1. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org
ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online)
Vol.5, No.11, 2015
101
A Study on the Evaluation of Scientific Creativity among Science
Teacher Candidates
Dr. Sibel Demir (Corresponding author)
Ondokuz Mayıs University, Science Teaching Department, Samsun/Turkey
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
Introduction
Creativity consists of at least four components, which are the creative process, creative product, creative
individuals, and the creative situation (MacKinnon, 1970; Mooney, 1963; as cited by Lin, Hu, Adey, and Shen,
2003). Scientific creativity is a higher skill that has a significant effect on the innovative approach. In contrast to
general creativity, scientific creativity is strongly associated with scientific knowledge, scientific skills, and
scientific attitudes (Jo, 2009). Problem-solving, forming hypotheses, designing experiments, and technical
innovation all require a certain form of scientific creativity (Lin, Hu, Adey, and Shen, 2003). Zhang, Liu, and
Lin (2012), on the other hand, described that although scientific creativity requires various personal
characteristics such as inner motivation, independence and initiative, these characteristics are sufficient by
themselves in supporting scientific creativity. Hu and Adey (2002) previously developed a “scientific creativity
model” for field-specific creativity, which consists of the following dimensions: fluency, flexibility, originality,
imagination, thinking, scientific knowledge, scientific problem, scientific fact, and technical product. Within the
frame of scientific creativity, “fluency can be defined as the collection of all ideas that are scientifically correct;
flexibility can be defined as fluent thoughts formed in different areas and with different approaches; and
originality can be defined as fluent ideas that are present at a certain percentage/ratio within the relevant group”
(Demir, 2014).
Creative thinking plays a complementary role in the scientific processes used during science- and technology-
related studies (Akçam, 2007). The limiting factors of the long-term development of scientific creativity is the
experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of science teachers, and the quality of the developmental and
educational opportunities that are provided to the students (Schmidt, 2010). In the current age of innovation,
scientific creativity among science teachers is very important for ensuring the cultivation of this creativity skill
in future generations. For this reason, we believe that it is particularly important to determine how teacher
candidates see scientific creativity, and how they assess their own scientific creativity.
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.
Methods
This study was performed with 31 science teacher candidates in their second year of higher education, enrolled
in the science education department of a university in Turkey. In this study, the 31 science teacher candidates
were asked a multiple-choice question, with five possible answers, which was, “How would you rate your own
level of scientific creativity?” Twenty one randomly selected science teacher candidates were then asked the
following open-ended question: “Imagine that you a special power that only you possess. How would like to use
this special power to advance the field of science?” Qualitative data obtained with the open-ended questions

2. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org
ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online)
Vol.5, No.11, 2015
102
were classified according to predefined codes and themes, and the data were interpreted based on the number of
times the codes were repeated. The validity of these questions developed for this study was evaluated by two
expert researchers.
Results
Data obtained in this study were organized and presented in tables. Table 1 classifies the qualitative data (i.e.
answers and expressions) obtained from the science teacher candidates with the open-ended question according
to the four dimensions of scientific creativity, which are fluency, flexibility, originality, and scientific
knowledge. Table 2 shows the codes identified in the teacher candidate responses to the open-ended question,
while Table 3 and Table 4 show an example of two answers that were considered to illustrate flexibility and
originality. Table 5, on the other hand, shows the teacher candidates’ self-evaluation of their scientific creativity.
Table 1. Evaluation of the answers to the open-ended question according to the four dimensions of
scientific creativity
Table 1 shows that 27 of the answers provided by the teacher candidate reflected fluency, while 25 of these
answers reflected scientific knowledge. Only two of the answers mentioned flexibility, and only four mentioned
originality.
Table 2. The codes of the answers given to the open-ended question
Codes N
Find cure for illnesses 4
Space/Planets 6
Establish a laboratory 2
Establish a science center 2
Prevent environmental pollution 3
Others 1 (by each teacher
candidate)
Table 2 shows that the answers provided by the teacher candidates to the open-ended question particularly
included views about seeing or making discoveries about space and other planets, finding cures for illnesses, and
to prevent environmental pollution. It was observed that each teacher candidate provided at least one
answer/opinion to the open-ended question asking them how they would like to advance science.
Table 3. Example of an answer to the open-question illustrating the flexibility dimension
Teacher candidate number 17:
“…..I would like to give people the ability to perform photosynthesis.”
The example in Table 3 shows that, by thinking about merging the characteristics of humans and plants, the
teacher candidate was able to associate two different disciplines.
Table 4. Example of an answer to the open-question illustrating the originality dimension
Teacher candidate number 12:
“…such as giving people the ability to travel in their own brain ….”
Table 4 shows an example of the answers provided by the teacher candidates that reflect originality.
Fluency Scientific
Knowledge
Flexibility Originality
27 25 2 4

3. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org
ISSN (Paper)2224-5766 ISSN (Online)2225-0484 (Online)
Vol.5, No.11, 2015
103
Table 5. The teacher candidates’ self-evaluation of their own scientific creativity.
Fairly
Adequate
Adequate Partially
Adequate
Inadequate Fairly
Inadequate
No Answer
0 6 17 7 0 1
As shown in Table 5, when asked to self-evaluate their scientific creativity, the science teacher candidates
generally described themselves as having a partially adequate level of scientific creativity.
Conclusion and Discussion
As the number of scientific studies increases, so does the amount of accumulated scientific knowledge. Science
education tends to place more emphasis on the learning scientific knowledge; however, it is more important to
teach scientific methods as a set of skills rather than a form of knowledge (Gürdal, Şahin, and Çağlar, 2001).
Scientific creativity plays an important role in this context. Scientific creativity can be described as a thinking
skill that enables individuals to produce may original ideas in different areas by utilizing an interdisciplinary and
innovative approach in science, technology, and arts (esthetics), generally with the aim of resolving a particular
problem (Demir, 2014).
Based on the study results and the answers of the science teacher candidates, it was determined that their level of
fluency and scientific knowledge was adequate, while their level of flexibility and originality was very low. In
addition, the teacher candidates generally considered themselves as being partially adequate in terms of scientific
creativity.
Science classes assist the development of scientific creativity, and placing further emphasis on creativity during
these classes would allow students to be better prepared for the future (Kind and Kind, 2007). To ensure the
development of scientific creativity, it is necessary to form rich learning environments through effective
planning and by making use of different learning approaches, methods and techniques; promoting scientific
creativity also requires effective planning, structuring, and organization of all learning processes, including the
training and guidance of teachers/instructors (Demir, 2014). For this reason, we believe that it is important to
evaluate and determine the scientific creativity of science teacher candidates. In this context, we believe that it is
necessary to conduct further studies aiming to assess and improve the scientific creativity of science teacher
candidates.
References
Akçam, M. (2007). İlköğretim fen bilgisi derslerinde yaratıcı etkinliklerin öğrencilerin tutum ve başarılarına
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Demir, S. (2014). Bilimsel tartışma ve araştırmaya dayalı tasarlanan laboratuvar programının, fen bilgisi
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