Features and Change of the Creative Attitude of Elementary School Students

Abstract

The formation of creativity is an important matter in science education. This research project investigated the characteristics of the creative attitudes on elementary school students by means of factor analysis in order to clarify how the two chief factors of "exertion and continuance" and "independence and originality" develop among lower secondary school students. Questionnaires on creative attitudes were prepared based on the 24 items of creative attitudes given by Onda, similar to the questionnaires given to lower secondary school students in a previous study. The questionnaires were given to 612 elementary school students in March 2001. The findings are as follows. (1) The score for creative attitude significantly decreases from the second grade to the fourth grade. (2) The score for originality is extremely low in eight terms of creative attitudes given by Onda for every grade. (3) The factors of "exertion and continuance" and "independence and originality" are still unclear in the lower grades, begin to be clear in the middle grades, and are fairly clear in the higher grades.