Inventing Creativity: An Exploration of the Pedagogy of Ingenuity in Science Classrooms

Abstract

Concerns with the ability of U.S. classrooms to develop learners who will become the next generation of innovators, particularly given the present climate of standardized testing, warrants a closer look at creativity in science classrooms. The present study explored these concerns associated with teachers' classroom practice by addressing the following research question: What pedagogical factors, and related teacher conceptions, are potentially related to the demonstration of creativity among science students? Seventeen middle‐level, high school, and introductory‐level college science teachers from a variety of school contexts participated in the study. A questionnaire developed for this study, interviews, and classroom observations were used in order to explore potential areas of relatedness between pedagogical factors and manifestations of student creativity in science. Five categories ultimately emerged and described potential areas in which teachers would have to explicitly plan for creativity. These areas could inform the pedagogical considerations that teachers would have to make within their lesson plans and activities in order to support its manifestation among students. These provide a starting point for science teachers and science teacher educators to consider how to develop supportive environments for student creative thinking.