Physics textbooks: do they promote or inhibit students' creative thinking

Creativity can be viewed from different perspectives, such as the creative thinking process, the product, the creative environment and the individual. The physics domain, which is based on experiments, research, hypotheses and thinking outside the box, can serve as an excellent grounding for creativ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics education 2015-05, Vol.50 (3), p.305-309
Main Authors: Klieger, Aviva, Sherman, Guy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Content Analysis
Creative Thinking
Creativity
Faculty Development
Flexibility
Foreign Countries
High Schools
Israel
Learning
Mechanics (Physics)
Physics
Professional development
Promotion
Qualitative Research
Questioning Techniques
Science Instruction
Scientific Concepts
Secondary School Science
Strategy
Students
Teachers
Teaching Methods
Textbook Content
Textbooks
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Summary:Creativity can be viewed from different perspectives, such as the creative thinking process, the product, the creative environment and the individual. The physics domain, which is based on experiments, research, hypotheses and thinking outside the box, can serve as an excellent grounding for creativity development. This article focuses on creative thinking in physics textbooks. Creative thinking includes divergent thinking, which consists of four core components: fluency, flexibility, novelty and elaboration. The purpose of our study is to understand whether and how physics textbooks (such as the Israeli high-school book Newtonian Mechanics) enable the promotion and development of creative thinking. Findings indicate that they do not, so there is a need to raise physics teachers' awareness of the importance of creative thinking in learning materials. It is advisable for physics teachers to engage in professional development courses in appropriate teaching strategies for the development of this creativity.
ISSN:0031-9120
1361-6552
DOI:10.1088/0031-9120/50/3/305