Influence of Gender and Knowledge on Secondary School Students’ Scientific Creativity Skills in Nakuru District, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of gender and knowledge on scientific creativity among form three biology students (third year in secondary school cycle) in Nakuru district in Kenya. The cross-sectional survey research was employed. The population of the study comprised all form three biology students in public secondary schools in Nakuru district. A sample of eight schools with a total of 363 students was selected from the population using stratified sampling technique. Two instruments, namely, Biology Achievement Test (BAT) and Biology Scientific Creativity Test (BSCT) were used to collect data. The psychological definitions of creativity tested are sensitivity, recognition, flexibility and planning. The mapping of these psychological definitions of creativity onto scientific meanings is explained using the model that guided construction of items in BSCT. Data analysis was done using quantitative methods. The statistics used were Pearson correlation coefficient(r), chisquare, t-test and ANOVA, at α=0.05 level of significance. The findings of this study indicate that the form three biology students who participated in the study had a low level of scientific creativity. Secondly, the level of scientific creativity is knowledge and gender dependent. The findings may help teachers and other stake holders in education in inculcating creativity skills amongst science students.Key words: Influence, Gender, Knowledge, Scientific creativity Treffinger (2002) argues that much of what we know today we did not know four decades ago, and in the not-very-distant future much of what we think we know now, will be absolutely irrelevant. He further argues that the "shelf life" of knowledge in this time of constant change and how long knowledge lasts before it is overcome by events or replaced by new, better or different knowledge is getting shorter and shorter. Therefore, students will need another kind of information and tools, "Knowing how" to access, organise, modify, use and construct information. What Treffinger has suggested are the attributes and skills that should be acquired by students if they are to be creative in the scientific discipline. Loehle (1990) argues that, those areas of science such as biology, medicine and theoretical physics need more creativity because the phenomena involved in those subjects are complex. The term creativity has been used and given different meanings in different fields. According to the heritage dictionary, originality and imagination characterize creativity. Some of the important instances of creativity include discoveries of knowledge in science and medicine, invention of new technology, composing beautiful music or analyzing situations in a new way (Standler, 1998). Crawford (1954 is credited with starting a training course to increase creativity among professionals by use of attribute listing. This involved putting down certain attributes of a product and the modifications that could be done to each attribute to improve it. Treffinger, Isaksen and Dorval...

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