Cognitive preferences and academic achievement of secondary school science students belonging to different creativity levels

Abstract

The challenges of modern times characterised by rapid advances in science and technology have necessitated adoption of new outlook and orientation in content and methodologies in education. Dynamic adaptations and adjustments in the teaching learning process will be required for optimal learning outcomes. The need for identification and nurturance of creative talent has been advocated by many psychologists and writers like Barron (1969), Torrance (1983), Runco (1993), Starko (1995), Sternberg and Williams (1996), Naderi (2010) and Pour (2015). This has generated a lot of research interest in the field of creativity. In the process of curriculum transaction depending upon individual idiosyncrasy a characteristic pattern of information processing is noticeable. If students falling at the two extremes of creativity continuum, highly differ in their educational needs, then it become necessary for a teacher to cope up with the wide diversity in learning needs for catering the specific need of each student. Under such circumstances if individual differences on the basis of creativity are existing among students of a class, the knowledge of cognitive preferences will certainly helps the teachers to modify their method of teaching in integrated setting where heterogeneous groups of students study together. newlineThe amount of information we can pass on to our pupils during the period they are within the school boundaries appears to be quite insufficient. More over since the access to all kind of information has become incredibly easy, it reasonably matters what we teach, but it is rather more imperative to make sure to spot how pupils prefer to learn. It is here that, if a teacher has actual knowledge of the cognitive preferences of both the extreme groups of children, he could probably be able to take on instructional strategies suitable to the entire population. Thus, the exact knowledge of what type of instructional information is preferred intellectually by high and low creative students will greatly facilitate the teacher