Creativity in chemistry class and in general – German student teachers’ views

Abstract

Creativity has become an increasingly important competence in today's rapidly changing times, especially for school graduates who strive for pursuing a technical or scientific career. But creativity has not been integrated in the lessons or curricula of STEM subjects. To successfully integrate it in the classroom, it is important to investigate teachers’ and student teachers’ views on creativity. A study with seventeen German student teachers, studying chemistry on a Master's degree, is already carried out using a new research instrument that includes the creation of concept maps and filling out a questionnaire. The implementation of this study, the analysis and evaluation of the data and a comparison with literature data are described in this article. One result of this study is that the methods are an adequate approach to investigate views and knowledge about creativity. Regarding this, all of the students already had conceptions, views and an understanding about creativity in general and in the context of chemistry education, although they did not get input on the topic. Furthermore, almost all of the students had a positive attitude towards creativity and its integration in chemistry lessons. However, also uncertainties like the definition of creativity could be identified.