VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

MAI THI NHAN

IMPROVING CREATIVE THINKING OF HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS THROUGH CHEMISTRY TEACHING

THESIS FOR MASTER DEGREE OF CHEMISTRY TEACHING

HANOI – 2015


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

MAI THI NHAN

IMPROVING CREATIVE THINKING OF HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS THROUGH CHEMISTRY TEACHING

THESIS FOR MASTER DEGREE OF CHEMISTRY TEACHING

TRAINING SPECIALITY: THEORY AND TEACHING
METHODOLOGY OF CHEMISTRY
CODE: 60 14 01 11

Instructor: As. Pro. Dr. Le Kim Long

HANOI – 2015



The involvment of creativity in education comprises that teachers must understand
the core purpose of education - trainning students ways of thinking. Teachers
should give students opportunities to connect and combine; to work with the artistic,
scientific, and historical modes of thought; to communicate in verbal, mathematical,
kinesthetic, musical, and visual languages; to understand and use frameworks as
springboards for their creativity; and to enjoy the fact that many problems with a
single answer have multiple solutions, and that many more problems have no
universally right or best answer.

Chemistry as a part of science is an essential domain of the school curriculum. The
chemistry teaching has the potential to encourage students to think flexibly, thanks
to system of theories and problems, in order to increase a variety of approaches to
solving problems and, in that way, to contribute to development of learners creative
capacities. The assumption that chemistry can stimulate creativity depends on the
way chemistry is taught.


CONTENTS
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………….…....…..i
Abstract …………………………………………………………………..….…..….ii
List of Symbols …...…………………………………………………………....…..iii
List of Figures .………………………………………………………………….….iv
List of Tables …………………………………………………..………………........v
List of Graphs ...………………………………………….…….……………….......vi
INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER I: THE MAIN THEORETICAL CONCEPT .................................... 4
1.1

BLOOM‟S TAXONOMY AND BLOOM‟S REVISED TAXONOMY ........ 4

1.8

ROLE OF TEACHERS ................................................................................. 37

1.9

CREATIVITY IN CHEMISTRY .................................................................. 38

1.10

ACTUAL SITUATION OF TRAINING CREATIVE THINKING
THROUGH CHEMISTRY FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS .................. 39

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 42
2.1

AIMS OF RESEARCH .................................................................................. 42

2.2

RESEARCH PLAN ....................................................................................... 42

2.3

OBJECTS OF RESEARCH ........................................................................... 43


2.4

POSITION, TARGET AND STRUCTURE OF THE EXPERIMENT

CONCLUSION AND PETITION ......................................................................... 86
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 88


LIST OF SYMBOLS
Ex:

Experiment

PBL:

Project-Based Learning

Re:

Reference


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1: Bloom‟s Taxonomy and Bloom‟s Revised Taxonomy
Figure 1.2: Implicit theories about creativity
Figure 1.3: Questions in Star-bursting session
Figure 1.4: Fishbone Map
Figure 1.5: Example of mind mapping technique
Figure 1.6: Outlining the implementation of Project-Based Learning projects


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1: Letter of the SCAMPER acronym
Table 1.2: Synthesis of De Bono‟s six thinking hats model

brings human a vast of challenge. To adapt and develop in new society, people must
have qualifications as well as abilities which are appropriate to this global change.

In the demand of the information society and knowledge economy, educators should
enhance the quality of education, replace the old methods by the new ones. The core
purpose of education is that education should train students ways of thinking, enhance
independent thinking ... to bring into play students‟ ability and creativity.

Teaching chemistry not only enhances the personal knowledge but also applies this
learning into real life or forms a new one. Chemistry teachers are instructors who train
thinking for students, such as observation ability, problem solving ability, scientific
imagination ability … through learning, which nurtures critical and creative thinking
skills. Specially, creative teaching methods are the key point for this development.

On the other hand, chapter 1 (Atom) and chapter 2 (The periodic table and the periodic
law) consist fundamental and difficult knowledge in chemistry program which guides
students to study other parts of chemistry. Thus, it is the reason why we choose two
chapters as the main chemical contents to research the thesis: “Improving creative
thinking of high school students through chemistry teaching”

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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015
2.

