Development of early childhood scientific creativity scale and investigation of children's scientific creativity levels in terms of various variables

This study was conducted to develop the "Early Childhood Scientific Creativity Scale (ECSCS)" based on Hu & Adey's (2002) Structural Model of Scientific Creativity, and to examine children's scientific creativity levels in terms of various variables. Pilot, validity and reliability studies of the research were conducted in kindergartens in Izmit district of Kocaeli. 44 children were included in the pilot application and 321 children were included in the validity and reliability studies. In order to test the reliability of the scale, the scale was reapplied to 57 children two weeks after the study period. The study consists of two parts. In the first part of the study, it was aimed to develop the ECSCS for determining the scientific creativity of children between the ages of 48-72 months. In the second part of the study, the effects of some family and child variables on children's scientific creativity were examined. In both the pilot application and the validity and reliability study of the scale, maximum diversity sampling was used to determine the study group. The data collection tool used in the study, the "ECSCS" to assess the scientific creativity of 48-72-month-old children and the "Personal Information Form" to collect demographic information about the child and the family, were developed by the researcher. The final version of the scale was determined by looking at the inter-item correlation and item discrimination. To examine the validity of the scale, content and construct validity were tested. To test the reliability of the scale, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated, inter-rater reliability and time invariance were examined. The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient for all the scales was 0.78. In order to examine the effects of sociodemographic characteristics on scientific creativity, the data belonging to the study group for which a validity-reliability study was conducted were used. As a result of the study, it was determined that the ECSCS is a valid and reliable measurement tool. It was determined that the variables of age, gender, previous preschool education, socioeconomic level, and father's education level were determinative on children's scientific creativity. It was concluded that birth order, number of siblings, mother's age, father's age and mother's education level were not effective on children's scientific creativity.