How can technological creativity be taught in the Saudi Arabian elementary school context?

238 Pages·2013·2.37 MB·English

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HOW CAN TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY BE
TAUGHT IN THE SAUDI ARABIAN ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL CONTEXT?
A Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS) Review

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of

Master of Education (Technology)

at
Technology, Environmental, Mathematics, Science (TEMS) Education Re-
search Centre

The University of Waikato

by
Abdullah Ali A. Alqarni

2013
TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

ABSTRACT
Teaching technological creativity in the Saudi Arabian school context can support
the inclusion of technology education in general education. To support this view,
the thesis proposes that technological creativity be a topic taught in the elementary
school context. The intention is to assist pupils aged six to twelve years to learn
how to be creative through planning and carrying out activities. The thesis at-
tempts to introduce the concept of technological creativity to gain insights that can
help to enlighten pupils technologically in a way that aligns with Islamic culture.
A Critical Interpretative Synthesis (CIS) methodological approach was conducted
to identify, select, synthesise, and analyse integrated papers on teaching techno-
logical creativity at the elementary school level from 21 developed countries. Pa-
pers from a variety of sources, 135 altogether, were selected for the synthesis and
to develop a synthesising argument (theoretical framework), derived from con-
structs generated in the papers included. The text of each of the papers was treated
as data and objects of inquiry. This makes CIS different from meta-ethnography
(ME) in that it does not aim only at aggregating or summarising findings from
studies but rather at developing a clear argument around the chosen topic in order
to produce a mid-range theory based on a large, diverse body of literature. The
analyses were performed in two major stages: identification, inclusion, analysis
and the appraisal of papers; and developing a synthesising argument derived from
the synthetic constructs embedded in the integrated papers dealing with the ques-
tion, how can technological creativity be taught in the Saudi Arabian elementary
school context? The synthesising argument provides a new model of interpretation
developed from the findings of CIS and the synthesis process. The thesis argues
that a true understanding of the benefits of this topic can be achieved through a
consideration of the findings of this thesis based on the critique of relevant papers
drawn from the research literature of a number of developed countries. The re-
search study seeks to encourage the education of pupils through teaching them
creative processes and helping them both appreciate and enjoy technology educa-
tion. Thus the aim includes developing their personality and sense of self-worth. It
is also hoped that this research will be of interest to teachers in elementary educa-
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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

tion, curriculum developers, Saudi scholars and future researchers of technology
education.
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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Associate Professor John Williams, my supervisor,
for his patience, support, assistance, encouragement, advice and guidance. I ex-
tend my sincere appreciation and thanks to him for allowing me the opportunity to
make an effective contribution in this thesis, since it deals with a topic that has yet
to receive attention in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Thank you for the inspiration
you have given me how to become a better technology scholar and for the forma-
tive feedback I received during the process of writing this thesis. Being an interna-
tional student in completely new learning and social environments has had its
constraints, so thank you for your very generous understanding in making me feel
included and in sharing your rich, valuable knowledge with me.

Foremost, I would like to praise Allah, my Lord, for everything He has given me.
I would like to give my praise to Him until He is satisfied, now and always.
“Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds; Most Gracious,
Most Merciful” (Qur’an 1: 2-3): Praise to Him I say and, better than what I say,
praise to Him as He says. It is my hope that He will accept this research as a good
deed and make it a useful source to any in need of it. Allah blesses our Prophet
Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as He blessed the family of Ibrahim,
and He favours our Prophet Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as He fa-
voured the family of Ibrahim in all the worlds, for He is truly the most praisewor-
thy and noble.

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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv
TABLE OF FIGURES viii
TABLE OF TABLES viii
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Overview of the Saudi Arabian curriculum structure 3
1.2. Thesis context 7
1.3. Rationales 9
1.3.1. Rationale for teaching technological creativity 9
1.3.2. Rationale for choosing elementary education 14
1.4. Thesis objectives 15
1.5. Thesis structure and outline 16
1.6. Definitions of terms 16
CHAPTER TWO: OUTLINE OF THE METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACH 19
2.1. Introduction 19
2.2. Overview of research methodologies 19
2.2. CIS methodology 25
2.3. Methods 30
2.3.1. Identifying an initial review question and its development 31
2.3.2. Searching for studies 34
2.3.3. Searching outcomes 35
2.3.4. Determination of quality and credibility check 36
2.4. Source limitations 38
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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

2.5. Data extraction 38
2.6. Conducting the synthesis 39
2.7. Reflecting on and justification of methodology 40
2.8. Considering other methods 41
2.9. Conclusion 42
CHAPTER THREE: DEVELOPING A CRITICAL INTERPRETIVE
SYNTHESIS 44
3.1. Introduction 44
3.2. Section one: Developing an understanding of creativity 45
3.2.1. Complex nature, research development and definitions of creativity 45
3.2.2. A constructed meaning of technological creativity 53
3.3. Section two: Key dimensions of technological creativity 56
3.3.1. Creative and technological knowledge 56
3.3.2. Four creative product requirements: originality, imagination, values and
appropriateness 59
3.3.3. Elements of technological creativity 64
3.4. Section three: Pedagogy of technological creativity 79
3.4.1. Creativity and technology education in the elementary context of the
developed world 80
3.4.2. Teaching technological creativity in the Saudi Arabian elementary
context 93
3.5. Section four: Creativity and culture 112
3.5.1. Islamic culture: A religious context of creativity 113
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION 119
4.1. Summary 119
4.2. Teaching technological creativity in the Saudi Arabian elementary school
context 121
4.3. Further research 124
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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

REFERENCES 126
APPENDIX 139

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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1. The structure of the Saudi educational system. ................................... 5
Figure 2. Technology education and educational/instructional technology...... 12
Figure 3. Elements of the research process. ...................................................... 20
Figure 4. A synthesising argument’s relation to first, second, and third order
constructs. .............................................................................................. 30
Figure 5. The process for identifying the research question. ............................ 32
Figure 6. Process of inclusion and exclusion. ................................................... 36
Figure 7. Organisation of the process of this research. ..................................... 42
Figure 8. Elements of creative thinking. ........................................................... 62
Figure 9. Characteristics of the creative person. ............................................... 65
Figure 10. The role of motivation in the creative process................................. 73
Figure 11. Contrasts commonly found in science education literature between
creative and traditional teaching. .......................................................... 93
Figure 12. Teaching Technology in the Junior School, books A and B. ........ 108

TABLE OF TABLES
Table 1: Montessori’s second plan of development .......................................... 15
Table 2. Terms and definitions.......................................................................... 17
Table 3. Comparing Meta-Ethnography phases and CIS, to the CIS of this thesis
............................................................................................................... 26
Table 4. Stages and key processes involved in the CIS of the thesis. ............... 31
Table 5: Papers Research Identification Tool ................................................... 37
Table 6. Phases of research on the topic of creativity ....................................... 48
Table 7: Degrees of originality ......................................................................... 59
Table 8. Types of creative process in designing ............................................... 70
Table 9. Human problem-solving and creativity stage theories ........................ 75
Table 10. Examples of basic technological problems. ...................................... 78
Table 11: Creativity in general curriculum documents of some developed
countries. ............................................................................................... 81
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TEACHING TECHNOLOGICAL CREATIVITY

Table 12: Technology education in the educational systems of 19 developed
countries. ............................................................................................... 82
Table 13. Subjects and lesson periods per week ............................................... 88
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