The Influence of Social Issue-The Influence of Social Issue-based Science Teaching Materials based Science Teaching Materials

on Students’ Creativityon Students’ Creativity

Jack HolbrookJack HolbrookAnne LaiusAnne Laius

Miia RannikmäeMiia Rannikmäe

Tartu, 02.10.2003Tartu, 02.10.2003

IntroductionIntroduction

Attitudes of students towards science, scientific subjects Attitudes of students towards science, scientific subjects and career of scientists are low;and career of scientists are low;

Relevance of science teaching is low;Relevance of science teaching is low; Students’ higher order thinking skills are quite poor, Students’ higher order thinking skills are quite poor,

especially with problem solving skills;especially with problem solving skills; The creative abilities of Estonian students are not The creative abilities of Estonian students are not

investigated in the field of science studies.investigated in the field of science studies.

Research GoalResearch Goal

To investigate the influence of social issue-based science teaching materials through several science subjects on students’ creativity;

To investigate the difference in male and female students’ creativity.

SampleSample

Experimental group: 18 science teachers 9 schools 236 students of 9th grade

Control group: 13 science teachers 8 schools 211 students of 9th grade

Social Issue-based ScienceTeaching Social Issue-based ScienceTeaching MaterialMaterial

teaching material is societally related, i.e. students are familiar with the situation and can thus appreciate its relevance;

education goals are stipulated and form the major focus of the material, i.e. students are participating in the process of educational learning appropriate for the goals of the country and their intellectual development;

following the material is a learning exercise, i.e. it provides an intellectual challenge and utilizes constructivist principles — moving from the information and understanding already in the possession of students to the new;

the activity is student participatory, i.e. the student is involved either individually or groups for a considerable amount (>60 %) of the teaching time;

consideration is given to enhancing a wide range of communication skills.

Teachers’ In-service CoursesTeachers’ In-service Courses

8 months; Introduction of STL philosophy

(STL= scientific and technological literacy); Criteria for creating social issue-based science teaching

materials; Teachers’ team-work in creating their collaborative

teaching materials; Ownerhip of STL philosophy and creating teaching

materials; The 8-week teaching module for students.

Module of Social Issue-based Science Module of Social Issue-based Science TeachingTeaching

8 weeks; Within 2-3 subjects:

Chemistry, Physics, Biology,

1-3 teachers; Teachers’ team created social issue-based

teaching materials.

MethodMethod

An instrument of discrepant situations for students to assess their creativity (adapted by Iowa University), was based on three activities:

the questions ask about the discrepant situation; the causes should be suggested; the consequences should be predicted about the discrepant

situations.

Scoring in this section refers to creative strength of students. The total number of questions, causes and consequences was counted and the average was calculated.

The following discrepant situation was created to be universal for different science subjects: “Imagine the situation on the Earth if Mankind had not invented paper”.

Results: Creativity of 9th GradeResults: Creativity of 9th Grade Students Students

012345

6

*Asking quest

ions

* Suggest

ing causes

* Predict

ing conseq

uence

s

* Aver

age

boys

girls

Results:Change of Students’ CreativityResults:Change of Students’ Creativity

012345678

pre-test

post-test

Results:Change of Male and Female Students’Results:Change of Male and Female Students’ Creativity Creativity

0.0

5.0

10.015.0

20.0

25.0

30.035.0

40.0

45.0%

boys

girls

ConclusionsConclusions

The creativity of students increased significantly during the eight-week teaching module. The most significant increase appeared on the scale of asking questions.

A societal teaching approach was most effective in encouraging the students to ask different questions about the discrepant situations and also increased the number of predicted consequences.

The least increase was with the ability to suggest causes, this being quite similar to the process of problem solving, in which the hardest situation is for the students to recognise a problem.

Remarkable differences occurred in the creativity of male and female students: the average creativity of female students was significantly higher on every scale of creativity.

The experimental teaching module seemed to affect the male students more positively than the female students as significant differences between the results of their post-test had disappeared.