The assessment of science classroom creativity: scale development

Abstract

Science education should help unleash the creative potential of students, for which an instrument to accurately assess creativity is required. This study aims to develop and validate such a scale to assess science classroom creativity (SCC), which is the creativity expressed by students in the process of learning either individually or collectively in a science classroom. This study is carried out in the following four stages to achieve this goal: (1) item generation, (2) scale development, (3) scale validation, and (4) scale application. The results of this study indicate that the developed SCC scale with 49 items is a valid and reliable instrument that consists of nine components: cognitive/affective student characteristics, internal/external engagement in science class, science classroom environment, cognitive/emotional support of the science teacher, and individual/collective creative behaviour. Furthermore, the application of the scale provides science teachers with opportunities to: understand creativity more deeply, think reflectively about their teaching practice, and produce differentiated instructional designs to promote creativity.