CULTIVATING SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY THROUGH INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

Abstract

This paper delineates an empirical investigation that elucidates the efficacy of an inquiry-based pedagogical paradigm in fostering scientific ingenuity and augmenting student motivation, thereby providing a viable avenue for refining the educational process. The primary objective of this study was to scrutinize the impact of this paradigm on the cultivation of scientific ingenuity among middle school students. The core facets of the investigation encompassed the assessment of the following metrics: the caliber of scientific ingenuity, the impetus for nurturing scientific ingenuity, and the breadth of scientific erudition. The study was conducted with a cohort of 52 seventh-grade students, who were bifurcated into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental cohort was subjected to a bespoke curriculum designed to cultivate scientific ingenuity, comprising eight interventionist biology lessons, each structured around a five-stage framework. Pre- and post-intervention appraisals of the aforementioned metrics were executed utilizing the C-SCA questionnaire, the CTM motivation scale, and academic performance records of the seventh-graders. The analysis of the effects was undertaken employing descriptive statistical methodologies, Shapiro-Wilk and Levene tests, and ANCOVA. The findings revealed statistically significant intergroup disparities at the study's culmination, favoring the experimental cohort in the realms of scientific ingenuity and the motivation to foster it. A marginal enhancement in the breadth of scientific knowledge was observed in both groups, a phenomenon potentially attributable to the duration of the experimental period. The uniqueness of this study resides in its demonstration of methodologies for galvanizing the scientific potential of students through alterations in both curricular and extracurricular milieus. The practical implications are manifest in the potential for integrating these methodologies into the instruction of natural sciences, thereby transforming students' perceptions of scientific processes and incentivizing engagement in scientific inquiry. By furnishing empirical evidence that the examined model substantially elevates students' scientific ingenuity and elucidating the influence of educational methodologies on the cognitive and motivational facets of learning, this study makes a significant contribution to the modernization of pedagogical science. The replicability of the experiment will empower educational institutions' administrations to develop and implement curricula featuring five-stage lessons that stimulate scientific thinking and ingenuity among students, particularly in the study of natural sciences, where the creative practical application of concepts holds more significance than mere conceptual knowledge.