South (economic situation, government, political characteristics, lifestyle, etc.), and learning about the outcome of the American Civil War. Although the learning objectives may vary slightly by the grade level, adapting the TTCT components to the class, the teacher could, for instance, give a writing assignment to students with the prompt "What if there was no American Civil War?" Students would need to generate as many ideas as possible (Fluency), original ideas others cannot think of (Originality), and additional details based on the content they have learned from class about the American Civil War (Elaboration). In addition, several creativity strategies, such as cause-consequences, compare-contrast, and perspective-taking, can be applied to achieve the learning objectives. This example is just one of the many instructional strategies that teachers can develop using the TTCT frameworks in any subject area including a writing class that empirically tested the effectiveness of the TTCT related strategies in Jordanian students (e.g., Rababah, 2018).

Conclusion
The main objective of the current work was to offer a comprehensive and a practical guide for school psychologists and teachers who want to know about and use the TTCT in their instructions. We tried to summarize information about the TTCT from the tests' manuals, Torrance's original works, what other researchers wrote about the TTCT, and from the authors' personal experience with the TTCT. Of course, the TTCT is not the only measure of DT and we do not argue that it is the best assessment of creative thinking. However, as discussed in the Historical Review, various factors make the TTCT one of the best choices for school psychologists and teachers who are interested in identifying and nurturing the creative potential of students. Cumulative evidence on the validity and the reliability of the TTCT in different cultures supports such an argument. Finally, contrary to the notion that the TTCT is only a measure of creative thinking, this article discusses the different ways in which the TTCT can be used. We hope that school psychologists, teachers, and other readers who are interested knowing about the TTCT, will find this article useful.

Author contributions
AA conceived the idea of this work and wrote the introduction, the historical review of the TTCT, and the components of the TTCT. SP wrote the TTCT training, scoring, and interpretation section as well as psychometric qualities of the TTCT. DK wrote the practical implications of the TTCT. BC revised the manuscript and added the conclusion. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of interest
DK was employed by company Creativitics. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.


-44-Research on Integrating Ideological and Political Elements into Vocational College Public English on the Basis of Project Teaching Method

: Public English course is an important part of vocational college education. Exploring the practice and research of integrating ideological and political elements into vocational college public English teaching is conductive to giving full play to the role of this course. Project-based teaching is a student-centered and inquiry-based teaching mode. Students complete project tasks through cooperation, communication, discussion, and exploration, from which their relevant knowledge and skills, practical abilities and comprehensive capability are improved. Based on the project teaching method, digging out the ideological and political elements in the public English course can develop students’ language skills as well as enrich the vocabulary with Chinese characteristics, and it improves their competence to interpret and spread Chinese traditional culture. Hence, students embrace the sense of patriotism and the international outlook.

Introduction
President Xi Jinping pointed out at the National Conference on Ideological and Political Work in Colleges and Universities in 2016, "We must adhere to the key link of strengthening moral education and cultivating young people, and ideological and political work must run through the entire process of education and teaching. Teachers of various courses should take their own responsibilities in teaching, so that all kinds of other courses and ideological and political courses go in the same direction, and a large-scale pattern of all-round education for students should be established". "Moral education" emphasizes the comprehensive integration of ideological and political elements with courses teaching, and focuses on the concepts and methods of ideological and political education. Therefore, the most critical problem for teachers is how to explore ideological and political elements in the courses effectively and integrate moral education with courses teaching on the basis of the characteristics of various courses.
As the main place for teaching, classrooms play an vital role in ideological and political education. Teachers should make full use of the classrooms and innovate teaching models constantly. They mine the ideological and political elements in the courses actively to achieve the goal of fostering virtue through education in the process of imparting knowledge. This paper explores the practice and research of integrating ideological and political elements into vocational college public English on the basis of project teaching, hoping to provide a meaningful reference for ideological and political teaching of English courses in the future.

