Philip Adey

A scientific creativity test for secondary school students

This study describes the development of a test of scientific creativity for use with secondary school students. A Scientific Creativity Structure Model (SCSM) was constructed on the basis of an analysis of meanings and aspects of scientific creativity found in the literature. 50 science teachers in China took part in an initial evaluation of this model. On the basis of their analyses and comments, and drawing on the experience of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, a 7-item scale for measuring scientific creativity of secondary school students was developed and validated through analyses of item response data of 160 secondary school students in England. Item analyses were conducted to check on item discrimination, internal consistency, agreement between scorers, construct-related validity, and face validity. Analysis showed adequate reliabilities and validities. As an example of how the test might be used, data from the pilot use of the test were used to investigate the relative scientific creativity of students of different age and ability level. The results indicated that for this trial sample, the scientific creativity of secondary school students increases with increase in age, and science ability is a necessary but not sufficient condition for scientific creativity. Further work is also suggested.

The CASE results: implications for science teaching

This paper considers the implications of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (case) project results for science teaching methods. Results are summarized briefly and then the peculiar features of the case methodology and subject‐matter are described and consideration given to how they could be incorporated into any science curriculum. In particular, the use of cognitive conflict, metacognition, and bridging are described, and set in the context of the development of formal operational thinking. Finally, the potential roles of printed materials and INSET are reviewed for introducing such features into the professional repertoire of science teachers.

The Influence of CASE on Scientific Creativity.

This paper describes a study of the influence of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) programme on the scientific creativity of secondary school students. 1087 pupils from six suburban mixed comprehensive schools in England took part in the investigation. Three of the schools had participated in the CASE programme and three had not. Samples of students in years 7–11 from each school were given the Scientific Creativity Test for Secondary School Students, an instrument designed to tap various aspects of scientific creativity. The results indicated that the CASE programme did promote the overall development of scientific creativity of secondary school students, although the effects on different aspects of scientific creativity varied. As expected from previous work on delayed effects of CASE on academic achievement, the results indicated that the effects on creativity were not necessarily immediate, but tended to be long-lasting. Possible interpretations of these results are discussed.

Fostering thinking through science in the early years of schooling

The purpose of this research was to investigate and describe concrete examples of Year 1 students engaged in good thinking and to generate assertions about the ways teachers can foster habits of good thinking through science. The research design was a multiple case study of 32 lessons, of which four are analysed in detail in this paper. The results suggest that young children engaged in good thinking are likely to explain and demonstrate their ideas and actions and to make suggestions for solving problems. Children engaged in good thinking also are likely to highlight discrepancies, adopt new ideas, and work collaboratively. The results indicate that teachers can foster habits of good thinking through science; first, by accepting difficulty as an integral part of the learning process, second, by encouraging children to explain and talk about their ideas and, finally, by creating an environment where thinking is a valued classroom process.

Cognitive Acceleration: Review and Prospects.

This paper takes as a working hypothesis the idea based in Piagetian notions that there is a cognitive mismatch between demands made by many science curricula and the abilities of average secondary school pupils. Possibilities of reducing curriculum demands are briefly considered, followed by a review of studies into the possibilities of accelerating the rate of cognitive development ‐ including a discussion of what might be accepted as general cognitive acceleration. A project is described which, on the basis of experiences described in the literature and of Piagetian hypotheses about the mechanism of cognitive development, is devising and trialling ‘intervention’ lessons intended to accelerate the development of formal operational thinking in experimental groups of pupils. Preliminary results from one laboratory school are given which give some encouragement that the possibility of general cognitive development is worth pursuing. Finally, consideration is given to the implications for science education ...

Creative Scientific Problem Finding and Its Developmental Trend

This is a study of the development trend of creative scientific problem finding (CSPF) ability of a sample of 1,367 elementary, middle, and high school students in two Chinese cities. Students were instructed to generate science related questions in both open and closed conditions with responses scored for Fluency, Flexibility, and Originality. Results suggest that CSPF ability has a developmental trend characterized by a significant leap in the 5th grade, followed by a steady advance until it peaked in the 8th grade, and then declined and stabilized in the high school years (9th–11th grades). No difference between male and female students was found. The type of instruction showed significant differential influence on CSPF and its development.

Gender Stereotyping and Affective Attitudes Towards Science in Chinese Secondary School Students

This study explores explicit and implicit gender‐science stereotypes and affective attitudes towards science in a sample of Chinese secondary school students. The results showed that (1) gender‐science stereotyping was more and more apparent as the specialization of science subjects progresses through secondary school, becoming stronger from the 10th grade; girls were more inclined to stereotype than boys while this gender difference decreased with increasing grade; (2) girls tend to have an implicit science‐unpleasant/humanities‐pleasant association from the 8th grade, while boys showed a negative implicit attitude towards science up to the 11th grade. In self‐report, girls preferred humanities to science, while boys preferred science to humanities; (3) implicit affective attitude was closely related to implicit stereotype. In particular, implicit affective attitude has a stronger predictive power on stereotype than the other way around, the result of which may have more significance for girls.

Effects of a Cognitive Acceleration Programme in a Low Socioeconomic High School in Regional Australia

This paper presents research on the effects of a cognitive acceleration intervention in science lessons on low socioeconomic students in a government high school in regional Western Australia. Thinking Science Australia is a programme currently being implemented in Australian junior high school classes. The research was conducted for over two years as a case study in one school with students as they entered high school in Year 8 (n = 71). Findings show that significant cognitive gains were made, with concomitant improvement in the state-wide testing in science when participating students were in Year 9, aged 13 and 14. Teachers reported changes to the ways they teach and described the challenges in implementing the intervention programme.

PULLING YOURSELF UP BY YOUR OWN THINKING

Abstract This paper concentrates on the metacognitve aspects of materials produced by the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education project. A set of activities for promoting higher level thinking skills in adolescents emphasises the development of metacognitive understanding of the reasoning patterns students use to solve problems. (Other psychological elements built into activities were focussed on the reasoning patterns of formal operations, the use of cognitive conflict, and conscious effort to make transfer from the activity content to wider contexts.) Examples are given, and the long term results following a two year trial reported. Although it is not possible to isolate statistically the specific contribution of encouragement of metacognition to the gains in cognitive development in science which were demonstrated, it is argued that the childrens development of the ability to think about the nature of their own thinking was a critical contributor to success, without which the effectiveness ...

Evidence for Long-Term Effects: Promises and Pitfalls.

Cognitive acceleration programmes, started in the early 1980s, have now been run in many hundreds of schools in many parts of the world. One important feature of these programmes is that their effects have been evaluated by following up participant students for some years after the intervention. This has provided extensive in the process of collecting and assessing the value of the evidence collected. In this paper, I will abstract this experience from the particularities of cognitive acceleration, in an attempt to draw general conclusions about what can, and what cannot, legitimately be claimed from long-term evidence obtained in various ways. In the process, some implicit guidelines for the design of educational experiments and of associated testing programmes will be developed.