The Degree of Practicing Creative Thinking Skills by Physics Teachers in Irbid, Jordan

Amal Reda Malkawi, Jamal Elias Al-Mandalawi

Yarmouk University, Jordan

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to identify the degree of practicing creative thinking skills by physics teachers from two perspectives: their students' perspective, and the observers’ inside the classroom. It also aimed to determine whether there are differences in the average of the practicing degree of creative thinking skills due to: (the teacher’s gender, qualification, experience). To collect data, two tools were used; a questionnaire and an observation card. The questionnaire was distributed among 300 students who were chosen from 6 male and 5 female state schools of the ninth and tenth grade in Irbid Education Directorate. The observation card was used to notice the practicing of creative thinking skills by male and female physics teachers. The results of the study revealed that the degree of practicing creative thinking skills by physics teachers was moderate of (3.5) value from their students' perspective. Also, it was moderate of (3.37) value from the classroom observers’ perspective. The results also revealed that the female physics teachers used creative thinking skills in their classroom teaching practices more than the male physics teachers did. However, there were no statistically significant differences in the practicing of creative thinking skills attributed to the effect of the teacher’s academic qualification and experience. The results also showed that there is very high correlation between the degree of practicing creative thinking skills from the perspective of both the students and the observers. The study has recommended to hold training courses for physics teachers to teach them how to apply and activate creative thinking skills in their classroom teaching practices. It also has recommended to provide schools with the necessary equipment and material resources to carry out new and non-conventional activities and experiments related to physics.

KEYWORDS

creative thinking skills, physics teachers, gender, teaching practices