A Study on the Evaluation of Scientific Creativity among Science Teacher Candidates

Abstract

This study was performed with the participation of 31 science teacher candidates in their second year of higher education, enrolled in the science education department of a university in Turkey. During the study, the teacher candidates were asked two questions, one of which was a self-evaluation question regarding scientific creativity, while the other was an open-ended question. The validity of these questions developed specifically for this study was evaluated by two expert researchers. The aim of the study was to determine how science teacher candidates viewed scientific creativity, and how they evaluated/assessed themselves with respect to scientific creativity. The results of this study indicated that the science teacher candidates lacked an adequate understanding of the flexibility and originality dimensions of scientific creativity, and that they considered themselves as somewhat insufficient in terms of scientific creativity.

Key words: science teacher candidate, scientific creativity, originality, fluency, flexibility, scientific knowledge