The Necessity of Ideological and Political Teaching in College English Courses
Language is the carrier of culture. As an important part of culture, language itself is the unity of knowledge and humanity. It is absolutely feasible to mine ideological and political resources in English courses, which determines that English course teaching has the function of ideological and political education [1] . English teaching not only conveys language forms and skills but also reflects the culture, ideology and values of the output language. Therefore, teachers infiltrate Chinese elements into English teaching to carry out ideological and political education in courses and develop students' patriotism. it is stated that English is an significant tool for learning cultural and scientific knowledge as well as acquiring knowledge in all aspects and engaging in international communication. It can be concluded that English teaching is the unity of instrumentality and humanity. However, the majority of English teachers have just focused on cultivating and improving student's English learning strategies, basic language knowledge and communication skills for a long time. They lay more emphasis on the instrumentality of English teaching. In recent years, with China's stress and implementation of "ideology and politics in courses education", the goal of "humanity" in English teaching has become more and more prominent. English teaching should cultivate students with patriotism and international vision. College students are supposed to have the competence to interpret and spread Chinese culture and tell Chinese stories well after learning English courses. Higher vocational English courses are rich in content, involving life, literature, thoughts and other fields. The integration of ideological education and English teaching gives fresh vitality to traditional ideological education and enriches the connotation of English courses [2] . While learning the language and culture of English-speaking countries, students have a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and show the cultural confidence.

The Overview of Project Teaching Method
Kilpatrick, a famous educator, proposed the concept of project teaching in 1918, which was gradually perfected in the middle and late 20 th century. Project teaching emphasizes taking students as the center and changing the traditional teaching mode in which teachers give lectures throughout the whole process. With this teaching mode, the enthusiasm and initiative of students can be fully mobilized. It encourages students to use online resources and various learning strategies to learn in real situation. Adderley proposes that project-based teaching is a kind of teaching mode and the main purpose of students' learning is to solve problems. More over, it attaches more attention to students' learning initiative and participation in the learning process [3] . Blumenfel defines this method as an open learning strategy. He believes that the most important thing is not the project result, but the process of students' active participation, problem solving and the process of consolidating and acquiring knowledge at each stage [4] .
At present, the understanding of project-based teaching is relatively consist. It is believed that this method is a student-centered and inquiry-based teaching mode. Real and effective project tasks are the driving force to stimulate students' learning motivation. Students consolidate the existing knowledge and continue to learn new knowledge with the help of resources. The project task is completed through cooperation, communication, discussion, and exploration. In this mode, students will not only greatly improve their knowledge, but also benefit a lot in terms of comprehensive literacy, students' sense of achievement and gain in learning [5] .
Being different from traditional teaching methods, the core of project-based teaching is that students improve relevant knowledge and skills and enhance their practical abilities as well as strengthen the comprehensive ability to reshape cultural feelings and values while completing project tasks under the guidance of teachers and the concept of "learning by doing" [6] . There are several stages in the process of project-based teaching. The first stage is the choice of the project. The teacher decides on the project based on students' interest and the teaching content of the course which is related to certain real-world topic. The second stage is the introduction of the project. The teacher explains the project to students in details so that they understand specific tasks. He/she also analyzes the difficulties might encountered and the corresponding solutions. The essential principle is to promote language communication and interaction in the project-based teaching of college English. The third stage is the implementation of the project. At this stage, group members study cooperatively and discuss the problems. They can seek help from the teacher and classmates to find the solutions. In-depth learning is the characteristic of inquiry-based learning and also the most important value embodiment of project-based teaching. The selection of more English materials, more accurate English expressions, more proficient language ability, etc. may be completed in the unconscious deep learning during the project implementation. The last stage is the presentation and evaluation of the project. The forms of presentation are diverse, and both oral and written expressions are inseparable. Students should pay much attention to the accuracy, completeness and logic of language as well as the perfect combination of body language and technical Published by Francis Academic Press, UK -46-assistance in the process. The evaluation consists of formative evaluation and summative evaluation, including group evaluation, individual evaluation, self-evaluation and other's evaluation, etc. In college English teaching, the evaluation of project-based teaching mainly involves in students' language knowledge, language competence, project conception and the completion, and the degree to which the project promotes language learning (whether it can meet the current teaching requirements, and whether it involves deep learning). And it also stresses students' participation and personal growth during the project.

