Abstract
The purpose of this study was to develop, field test, implement and evaluate a high school, General Science enrichment program, incorporating creative hypotheses formation techniques (CHFTs) to promote the student's ability to solve science problems. The following CHFTs were taught and applied in each of six modules: brainstorming, word and picture analogy, personal analogy, checklist, verb modifiers, negatives and Synectics. This was basically a formative study, and the main thrust of the evaluative procedure was to obtain information to aid in the revision and improvement of the learning activities so as to design a viable educational product, well matched to the abilities of high school students. The following procedures were used in the formative study: Exploration for Ideas, Preliminary Planning, Small Scale Tryouts, Preparation of the Trial Form, Field Trial of Program, Analysis of the Experience, and Preparation of the Final Version. Six modules, corresponding to the General Science curricular units, were developed: (1) Introductions--biography of famous scientists; (2) Biology--the basic food groups; (3) Physics--major fields of physics; (4) Chemistry--major chemical technologies; (5) Astronomy--extraterrestrial survival; (6) Summary--the human population problem. Individual problems were analyzed in each module using a three-stepped creative problem solving approach: (1) Fact Finding--doing research on the topics; (2) Idea Finding--applying the CHFTs to generate creative hypotheses; (3) Elaboration--describing the best idea. The thoroughness with which each step was written was noted. In addition, Idea Finding was analyzed considering Torrance criteria (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking): fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. All students who used the modules were able to apply some CHFTs to library-based research to reach solutions to the problems studied. The product of this study is a handbook for teachers, consisting of six modules that can be used to enrich the science curriculum through creative hypotheses formation techniques.
