Analysis of the creativity and academic achievement levels of primary school 4th grade students

The overall aim of this study is to examine the creativity and academic achievement levels of 4th grade students. The research was conducted in accordance with descriptive design in survey model. The population of the study consists of fourth grade students attending primary schools in Adana central districts. Using the maximum diversity sampling among the purposeful sampling methods from this population, The sample of the study consists of 372 students (174 girls, 198 boys); 119 from the lower group, 121 from the middle group, 132 from the upper group, attending the fourth grade of three different public schools in the lower, middle and upper socio-economic levels in the south of Adana. Torrance Creative Thought Test was used as data collection tool in the research. In addition, data on the academic achievement of fourth grade students were obtained from the schools they attend. Year-end grades of Science, Turkish, Social Studies and Mathematics courses of the students who participated in the research were used to examine academic achievement. After the Torrance Creative Thinking Test, the data transferred to computer were analyzed using SPSS 22. The data were analyzed by Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk test techniques to determine whether the data supplied the normal distribution premise before the analysis. Araştırma bulgularından elde edilen sonuçlar aşağıdaki gibi özetlenebilir: (The results obtained from the research findings can be summarized as follows) 1. Among the dimensions of creativity, students' fluency scores were the highest and originality scores were the lowest. 2. In terms of academic achievement of students; mathematics has the lowest and science has the highest average. 3. In the relationship between academic achievement, It was determined that fluency and total creativity had the highest relationship while originality and total creativity had the lowest one in terms of the relationship between total creativity and sub-dimensions of creativity. 4. The highest relation between the fluency sub-dimension of creativity and the courses in the school is in Turkish and the lowest is in Social Studies. In terms of flexibility sub-dimension, the highest relation is in Turkish and the lowest is mathematics..In terms of the originality sub-dimension, the highest relationship is in Turkish and the lowest is mathematics. In terms of total creativity scores; the highest relationship is in Turkish and the lowest level is in social studies. 5. According to the results of the study, there is no significant difference in the Fluency, Flexibility and Originality dimensions of creativity by gender. 6. According to the results of the research, there is no significant difference in terms of academic achievement by gender in all courses. According to the results of the study, student scores for the sub-dimensions of creative thinking are listed as fluency, flexibility and originality from highest to lowest. Therefore, it can be suggested that studies are carried out in order to make the students gain the ability to see what is different and to look at the events from different perspectives with the activities to develop the Flexibility and Originality sub-dimensions in education programs. 7. In terms of sub dimensions of creativity according to the socio-economic level of the students, ıt was found that the sub group had a lower creativity level than the middle group had a lower creativity level than the upper group. 8. According to the socio-economic status of the students, ıt was determined that the sub group was lower than the middle group, and the middle group was lower than the upper group among academic achivement scores in Turkish, Social Studies, Science and Mathematics courses. Keywords: Education and training, Creative Thinking, Academic achievement