Awareness and educational practices relating to creative thinking

The purpose of the research was to develop a questionnaire which would provide an indication of the amount of knowledge teachers have regarding creative thinking and to indicate the perceptions of teachers regarding their encouragement of creative thinking in their classroom practices. These specific questions were of major concern:

1. Are teachers aware of the existing knowledge relating to the nature and nurture of creative thinking?

2. Are the classroom practices of teachers reflecting a conscious effort to develop creative thinking in students?

3. Does awareness affect teacher practices?

A questionnaire was formulated to answer the three questions posed in this research. Procedures for the development of the survey instrument included subjection to a panel of writers and researchers in the field of creativity and use of the instrument with a pilot sample of teachers prior to final formulation.

The questionnaire was mailed to a sample of 200 teachers who were selected at random, using a random numbers table. The percentage of return totaled 77% of the original sample.

There were sixty teachers of the total l54 respondents who were identified as aware of the concept of creativity,

vi and forty-three who were designated as ones who encourage creative thinking in students. Using 80% as the expected value, the Chi-Square test revealed that the actual outcome fell far short of the expected in both categories. Differences were significant at the .05 level.

Although 39% of the respondents were aware of the concept of creative thinking, only 28% of the same sample were found to be encouraging it in students. A Chi-Square test found the relationship between the awareness of and the encouragement of creative thinking to be significant at the .05 level. This indicated that awareness of the nature and nurture of creative thinking does affect the encouragement of creative thinking in the classroom.

There was some indication, judging from the Chi- Square values which ensued from analysis of the demographic data, that there were greater efforts toward teaching for creative development among the respondents who have attained a Master's degree when compared with those subjects with lower degree levels. The proportion of teachers encouraging creative thinking was highest among the respondents who had taught sixteen or more years and who taught grade levels 4-8.

The respondents ranked student behaviors in the ordor of their preference. All four of the creative behaviors-asks questions, independent, self-starter, and curious-were valued more highly than the others--courteous, obedient, neat, and finishes work.

The respondents indicated large classes, textbook coverage expectations, and not enough time as restrictions to the teaching of creative thinking. Lack of administrative support and personal knowledge of the concept of creative thinking were not felt to be great hindrances to this endeavor.

A low level of teacher awareness of creative thinking and its encouragement in the classroom was indicated from the Chi-Square values obtained from this research. Despite these results, the investigator was encouraged by an apparent improvement in the status of creative thinking when compared to projections based on previous research and writing.