Studies of Project-based Teaching in in Higher Vocational English Teaching
The author searched in CNKI with the keywords "project-based teaching" and "higher vocational English course" and found that researches on the application of project-based teaching method in higher vocational college can mainly be divided into two categories.
The first category is about the application of this method in higher vocational public English Teaching. Cao Luxi points out that project-based teaching not only requires teachers to pay close attention to systematicness but also needs to lay emphasis on the basic knowledge and application of the language [7] . Shi Hong analyzes the current problems of public English teaching in higher vocational colleges. She believes that teachers should change their teaching concepts and design logical project tasks with scientific implementation mechanism of project-based teaching to mobilize students' inquiry capacities and improve their comprehensive skills of English effectively [8] . Xi Ying and Luo Huan expound the specific implementation plan of project-based teaching applied to higher vocational public English teaching. They think that changing the traditional teaching methods and the concept of dealing with textbooks enable us to realize the goal of higher vocational English teaching in China [9] .
The second category is about the application of project-based teaching in higher vocational professional English teaching. Ding Yanqiong views that teachers ought to combine the specific content of courses and plan ahead from the aspects of the project design, the implementation and the evaluation of teaching under the background of occupation ability training. It can help promote students' working capacities for posts [10] . After the analysis of the target employment and the needed capacities in the future job, Hu Haiying applies project-based teaching method into the industrial English course. She designs projects closely related to future occupations and strive to tap the potential of students' cognitive development to promote the effective output of language skills and career ability, which will enhance students' autonomous learning and comprehensive professional quality [11] . After analyzing the occupation skills of vocational students, Wang Ting discusses the specific application of project-based teaching in industrial English. Both the English teaching and students' practical skills have been improved with the application of this method [12] .
From the above analysis, it is not difficult to find that certain achievements about project-based teaching have been obtained in China. However, researchers are just concerned with the application of this mode in the teaching of public English and industrial English in higher vocational colleges. Therefore, this research will have certain significance to explore the practice and research of integrating ideological and political elements into Vocational College Public English Teaching on the basis of project teaching.

Exploring the Ideological and Political Elements of the Public English Textbooks
Xiao Qiong and Huang Guowen propose that the "ideological and political education" of foreign language is to combine the guidance of values with the teaching of language knowledge as well as the the cultivation of language application [13] . There exist abundant of ideological and political elements in English textbooks. The task of teachers is to dig out these elements and integrate them with the teaching of higher vocational English to infiltrate correct values.
Taking the textbook of New Practical English Comprehensive Course 1 (fifth edition) as an example, the author explores the ideological and political elements according to the unit themes, as shown in Table 1: The ideological and political elements in Table 1 involve China's traditional virtues, culture and humanistic spirits. Incorporating these elements into the learning of basic English language skills not only enriches the teaching content but also increases the vocabulary and expressions of Chinese   (2). The festival cultures worldwide

The Teaching Design of Projects with the Integration of Ideological and Political Elements
The design of project tasks is a crucial step in teaching, and teachers must follow the principles of operability and practicability so as to fully mobilize students' enthusiasm and initiative in learning. When designing the project task, the teacher should consider the humanity and instrumentality of English language, and pay great attention to its communicative function. Students can choose a variety of means, such as investigation reports, interviews, speeches, debates, etc. to complete the project tasks. The teacher should take into account students' learning difference and English proficiency when dividing the whole class into groups for the projects. He/she should provide appropriate guidance to students who is in need of help so that the tasks can be completed successfully. And the goal of project teaching is to train students' comprehensive ability of English listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Based on the ideological and political elements in Table 1 and the principles of project-based teaching, the author designs project tasks for the public English course, as shown in Table 2:

