TY - JOUR
T1 - Teaching for Creativity by Science Teachers in Grades 5–10
AU - Al-Abdali, Nasser S.
AU - Al-Balushi, Sulaiman M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - This classroom observation study explored how science teachers (N = 22) teach for creativity in grades 5–10 in Oman. We designed an observation form with 4 main categories that targeted the instructional practices related to teaching for creativity: questioning strategy, teacher’s responses to students’ ideas, classroom activities to support creativity, and whole-lesson methods that foster creativity. An open-ended survey was also designed to explore participants’ justifications for their instructional decisions and practices. The findings indicate that the overall level of teaching for creativity was low and that participants’ performance was the highest for teacher’s responses to students’ ideas category and the lowest for classroom activities to support creativity category. We observed that a teacher-centered approach with instructional practices geared toward preparing students for examinations was dominant and that these science teachers were bound to the textbook, following cookbook-style activities. Participants believed that they did not have enough time to cover the content and teach for creativity and that they were not prepared to teach for creativity. Based on these findings, we recommend that programs be developed to prepare science teachers to teach for creativity.
AB - This classroom observation study explored how science teachers (N = 22) teach for creativity in grades 5–10 in Oman. We designed an observation form with 4 main categories that targeted the instructional practices related to teaching for creativity: questioning strategy, teacher’s responses to students’ ideas, classroom activities to support creativity, and whole-lesson methods that foster creativity. An open-ended survey was also designed to explore participants’ justifications for their instructional decisions and practices. The findings indicate that the overall level of teaching for creativity was low and that participants’ performance was the highest for teacher’s responses to students’ ideas category and the lowest for classroom activities to support creativity category. We observed that a teacher-centered approach with instructional practices geared toward preparing students for examinations was dominant and that these science teachers were bound to the textbook, following cookbook-style activities. Participants believed that they did not have enough time to cover the content and teach for creativity and that they were not prepared to teach for creativity. Based on these findings, we recommend that programs be developed to prepare science teachers to teach for creativity.
KW - Classroom observation study
KW - Classroom practices
KW - Creativity
KW - Imagination
KW - Questioning strategy
KW - Science processes
KW - Students’ ideas
KW - Teacher’s responses
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U2 - 10.1007/s10763-014-9612-3
DO - 10.1007/s10763-014-9612-3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84925638158
SN - 1571-0068
VL - 14
SP - 251
EP - 268
JO - International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
JF - International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education
ER -