Extended Abstract
1. Introduction
Children’s creativity is one of the topics that have drawn the attention of many psychologists. Based on a scientific theory, creativity is defined as the act of making something new, different, innovative, and at the same time useful, suitable, and related to do a task [1]. Most importantly, creativity is the fundamental factor in the development and progress of a society. So, children’s creativity must be flourished in a suitable way so that its positive effects can be realized in most of the behaviors of the children. One of the ways to discovering children’s talents and flourishing them is by teaching music. In music teaching, the children learn rhythm, musical notes, notes interval, consistency, as well as playing simple melodies with kids’ musical instruments like xylophone, flute, recorder, and simple percussion instruments [2]. In recent years, much research has been done in the field of students’ and children’s creativity, especially with respect to the cognitive-emotional and educational aspects. Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to the importance of teaching music in developing children’s creativity worldwide, including Iran. Therefore, the current research has been conducted to determine the effect of music learning on the creativity of children living in Iran.
2. Method 
The research data were collected by field method using a questionnaire. In the current study, the children’s creativity was assessed by Torrance creativity questionnaire, and their intelligence (7- to 9-year old children) was assessed by the Wechsler intelligence test. The study population comprised all 7- to 9-year-old children studying in primary schools in Tehran City, District 20, in the academic year 2015-2016. Since the girls’ schools did not cooperate in this research, 20 boys were recruited by convenience sampling method. Of them, 10 were randomly assigned to the experimental group and 10 to the control group. Generally, the inclusion criteria were being 7- to 9-year old, having enough intelligence as tested by Wechsler test, and possessing normal hearing based on their audiometry test records in the school.
The intelligence and creativity of the children in both the groups were assessed before and after the intervention and then analyzed by the independent t-test and chi-squared test using SPSS 22 .
3. Results
The test results indicate that there is no significant difference between the two study groups before the intervention with respect to the mean values of seven intelligence subscales. Thus, the children were matched with respect to their intelligence. On the other hand, the study results after the intervention show that music teaching could significantly affect all creativity components (fluidity, flexibility, innovation, and expansion). In other words, teaching music with Orff method over a three-month period influenced the creativity of the studied children.
4. Discussion
Teaching music to children helps them to understand various concepts, accurately perceive and feel different problems and challenges, and create new ideas to solve the problems. Generally, when it is intended to realize creativity in children through teaching music by Orff method, we must attempt to use practicable activities in a proper way that are consistent with the curriculum setting of the schools along with other educational methods and teaching textbooks. This provides an entertaining setting for the kids that not only flourish their creativity but also improve their performance and motivation toward learning.
Acknowledgments 
This paper was extracted from the MSc. thesis of the first author in Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University of Tehran.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

 

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