Case Analysis of Ideology and Politics in English Teaching on the Basis of Project Teaching
Taking the theme "Holiday Celebration" as an example, the author makes the teaching plan of ideology and politics in English on the basis of project teaching. The implementation steps is as follows: Step One: The choice of the project Published by Francis Academic Press, UK -48-According to the reality of the collision between Chinese and Western cultures, the theme of this project is determined as " A Guangxi Traditional Festival and Its Culture", and students can give the presentation with PPT. The goal of this project is to guide students to understand the traditional festival culture of Guangxi, and to have a correct view of China's traditional culture instead of just celebrating foreign festivals.
Step two: The introduction of the project According to the topic of this unit, the teacher asks: "Which Guangxi traditional festival do you like best as a student studying in Guangxi?". In accordance with their life experience, most of the students answer "The Sanyuesan Festival", as they can enjoy a statutory three-day holiday in this festival. Then the teacher asks "How much do you know about this festival?". Students from Zhuang ethnic group may know some festival customs, but other students may know little about this festival. The teacher continues to ask " For what purpose is the festival celebrated? What activities are there during this festival?". According to students' replies, the teacher sets the project task "introduce a traditional festival in Guangxi".
Step three: The implementation of the project Students are divided into 10 groups, 4 or 5 students for each group. The teacher provides students with websites to find the related information and advises them to go to the library for some related books, such as Zhuang Nationality's March 3, Jing Nationality's Ha festival, Cannon Dragon Festival in Bingyang. They can also learn about the folk customs by consulting native students so that they can obtain enough information they need. Each group collects and collates the information while the teacher provides English translation of some culture-loaded words. The teacher also offers some guidance and modification for students' PPT so as to avoid unnecessary spelling and grammar errors. They just have one week to finish the project so the group members should work together on weekends and after school.
Step Four: The presentation and evaluation of the project Students should present their projects in class. Each group has the chance of giving the presentation within 7 minutes. The diversification of evaluation is adopted, including group self-evaluation, group peer evaluation and the teacher' evaluation. The whole evaluation should be involved in the following aspects: the content of the festival culture (activities, diets, clothing, festival significance, etc.), the fluency of oral expression, the layout of PPT, the matching of pictures and text, and so on. After the presentation, the teacher makes a summary of their performance and points out the strength and weakness. The following is part of one group's presentation.
Excerpt one: Zhuang ethnic group: The Sanyuesan Festival, on March3rd in the lunar calendar, is the traditional festival of Zhuang people. It is also known as the Folk Song Fair. There are several regular folk song fairs for Zhuang people every year, among which the one on March 3rd in the lunar calendar is the most important one.
Excerpt two: Besides, singing folk songs is also an important activity for Zhuang youths to make the acquaintance of each other and have a date. By singing, they express themselves, know each other and build up a relationship. But that is only the first step to a marriage. Only by further contacts after the folk song fair can the couple determine to establish a long-term relationship by getting married.
Excerpt three: On that day, every household makes the five-color glutinous rice, dyes eggs red to celebrate festivals, and some of them will celebrate for two or three days. Folk song fairs are held at a specific venue in different regions. It is often on sloping field. Some villages will build temporary houses with bamboos and cloth to receive singers from other villages.
Through the presentation, students learn about the customs and some main activities, such as: singing folk songs, eating the five-color glutinous rice, welcoming singers from the outer villages, dyeing eggs red, etc. They learn the custom that Zhuang youths make the acquaintance of each other and have a date through the activity of singing songs during the folk song fair. They also learn about the food culture of Zhuang People. In addition, they master the English translation of many culture-loaded words. Students enlarge their vocabulary and get a sense of achievement to a certain extent. Hence, their confidence is raised and interest in English learning is stimulated.
Their comprehensive competence of English listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation have been well practised in the process of doing this project. By watching the presentation of different festivals, students will understand the importance of celebrating various traditional festivals in Guangxi. Published by Francis Academic Press, UK -49-At the same time, they will also understand the culture and customs of different festivals, which is an eye-opener for those students from other provinces. The teacher can also remind students to compare China's traditional festivals with those of Western countries when making the summary, which will lead to heated discussions among students and brings a lively atmosphere. As college students in the new era, they learn that China's traditional culture is so rich and colorful. They realize their responsibility to spread China's culture and tell Chinese stories well. Therefore, such a project is conductive to promoting the integration of English teaching with ideological and political elements.

Conclusions
Classroom is the major place for cultivating talents. As the organizer of the teaching in classroom, it is necessary for the teacher to explore the ideological and political elements in the textbooks and integrate ideological and political education with English so as to achieve the goal of strengthening morality and improving students' ideological and political quality. Project-based teaching emphasizes "learning by doing". Students' initiative can be effectively stimulated if the teacher designs project tasks that combine ideological and political elements with English practical application. They can become talents with patriotism and international vision in the new era when the English knowledge and values are integrated in teaching.


s2fieldsofstudy: Education Medicine

text:
From Strain toward Hyperdoppler Echocardiographic Evaluation in Sports Medicine

Sports medicine is often involved in the evaluation of a wide population composed by active or less active individuals [...].

