Perception of Scientific Creativity and Self-Evaluation among Science Teacher Candidates

Abstract

This study was performed with the participation of 20 teacher candidates from the science education department of a university in Turkey. During the study, the teacher candidates were asked two questions, one of which was open-ended, while the other was multiple choice. The validity of these questions developed for this study was evaluated by two expert researchers. The aim of this study was to determine how science teacher candidates defined scientific creativity, and how they assessed themselves in terms of scientific creativity. The study results indicated that the science teacher candidates considered themselves to be somewhat inadequate in terms of scientific creativity, and that they were unable to fully understand or interpret this concept.

Key concepts: scientific creativity, teacher candidate, science education