SUBJECT AND OBJECT OF THE RESEARCH

2.1


in teaching plan and the train of creative thinking skill for high school students.
-

Investigate the purpose and contents of chemistry program in high school,

especially these topics: Atom – The Periodic Table – The Periodic Law, Class 10
Basic Program.
-

Build up creative teaching methods and a system of chemistry questions &

exercises to develop students‟ creative thinking.
-

Evaluate the efficiency of experiment lectures through creative products and the

results of tests.

5.

SCIENTIFIC HYPOTHESIS

If creative teaching methods and a system of chemistry questions & exercises are
applied well, creative thinking skill of high school students will be nurtured.

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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015
6.

-

Collecting and analyzing the theoretical materials.

7.2.

Realistic investigation

-

Carry out a survey in high schools to study the use of creative teaching methods.

-

Exchange the views between chemistry teachers about the contents and form of

teaching.
-

Build up experiment lectures using creative teaching methods and techniques

and a system of chemistry questions & exercises
7.3

Mathematical statistic method to treat data

-

Using the mathematical statistic in educational scientific research to treat the


accurate. The new version of Bloom's Taxonomy, with explanations and keywords is
shown below:


Remembering – retrieving, recalling or recognizing knowledge from memory.

Remembering is when memory is used to produce definitions, facts or lists, or recite or
retrieve material.


Understanding – constructing meaning from different types of function be they

written or graphic

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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015


Applying – carrying out or using a procedure through executing or

implementing. Applying related and refers to situations where learned material is used
through products like models, presentation, interviews and simulations.


Analyzing – breaking material or concepts into parts, determining how the parts

relate or interrelate to one another or to an overall structure or purpose. Mental actions
include differentiating, organizing and attributing as well as being able to distinguish

and processed through higher-order thinking processes is remembered longer and more
clearly than information that is processed through lower-order, rote memorization. For
example, comparing the difference between memorizing a formula and explaining the
derivation of the formula, a student who has the latter-type of understanding will carry
that knowledge longer. Moreover, the student with the deeper conceptual knowledge
will be better able to access that information for use in new contexts. This may be the
most important benefit of high-order thinking. Knowledge obtained through higherorder thinking processes is more easily transferable, so that students with a deep
conceptual understanding of an idea will be much more likely to be able to apply that
knowledge to solve new problems. Ironically, teachers are in complete ignorance of the
importance of higher-order thinking skills, they are likely to ask recall questions, which
requires only remembering and understanding thinking skill, rather than require higherorder thinking skills in classroom. The reason for the focus on lower-order thinking
skills may be very simple, it is because lower-order thinking skills are easier – easier to
understand, easier to teach, easier to test, easier to learn.
The level six in Bloom‟s revised Taxonomy – creating – is the highest level of thinking
as Anderson arrangement. He sees the act of “creating” as combining elements into a
pattern that had not existed before and it is the hardest skill for teachers, students to
achieve. To succeed at this level, students must be able to synthesize their thinking and
make predictions based on knowledge. If students want to achieve them, they should
begin to practice this skill from primary school. Specially, by the time students reach
high school years, the bulk of class assessment questions and discussions are great
chance to practice creative thinking skill.

Because of the importance of creativity in education and life, the following part will
mention to creative thinking skill andhow to nuture this skill for further purpose.

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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015


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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015
In the UK, the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education
(NACCCE) published in 1999 a report where they provided a more elaborated, but
similar definition of creativity. [8]
They maintain that creativity processes have four characteristics:


It is imaginatively, it always involves imagination, since it is the process of

generating something original.


It is purposeful: it is imagination put into action towards an end.



It produces something original in relation to one‟s own previous work, to their

peer group or to anyone‟s previous output in a particular field.


And finally, it has value in respect to the objective it was applied for. Creativity

involves not only the generation of ideas, but also the evaluation of them, and deciding
which one is the most adequate one.

Major features of creativity are listed below:



Creativity requires many of the same conditions for learning as other higher

order thinking skills. The learning processes are enhanced by supportive environments
and deteriorate with fears, insecurities, and low self-esteem.

1.3

THE NATURE OF CREATIVITY

Creativity is a habit [21], so it can either be encouraged or discouraged. For example, if
people want to encourage creativity, they should promote the creativity habit and stop
treating creativity as a bad habit. Sternberg also suggests that creativity is not isolated
to a gifted. Instead, he suggests that creativity is a choice that anyone can make.
Sternberg‟s investment theory of creativity states that anyone can be creative if they are
willing to invest the necessary time and effort into the creative process. This time and
effort requires that we invest in six areas needed to realize creativity.