Introduction
Sports medicine is often involved in the evaluation of a wide population composed by active or less active individuals. The context of sports medicine assessment is recently moved from the high-level athletes toward general population. In many cases some specific aspects of the cardiac function need to be investigated in deep to exclude any eventual structural myocardial damage.
Despite the first approach is usually the ECG exam, that is mandatory to obtain the eligibility, some additional evaluations are important. Among them, the echocardiographic exam represents the first non-invasive investigation after ECG evaluation.
Trained athletes can show some "grey zone" of interpretation, due to cardiac morphological modifications induced by exercise [1]. The decision making of the sports eligibility can be sometimes difficult as consequence of the modifications of all the cardiac chambers due to exercise.
In addition to the normal population of athletes, the emerging classes of athletes, such as subjects with previous cancer or transplants story, need to be studied using specific cardiac echographic parameters, either in the exercise prescription process, a a structured phyical activity program, or in the eligibility.
Especially master athlete's category can show various clinical condition, suggestive for coronary artery disease (CAD) or mild left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), as well ST-T abnormalities particularly if associated with LBBB. Particularly this last ECG pattern, is important for sport medicine, as possible consequence of a structural cardiomyopathy, potentially related to an ischemic event. For this reason, master athletes, affected by LBBB are often investigated using echocardiography stress test.
No data are now available about the effective impact of a regular sports activity in them, and an absolute contraindication does not exist among the principal recommendations.
Another dubious condition is represented by QRS ECG fragmentation, which could be expression of a pathological substrate [2]. It is not clear if this last ECG aspect, found in high trained athletes, age related, is connected to a pathology or not. Literature reports different hypothesis [3,4].
Regarding 2D echocardiography evaluation, some studies approached the population of patients with previous cancer using this non-invasive method. In order to evaluate pathological conditions, traditional 2D echocardiography, supported by strain analysis of cardiac chambers, has been applied in a specific trial [5]. In particular we investigated a group of women with previous breast cancer [6], practicing dragon boat sport activity, demonstrating a normal systolic and diastolic function. Furthermore, we studied a group of renal transplants, for the potential cardiotoxicity onset, during a long-term exercise prescription protocol [7].
Strain is a dimensionless quantity that describes the deformation produced by stress and, in addition to ejection fraction, is a non-invasive method for assessment of myocardial function. It represents the percentage change in size compared to original length. The strain rate (SR) is also equivalent to the rate of deformation during time. Left ventricular twist 2 of 4 movement is defined as the difference of rotation between the basal segment and the apical one calculated by spatial velocity gradient. All these parameters contribute to identify a normal LV functioning [8].
More recently a new system has been created to complete the investigation of the myocardial performance by the vorticity blood flow study. It consists in the hyperdoppler echocardiographic method. This is a sort of eveolution of the echocardiographic investigation. The hyperdoppler method combines the strain analysis with colour image. It has highlighted the role and the importance of the intracardiac vortex and the intracardiac forces. Until now, the evaluation of intracardiac flows was a prerogative of the MRI [9]. The echocardiographic method has been recently validated [10]. The vorticity is a fluid property, based on its local angular velocity, that describes its tendency to rotate. A vortex is a fluid mass of circular or elliptical shape that rotates around a virtual central axis. When the boundaries disappear or expand abruptly (as in the case of systole and diastole), the stress generated by the friction creates a swirling flow of the peripheral layers of fluid that rotate away from the central jet. The flow organization plays a physiological role in the heart's work and any [10,11] disturbances of intracardiac dynamics, where the laminal flow is substituted by a vorticose one, can be considered to have a negative impact on cardiac function.
We know that fiber orientation and function have been described as a major determinant of blood flow orientation in heart chambers playing an essential role in cardiac performance.
This distribution generates important changes in blood flow direction and magnitude as it passes through the atria and ventricles. Multilayer cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) can illustrate asymmetries and changes in the direction of flow through heart chambers redirecting the amount of blood flow to the next cavity. One such change in flow movement is the appearance of eddies, regions of major vorticity.
Eddies are formed as follows: when blood flows through a tubular structure, central fluid layers move faster than those adjacent (due to the frictional containment boundaries) creating eddies.
When the boundaries disappear or expand abruptly (as in the case of systole and diastole), the stress created by the friction generates a swirling tendency of fluid's peripheral layers that rotate away from the central jet.
Some peculiar geometric and kinetic data of the myocardial chamber are obtained from the Hyperdoppler analysis application. Among them the shape and the movement of the principal vortex in the LV chamber, characterized by deep, length and intensity, are fundamental to distinguish a normal myocardial work from a condition in which heart is involved in a major energy dissipation. Other parameters are kinetic parameters such as vorticity (W), wall shear stress (WSS), relative strength (RS), energy dissipation index (DI), kinetic energy fluctuation (KEF), and vortex fluctuation. These could be considered, especially in sports medicine, important indicators for detecting and monitoring abnormalities in patient's LV dysfunction. The acquistion is possible following the standard 2D echo imaging, following the American Society of Echocardiography/European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging recommendations [12].
Measures are acquired from 3 cardiac cycles in sinus rhythm or 5 in atrial fibrillation, using Doppler and 2D-mode modalities. Study by hyperdoppler starts with early diastolic filling (transmitral blood flow is directed towards the left ventricle) which leads to formation of a vortex. The presence of vorticities is recognized through flow-based visualization techniques using colordoppler mapping (Figure 1). In first analysis, from the colour point of view, the principal flow direction, and the vector's forces distribution show that the direction of the flow has a specific length that has some peculiar characteristics in normal if compared to athletes and also to patients. clarify the eventual incorrect situations where the heart woks in a not adequate situation and therefore with high level of energy lost.

