Fostering and Measuring Creativity in Secondary School Science Education: Literature Review

Abstract

The present era demands creative citizens who can solve personal as well as social problems in everyday life activities. This urges schools to prepare students at any grade level to alleviate these and other uncertain future problems using creative thinking. This paper discusses/reviews empirical studies conducted between 2013 and 2023 aimed at identifying methods of fostering creativity and its measuring instruments among secondary school students in the sciences. Four educational research databases: Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Academic Search Ultimate, Scopus, and Google Scholar were used to search thoroughly available literature. A comprehensive search yielded 405 pieces of literature, from which 38 quantitative studies were selected for critical analysis. The findings indicated that various teaching methods and learning activities such as project-based learning, inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, questioning, brainstorming, cooperative learning, listen–think–pair–share, and flex-based learning; along with adequately available instructional resources, teachers’ supportive behavior, and assessment for creativity, foster students’ creative abilities. Commonly used creativity measuring instruments are creativity tests, scientific creativity tests, chemistry creativity tests, assessment rubrics, cognitive processes associated with creativity (CPAC), the Big Five Scale (BFI), product assessments, essay writing, and performance appraisals.