The comparative study of traditional and active teaching methods on creative thinking among students of humanities at Islamic Azad University, Babol Branch

The present research is a comparative study of traditional and active teaching methods of creative thinking among students of humanities at Islamic Azad University, Babol Branch. The method employed was survey method. The statistical population was composed of 4174 students of humanities. Through stratified sampling, a sample of 283 students was selected. Data gathering instrument was a close-ended questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument was 0.73. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, frequency percentage and tables were applied to analyze data. In inferential statistics section, Wilcoxon test, kruskal – vallis test, and U Mann – Whitney test were used to investigate any existing differences among goups. The findings show that active teaching method is more effective in promoting creative thinking because it provides more learning opportunities and experience, and encourages discovery learning. There was no significant difference among students majoring in different fields, whether male of female.