Conclusions
Strain analisys is recently largely included in the evaluation of athletes especially in case of previous pathological conditions, where the exclusion of cardiotoxicity or reduced contractile function is determinant to plan a physical activity program. The hyperdoppler is a novel ultrasonic biomechanics method based on the integration of both, LV vortex and wall motion, to fully assess and understand the LV structure and function.
The hypothesis is to propose a large use of the hyperdoppler in combination with myocardial deformation study, especially in those subjects where there is a doubt of a cardiomyopathy, despite not evident. The method has a high reproducibility despite not completely compared among the software available.
Some research proposed the hyperdoppler in the investigation of the dissincronicity of the myocardial function. As recently shown a large clinical application of this method is possible both in healthy people, athletes and pathological clinical situations [9,13]. Considering the wide population investigated in sports medicine, especially subjects with comorbidities, the role of hyperdoppler can find many fields of application, mainly in the follow-up of sports eligibility or exercise prescription. A specific application could be the eventual differences among the different kinds of sports practiced.
Funding: This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study did not require ethical approval. In a healthy heart the left ventricle works producing an intraventricular flow pattern to minimize the energy dissipation. Instead in case of abnormal vorticities the transfer in blood flow can increase energy consumption during ejection. The eventual differences can clarify the eventual incorrect situations where the heart woks in a not adequate situation and therefore with high level of energy lost.

Conclusions
Strain analisys is recently largely included in the evaluation of athletes especially in case of previous pathological conditions, where the exclusion of cardiotoxicity or reduced contractile function is determinant to plan a physical activity program. The hyperdoppler is a novel ultrasonic biomechanics method based on the integration of both, LV vortex and wall motion, to fully assess and understand the LV structure and function.
The hypothesis is to propose a large use of the hyperdoppler in combination with myocardial deformation study, especially in those subjects where there is a doubt of a cardiomyopathy, despite not evident. The method has a high reproducibility despite not completely compared among the software available.
Some research proposed the hyperdoppler in the investigation of the dissincronicity of the myocardial function. As recently shown a large clinical application of this method is possible both in healthy people, athletes and pathological clinical situations [9,13]. Considering the wide population investigated in sports medicine, especially subjects with comorbidities, the role of hyperdoppler can find many fields of application, mainly in the follow-up of sports eligibility or exercise prescription. A specific application could be the eventual differences among the different kinds of sports practiced.
Funding: This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study did not require ethical approval.

Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: The study did not report any data.

Conflicts of Interest:
The author declares no conflict of interest.


Overview of Community Stress Levels Against Covid-19 Disease in Simangalam Village, South Kualuh District, North Labuhanbatu Regency

Received March 10, 2022 Revised April 20, 2022 Accepted May 30, 2022 Stress is a condition of tension that occurs when someone gets a problem or challenge and the person has not been able to find a way out when he gets a problem, so it can be because many other thoughts interfere when he starts looking for a solution, here there is an imbalance between guidance and the ability to overcome it. The purpose of this study was to identify a description of the level of public stress on the Covid-19 disease in Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara 2021. This study used a descriptive research design. The population in this study was the Simangalam village community, Labuhan Batu Utara sub-district as many as 51 respondents were studied by researchers. The technique of taking the number of samples in this study is using the proportional sampling technique. The measuring instrument in the study used a questionnaire. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded that the community's stress level against the Covid-19 disease was the highest, respondents answered light stress levels as many as 26 people (88.2%) and the lowest answered moderate stress levels as many as 6 people (11.2%).

