Investigation of high school students’ creative problem-solving attributes

Abstract

The aim of this survey design study was three-fold. First, to investigate the creative problem-solving attributes of high school students. Second, to examine whether any inter-relationships exist between sub-dimensions of creative problem-solving attributes. Third, to determine whether high school students' creative problem-solving attributes vary by gender, school type, and grade level. To this end, data were collected from a total of 435 high school students through the Creative Problem Solving Attribute Inventory. Correlation results indicated statistically significant correlations between the total creative score and sub-dimension scores. A significant difference in creative problem-solving skills was not found between gender and school type. Grade level was found to affect divergent thinking, convergent thinking, motivation, and general knowledge and skills only at a small level. However, as the grade level increased, the divergent thinking scores increased linearly. The convergent thinking, motivation, environment, general knowledge and skills, and total creative scores dropped in the 10th grade, but increased in the 11th and 12th grades. 

Keywords

• creativity
• creative problem solving
• attributes of creativity
• high school students