Outline
- Abstract
- Keywords
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1. Creativity Education Reform in the East
- 1.2. Creativity Development
- 1.3. Creativity in School Curriculum
- 1.4. Creativity-Related Studies in Science Education
- 1.5. Approaches in Creativity Education Research
- 1.6. Tensions in Creativity School Reforms in Eastern Culture
- 1.7. Research Questions of This Study
- 2. Curriculum Design Proposed by This Study
- 2.1. Creative Science Learning Activities
- 2.2. Creativity-Based Learning Objectives
- 3. Methods
- 3.1. School Implementation
- 3.2. Evaluation by Student Questionnaires
- 3.3. Evaluation by Student Interviews
- 4. Results
- 4.1. Characteristics of the Science Lessons – from Student Interviews
- 4.1.1. More Active Learning Style
- 4.1.2. Playfulness
- 4.1.3. Self-Actualization
- 4.1.4. Creative Thinking Elements Rarely Mentioned
- 4.1.5. Sophisticated Creativity-Related Learning Characteristics Not Mentioned
- 4.2. Characteristics of the Science Lessons – from Student Questionnaire
- 4.3. Learning Outcomes Perceived by Students – Interview Results
- 4.3.1. Science-Focused Learning Outcomes
- 4.3.2. Creativity-Focused Learning Outcomes
- 4.3.3. Other Learning Outcomes
- 4.4. Learning Outcomes Perceived by Students – Questionnaire Results
- 4.5. Problems Perceived by Students
- 4.5.1. Adaption Problems
- 4.5.2. Time Constraint
- 4.5.3. Creative Thinking and Activities Are Demanding
- 4.5.4. Suggestions for Improvements
- 4.6. Summing Up of Results
- 5. Discussion
- 5.1. General Picture of Infusion Approach in Creativity Education
- 5.2. Contextual and Cultural Characteristics of Creative Learning
- 5.3. Recommendations for Creativity Education in the East
- 5.4. Towards Student-Inclusiveness in Creativity Reform
- 5.5. Limitation
- 6. Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Appendix A. Creative Science Learning Activities Designed, Implemented and Reported by Teachers
- References
رئوس مطالب
- چکیده
- کلیدواژه ها
- مقدمه
- ارتقا خلاقیت
- خلاقیت در تدوین برنامه های درسی مدرسه
- مطالعات مرتبط با خلاقیت در آموزش علمی
- رویکرد ها در تحقیق مربوط به آموزش خلاقیت
- تنش در اصلاح مدرسه خلاقیت در فرهنگ شرقی
- سوالات پژوهش در این مطالعه
- طراحی برنامه درسی بر مبنای این پژوهش
- فعالیت های مرتبط با یادگیری علم خلاقیت
- اهداف مرتبط با یادگیری خلاقیت
- روش ها
- پیاده سازی در مدرسه
- ارزیابی توسط مصاحبه های دانش آموزی
- نتایج
- سبک یادگیری خلاق تر
- سرگرمی
- خود آموزی
- عناصر تفکر خلاق که به ندرت ذکر شده اند
- خصوصیات درس های علمی- بر مبنای پرسشنامه دانش آموزی
- نتایج یادگیری متمرکز بر علم
- نتایج دیگر یادگیری
Abstract
Infusing creativity elements into regular classroom was an important movement in recent Asian educational reforms. A large-scale research study was conducted in Hong Kong to explore the possibilities, outcomes and difficulties of this kind of curriculum change from students’ perspectives. Based mainly on Western creativity literature, this study developed a set of methods for infusing creativity learning elements into regular science lessons. After its implementation, students perceived improvements in their attitudes, conceptions, abilities and behaviors in creative science development. Students characterized this creative learning as a kind of active and playful learning which encouraged them to think boarder and wider, to appreciate creative ideas, and to develop their curiosity, confidence and initiation in learning. Though this classroom reform originally aimed at creativity development, students considered better understanding of science knowledge and positive attitudes towards science learning as their major gains. Students’ high-order creative developments, such as novel and innovative thinking, challenging authority and risk-taking attitudes, metacognitive development and transfer of learning, were found to be weak. In further analysis, these outcomes were found to be related to some typical characteristics of Eastern culture and educational system. This study argued that creativity education, which adopted this kind of infusion approach, was likely to be restrained by the subject curriculum, local educational systems and social cultures. It provided additional support to the domain-specific, contextual-based and cultural-embedded characteristic of creative learning. Some suggestions were made for creativity reforms in Asian societies.
Keywords: Creativity education - Cultural influence - Infusion approach - Science teachingConclusions
To realize creativity education in school curriculum, finding methods to integrate creativity learning and that of content knowledge is unavoidable. Obviously, it is not an easy task. In the process of integration, adjustments, balancing and compromise between the two learning domains are expected to occur. This study provided one potentially useful method for infusing creative learning into subject content, including the discovery, understanding, presentation, application and transformation of content knowledge. The results of this study highlighted several important directions and factors for Asian educators to consider when infusing creativity learning into their regular lessons. They included the perceptions, needs and preferences of students, their tensions and dilemmas in the learning process, the heavy cultural and contextual influences and also the domain-specificity of the infusion approach of creativity education. In future, education policy makers need to note that the starting points of creativity reforms in Asian places may be quite different from that of some Western countries. Simple direct transplant of Western style of creativity learning and their pedagogical practices would surely meet obstacles. In light of this study, it seems that an active, playful, self-actualizing learning style, which emphasizes deeper understanding and daily-life application of science knowledge, and, at the same time, encourages creative appreciation, alternative thinking, curiosity, confidence and initiation in learning may be more readily implemented in schools and favored by students in the existing Asian contexts. In light of this study, Asian educators should consider scaffolding creativity education into various dimensions and progressive levels, with higher focus on adaptive creativity in its initial stage of reform, and the inclusion of student voice in its process of change.