Introduction
Covid-19 is a non-natural disaster that has an impact on the wider community. This condition has a physical and psychological impact on every individual, especially people who experience isolation or quarantine due to . People have to stay in special quarantine hospitals because they are considered unable to self-quarantine at home and have the potential to spread Covid-19. This can cause emotional disturbances in the form of excessive stress due to responses from the surrounding community (Handayani et al, 2020).
Corona virus in 2019 or Covid-19 is a new type of Corona virus, besides having a physical impact it can also have a serious effect on a person's mental health (Huang and Zhaou, 2020), various psychological disorders have been reported and published during the Covid-19 outbreak in Indonesia. China, both at the individual, community, national, and international levels. On an individual level, people are more likely to experience fear of infection and experience severe symptoms or dying, feel helpless, and stereotype others. The pandemic even causes psychological crises such as prolonged stress, anxiety, depression and trauma (Qinge Cheung & Chee H, 2020).
Stress is a normal reaction to a threatening and unexpected situation such as the Coronavirus pandemic. Possible stress-related reactions in response to the Coronavirus pandemic could include changes in concentration, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, reduced productivity, and interpersonal conflict, particularly true for groups directly affected. Apart from the threat posed by the virus itself, there is no doubt that quarantine measures, which are being implemented in many countries, have a negative psychological effect, further increasing the symptoms of stress. General uncertainty, threats to individual health and quarantine measures can exacerbate pre-existing conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Besides that, the risk of disease transmission may increase contamination in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and hypochondria, or individuals with paranoid ideas. Although quarantine measures protect against the spread of the corona virus, they require isolation and loneliness which creates major psychosocial stress and may exacerbate mental illness (Poltekes Kemenkes Kendari, 2020).
The Association of Indonesian Mental Medicine Specialists (PDSKJI) conducted a survey on mental health through an online self-examination. Examinations were conducted on 1,552 respondents regarding three psychological problems, namely anxiety, depression, and trauma. Most respondents were women (76.1%) with a minimum age of 14 years and a maximum of 71 years. Most respondents came from West Java 23.4%, DKI Jakarta 16.9%, Central Java 15.5%, and East Java 12.8% (PDSKJI, 2020). The survey results show that 63% of respondents are anxious and 66% of respondents are depressed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, as many as 80% of respondents have symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Psychological due to experiencing or witnessing unpleasant events related to Covid-19. Symptoms of severe psychological post-traumatic stress experienced by 46% of respondents, symptoms of moderate psychological post-traumatic stress experienced by 33% of respondents, symptoms of mild psychological post-traumatic stress experienced by 2% of respondents, while 19% had no symptoms. The symptoms of post-traumatic stress that stand out are the stress of feeling distant and separated from others and feeling constantly alert, careful, and on guard. Meanwhile, the follow-up examination conducted on 2,364 respondents in 34 provinces stated that the results were not much different from the previous examination. As many as 69% of respondents experienced psychological problems. As many as 68% experienced anxiety, 67% experienced depression, and 77% experienced psychological trauma. As many as 49% of respondents who are depressed even think about death (PDSKJI, 2020). The data illustrates that mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, trauma due to the Covid-19 pandemic are felt by Indonesian people at this time.
Based on research by Sulis (2020) there are 63% of respondents experiencing anxiety and 66% of respondents experiencing depression due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The main symptoms of anxiety are worrying that something bad will happen, worrying too much, being irritable, and having trouble relaxing. While the main symptoms of depression that appear are sleep disturbances, lack of confidence, tiredness, lack of energy, and loss of interest. Furthermore, as many as 80% of respondents have symptoms of psychological post-traumatic stress due to experiencing and witnessing unpleasant events regarding Covid-19. Symptoms of severe psychological post-traumatic stress experienced by 46% of respondents, symptoms of moderate post-traumatic psychological stress experienced by 33% of respondents, symptoms of mild psychological post-traumatic stress experienced by 2% of respondents, while 19% had no symptoms. The prominent symptoms of post-traumatic stress are feeling distant and separated from others and feeling constantly alert, cautious, and on guard. Meanwhile, the follow-up examination conducted on 2,364 respondents in 34 provinces stated that the results were not much different from the previous examination. As many as 69% of respondents experienced psychological problems. As many as 68% experienced anxiety, 67% experienced depression, and 77% experienced psychological trauma. As many as 49% of respondents think about death. The data illustrates that mental problems due to anxiety, depression, trauma due to the Covid-19 pandemic are felt by the people of Indonesia at this time. 364 respondents in 34 provinces said the results were not much different from the previous examination. As many as 69% of respondents experienced psychological problems. As many as 68% experienced anxiety, 67% experienced depression, and 77% experienced psychological trauma. As many as 49% of respondents think about death. The data illustrates that mental problems due to anxiety, depression, trauma due to the Covid-19 pandemic are felt by the people of Indonesia at this time. 364 respondents in 34 provinces said the results were not much different from the previous examination. As many as 69% of respondents experienced psychological problems. As many as 68% experienced anxiety, 67% experienced depression, and 77% experienced psychological trauma. As many as 49% of respondents think about death. The data illustrates that mental problems due to anxiety, depression, trauma due to the Covid-19 pandemic are felt by the people of Indonesia at this time.
Mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and trauma due to Covid-19 are felt by most Indonesians. Some of the main risk factors are social distance and isolation, economic recession, stress and trauma to society and discrimination. Against this stigma, the government has launched a soul service to help deal with the psychological threat of the community due to the Covid-19 pandemic (Thakur. 2020). Researchers took a survey of community data from Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency, there were 756 people so I was interested in identifying the description of community stress on Covid-19 in Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency.

