• Human Ecology Research
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.67-80
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• 2015

This study aimed to develop a convergent arts and science program for 5yearold children and to evaluate this effectiveness of the program. To meet the purpose of this study, 34 children (aged, 5 year) were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. To the experimental group, the creative arts and science convergence program of interest in this study was delivered over a period of 8 weeks. The children of the control group were delivered the Nuri Curriculum (standardized educational curriculum targeted for 3- to 5year olds) during the same experimental period. The levels of the children's creativity were assessed using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking-Figural and those of their scientific inquiry ability were tested by using the Scientific Inquiry Ability Assessment Scale. The analysis of covariance calculated using by IBM SPSS ver. 21.0 revealed that the experimental group scored higher in creativity and scientific inquiry than did the control group. The results indicated that the proposed convergent arts and science program was effective in promoting creativity and scientific inquiry ability of young children. In this paper, along with the main results of this study, the implications for research and practice are discussed.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.29-52
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• 2023

Objective: This research aims to examine the effect of a young children's engineering-focused STEAM program based on the project approach - a program that constructs components aligned with children's interests in their play through an engineering design process - on their scientific inquiry ability, mathematical problem-solving ability, and creativity. Methods: In this research, 42 five-year-old children from a public kindergarten in S district, I city, were randomly divided into experimental and comparative groups, each with 21 children. The engineering-focused STEAM program was conducted from April 18 to June 10, 2022, with the experimental group exploring the 'car' theme and the comparison group focusing on a different theme. The study employed an independent sample t-test and analysis of covariance(ANCOVA), using the pretest as a covariate to control variables. Results: The children-selected 'cars' themed engineering-focused STEAM program was effective in enhancing their scientific inquiry ability, mathematical problem-solving ability and creativity. Conclusion/Implications: The engineering-focused STEAM program, which emerges from young children's interesting daily play, had positive effects on enhancing their scientific inquiry ability, mathematical problem-solving ability, and creativity. This research can serve as fundamental data for developing education programs focused on engineering within the STEAM framework, guided by children's emergent play.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.520-544
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• 2021

This study aims to develop a scientific creativity test for exploring the relationship between elementary students' creative process and product. For this, the researcher reviewed the literatures of scientific creativity and developed the items based on the constructs of creative process and product. After a review conducted by nine science education specialists, a pilot test, and additional revision and supplementation of observation test, the test, consisting of two sets-"animals" and "plants"-was finally conducted on 105 fifth-grade students. The test results were analyzed by using statistical analysis software. WinSteps, SPSS, and AMOS. The main findings from this study are as follows. First, when it comes to scientific creativity, creative process consists of science knowledge, inquiry skills, and creative thinking skills (divergent, convergent, and associative thinking skills). Creative product in science is a new and scientifically useful idea realized in a certain form. Second, observation, which was selected as a representative inquiry skill in this research, should not be related to creative thinking skills. Third, among the rest of the items, usefulness had the lowest averages, as it was, perhaps, difficult to satisfy the teachers' criteria for the scientific validity and usefulness. Fourth, the Spearman correlation coefficients between the items of "animals" and "plants" to find out the parallel-form reliability were significant, except for the item of originality. Fifth, the test was satisfactory with regard to the three aspects of construct validity-convergent, discriminant, and nomological. This study concludes by discussing the usefulness of this test, which has the possibility of exploring the relationship between creative process and product and of playing a role as an authentic evaluation tool in school.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.395-417
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze the correlation of creative personality, environment, process, and product as related to scientific creativity for different levels of elementary school students. We evaluated 105 fifth graders' responses to two tests: i) the scientific creativity test for creative process and product and ii) the self-report test for creative personality and environment. In the self-report test, creative personality comprises cognitive and affective personality, and creative environment constitutes home and school environments. To attain a deeper understanding of phenomena that cannot be explained by a quantitative analysis, interviews were conducted with four students who had the highest scores in creative product and four students who had the lowest scores in creative product while having higher-than-average scores in creative process. First, correlation of creative personality and environment were not significant. Second, in the interviews, students who had the highest scores in scientific creativity had common characteristics, namely, the ability to endure current difficulties to achieve future success and the propensity to listen to other people's ideas critically. Third, students who had the highest scores in creativity hailed from families that respected their opinions, whereas students with the lowest scores belonged to families that disregarded or neglected their opinions. Finally, this study specifies the criteria that should be considered for affective and environmental aspects of scientific creativity education.

• Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.239-252
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• 2021

The purpose of this study is to develop an evolutionary STEAM education program based on the brain and to analyze its effects on scientific interest and scientific creativity of elementary school students. Four different topics based on four scientific fields (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science) were derived from the science textbook under the 2015 revised curriculum to build a brain-based evolutionary STEAM education program. The research subjects were 90 fourth graders of S-elementary school located in Gyeonggi Province, Korea and they were divided into an experimental group of 45 students and a comparative group of 45 students. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, according to the independent samples t-test of scientific interest, no statistically significant difference were found between the two groups, but the brain-based evolutionary STEAM education had meaningful effect on improving 'interest in scientific learning' and 'anxiety about scientific learning'. Second, according to the paired samples t-test of scientific interest, the experimental group had significantly improved 'interest in science' but on the other hand, there was no effect on the comparative group. Third, scientific creativity and originality of the experimental group were significantly higher after the class than that of the comparative group. Fourth, although there were some significant differences between the two groups in scientific creativity after the class, both groups had improved scientific creativity between the results of pre and post test. Based on these results, we discuss implications for science education and STEAM education research.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.33-49
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• 2022

This study aims to explore, using both quantitative and qualitative data analyzing the structural relationship between creative process and product, the types of elementary students' scientific creativity. For this, 105 fifth-graders responded to a scientific creativity test that assesses creative process and product, and four students who scored the highest were interviewed. In the interview, they were asked about the cognitive process they used in generating the creative product. Then, correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were used, along with the interview data, to type the students. The main findings of the study are as follows. First, the structural equation modeling of creative process and product gave satisfactory results in absolute and incremental fit indexes. Second, among the three components of creative process - knowledge, inquiry skill-observation, and creative thinking skills -, only creative thinking skills had significant effects on creative product. Third, divergent thinking skills had the strongest correlation with the creative product, followed by convergent thinking skills. Associational thinking skills did not have significant correlation. Fourth, elementary students' scientific creativity could be categorized into Creative Type, Useful Type, Original Type, and Non-creative Type, based on their creative product. The Non-creative Type could be further classified into Common Type, Repetitive Type, Non-response Type, Irrelevant Type, and Abstract Type. Fifth, most students used either knowledge or observation in their creative process, making them either Knowledge-oriented Type or Observation-oriented Type. In addition, there were DT Type, DT-CT Type, and DT-CT-AT Type among the students, based on the kinds of creative thinking skills they mainly used in the process. This study provides implications for educators and researchers in scientific creativity education.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.324-333
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• 2002

Recent studies have indicated that boys show better scientific achievements compared to those of girls. It is also a general conception that boys would be better than girls in terms of scientific creative performances and potential, although there have been few studies to support the general opinion. As the gifted education in Korea is progressing very rapidly, the importance of understanding the creative characteristics of gifted boys and girls has been increased. In the present study, we have compared and analyzed three different measures of creativity utilizing 135 gifted students (77 boys and 58 girls) to provide an empirical evidence for the different degrees of creative performances between gifted boys and girls. The instruments used to measure diverse aspects of creativity include the Torrance Test of Creativity (TTCT), the Test of Creative Problem-solving and Finding in Science (CPFS), and the Creative Behavioral Checklist in Science(CBCS). The results of the study indicate that girls, rather than boys, showed better creative performances, demonstrating moderately higher average scores on the three creative measures used in the study. The results are in contrast to people's general conception that boys would be more creative than girls. Implications of the study in connection with identification and educational practices for gifted education program have been discussed.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to develop problem-solving inquiries for the science gifted and to analyze the effects of problem-solving inquiries. The problem-solving inquiries were composed of scientific knowledge, scientific inquiry skills and creative thinking. The problem-solving inquiries were applied to the science gifted attending the institute of the gifted education. The test of science-creative problem solving (TSCPS) was used to know effects of improvement of science-creativity and the result of TSCPS showed the improvement of science creativity. The analysis of student-student dialogues during experiments showed that the type of dialogue was different on the type of problem-solving inquiry. The dialogue of convergent thinking was frequently showed up on the problem-solving inquiry needed logical thinking whereas that of divergent thinking on the problem-solving inquiry needed idea generation. The problem-solving inquiries had a positive effects on the improvement of the science-creativity.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to analyze the effects on scientific creativity of the Science Gifted Program, to survey recognition of gifted learners on the Program, and to obtain implications for the development direction of guidance program. The subjects of this study were 20 persons of the class for the gifted in an elementary school science, which belonged to Education Institute for the Gifted, Office of Education in Jeju city. The Science Gifted Program were applied during 28 times. The effects of the program were analyzed using the scientific creativity test, recognition questionnaire and interview of the Science Gifted Program. The results of this study were as follows. First, after applying Science Gifted Program, the scientific creativity of the gifted in science was enhanced. Especially, fluency was enhanced most remarkably. Second, after applying Science Gifted Program, students stated that they had the positive feeling about this program. The suggestions of results of recognition questionnaire of the Science Gifted Program were as follows. First, the Science Gifted Program must include experiment and research of subject. Second, it is necessary to guide concretely of the learning method before beginning of the Science Gifted Program. Third, it is necessary to control content level and quantity of the task for the student's easy comprehension.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.565-583
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• 2009

We studied what kind of science-contents problems can also give information on one's creativity for use in the selection of scientifically gifted. 383 7th and 8th graders as subjects, we first analyzed the corelation between the results of creative thinking, scientific attitude, science inquiry, logical thinking and the scientific creativity problem solving skill test. The corelation analysis indicated that science inquiry test could represent other tests except TTCT. We then tested 532 6th graders with TTCT and science inquiry tests concomitantly with the contents- related problems made in such types as naming 20 scientists, writing about a scientist, imagination to overcome a problem, understanding of theory and application and understanding of science laws and application. The results indicated that writing and imagination were most efficient in assessing both the contents and the creativity.