THE INVESTMENT THEORY OF CREATIVITY
Sternberg has proposed an investment theory of creativity as a means of understanding
the nature of creativity [16]. According to this theory, creative people are ones who are
willing and able to “buy low and sell high” in the realm of ideas. According to the
investment theory, creativity requires a confluence of six distinct, but interrelated,
resources: intellectual abilities, knowledge, styles of thinking, personality, motivation,
and environment. Although levels of these resources are sources of individual
differences, often the decision to use the resources is the more important source of
individual differences. Ultimately, creativity is not about one thing, but about a system
of things.



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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015
Thinking Styles
Thinking styles are preferred ways of using one‟s skills. In essence, they
are decisions about how to deploy the skills available to a person. With regard to
thinking styles, a legislative style is particularly important for creativity [17], that is, a
preference for thinking and a decision to think in new ways. This preference needs to
be distinguished from the ability to think creatively: Someone may like to think along
new lines, but not think well, or vice versa. It also helps to become a major creative
thinker, if one is able to think globally as well as locally, one can recognize which
questions are important and which ones are not. In our research [17], we found that
legislative people tend to be better students than less legislative people, if the schools
in which they study value creativity. If the schools do not value or devalue creativity,
they tend to be worse students. Students also were found to receive higher grades from
teachers whose own styles of thinking matched their own.

Personality
Numerous research investigations have supported the importance of certain personality
attributes for creative functioning. These attributes include, but are not limited to,
willingness to overcome obstacles, willingness to take sensible risks, willingness to
tolerate ambiguity, and self-efficacy. In particular, buying low and selling high
typically means defying the crowd, so that one has to be willing to stand up to
conventions if one wants to think and act in creative ways. Note that none of these
attributes are fixed. One can decide to overcome obstacles, take sensible risks, and so
forth.

Motivation

context. From the investment view, then, the creative person buys low by presenting a
unique idea and then attempting to convince other people of its value. After convincing
others that the idea is valuable, which increases the perceived value of the investment,
the creative person sells high by leaving the idea to others and moving on to another
idea. People typically want others to love their ideas, but immediate universal applause
for an idea usually indicates that it is not particularly creative. [16]

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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015

1.4

IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVE THINKING

According to Sternberg, the abilities necessary for continual advancement and future
achievements, participation in and contribution to public and social life, are the result
of a symbiosis, i.e., the unification of intelligence, creativity and wisdom, referred to as
Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, Synthesized (WICS). The abilities necessary for
making various choices are controlled by individual elements of the WICS model or
their combinations. Creativity is necessary, among others, for the manifestation of
initiative, imagination and originality, to connect scientific achievements and practice,
for the manifestation of the potential for the organization and realization of innovative
research, for dedication to creative solutions, achievements and the visionary spirit.
Therefore, creativity is the result of the simultaneous and joint functioning of all skills,
i.e., without creativity, there is no promotion of good and useful ideas. [3]

1.5


any attempts to foster creativity in schools. This tacit and shared knowledge builds up a
series of "implicit theories", which account for how ordinary people think about
creativity. These theories differ from the ones held and scientifically tested by
researchers, which Runco calls "explicit theories" [2]. Figure 1.2 shows a series of
implicit theories – or myths, about creativity and the opposite findings of scientific
research.

Figure 1.2: Implicit theories about creativity
Product or process?
Another aspect of the definition of creativity concerns the emphasis on the process
instead of the product. If we look at products and achievements, children will seldom
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Thesis for Master Degree – University of Education 2015
have an opportunity to be judged or to judge themselves creative when compared to
adults. The focus on the development of thinking skills can be understoodas a
priorityof the process over the product. This line of research has been exploited in
particular by the a forementioned cognitive approaches. Moreover, learning is a
process. Fostering creativity in learning certainly requires assuming a process-oriented
approach. [2]

1.6

METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING CREATIVE

THINKING SKILLS
Many methods or techniques for creative thinking have been designed to assist
individuals in generating original ideas. The use of the methods or techniques develops
attitudes or habits of mind that make possible creativity. Practice with creative thinking