Research Methods
The research design is descriptive, this research was conducted in Simangalam Village, Kualuh District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency. The total sample in this study was the Simangalam village community, Labuhan Batu Utara sub-district as many as 51 respondents, the criteria for respondents were not in a state of illness and were willing to become respondents using proportional sampling sampling technique.  Based on table 2 above, it is found that the number of respondents with mild stress levels is 45 people (88.2%) and 6 people with moderate stress levels (11.8%).

Analysis And Results
Based on the results of the study, the level of public stress on the Covid-19 disease in Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency, from 51 research respondents, 45 people (88.2%) had mild stress levels and 6 people (11.8%) had moderate stress levels. . From the data obtained, an overview of the community's stress level against COVID-19 in Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency, the stress level in the mild category. This study is supported by (Haris Suhamadani, et al 2020) anxiety or stress symptoms are very common in health workers especially nurses who are dealing with patients in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic (Pappa et al, 2020). The main source of stress for nurses when dealing with the covid-19 pandemic is when they are aware of the fear of being infected or infecting others, including the lack of personal protective equipment (Mo et al., 2020). The results of this study were dominated by low stress levels as many as 30 people or 57% of nurses who had mild stress symptoms, while nurses who had high stress levels were 23 people or 43%. According to Atkinson (2013), stress occurs when there is an event which will then become something that is felt to be dangerous for the individual, from which the individual will react, both physically and psychologically. Furthermore, Lazarus (2013) says that stress is a physical or psychological event that is perceived as a potential threat to physical and psychological disorders. Another expert, Kartono and Gulo (2009) added that the notion of stress is a condition of physical and psychological tension caused by the perception of fear and threat. Safari and Saputra (2013) provide the following statement about stress through the first approach, seen from the response to stress, the notion of stress is associated with pressure that makes a person helpless and has a negative impact, for example dizziness, irritability, sadness, difficulty concentrating, difficulty sleep. The second is that stress is related to the stressor system (source of stress), in this case stress is described as a force that causes pressure within a person. Helmi (2013), stated that stress arises when the pressure faced exceeds the optimum limit of each individual.
The results of the research carried out by researchers on the description of the level of public stress on Covid-19 in Simangalam Village, Kualuh Selatan District, Labuhan Batu Utara Regency, from 51 research respondents, 45 people (88.2%) had mild stress levels and 6 people (11.8%) moderate stress level. The results of this study are in line with research conducted by EkaRaisa et al, (2014)Based on the results of the study, it can be seen that the group who said they were not afraid of their own feelings about childbirth experienced a severe stress level of 1 person (9.1%), a moderate stress level of 2 people (18.2%), and a mild stress level of 8 people (72.7%). ). In the group who said they were afraid of their own feelings about childbirth, 6 people experienced severe stress levels (19.4%), 12 people experienced moderate stress (38.7%), and 13 people had mild stress levels (41.9%). In the group who said they were very afraid of their own feelings about childbirth, they experienced a mild stress level of 0 people (0%), a moderate level of anxiety as many as 0 people (0%), and a severe stress level of 1 person (100%).

Conclusion
Based on the results of this study with a sample of 51 respondents about the description of the level of community stress against covid-19 in simangalam village, south kualuh sub-district, Labuhan Batu Utara district in 2021: (1). The level of public stress on the Covid-19 disease in Simangalam village, Kualuh Selatan sub-district, Labuhan Batu Utara district in 2021, the highest community stress level was mild stress level of 26 people (88.2%), (2). The level of public stress on the Covid-19 disease in Simangalam village, south kualuh sub-district, Labuhan Batu Utara district in 2021, the lowest community stress level was moderate stress as many as 6 people (11.8%), (3). The highest level of public stress regarding the Covid-19 disease, respondents answered a mild stress level of 26 people (88.2%) and the lowest answered a moderate stress level of 6 people (11.2%)