Scientific creativity of preschool teacher candidates

Children and young people with creativity need to be discovered at an early age and these creatives must be discovered.Therefore, there is a need for educational systems that will enable the emergence and development of creativity.Preschool education given to children at a young age provides a major contribution to the development of creativity.It is very important to determine, high-level thinking skills and scientific creativity levels of the creativity both the children and the teacher candidates undergraduate education in this department. This study was carried out to determine the levels of scientific creativity of preschool teacher candidates and to investigate whether there is a meaningful difference between the scientific creativity and some demographic characteristics of the teacher candidates. The "Scientific Creativity Test (SCT)" developed by Hu and Adey (2002) and adapted to Turkish by Kadayıfçı (2008) was used as a data collection tool in the research. In addition, "Personal Information Form" has been applied in order to determine personal characteristics. The sample of the research consists of 149 teacher candidates studying at Ahi Evran University Faculty of Education Basic Education Department Preschool Major in Kırşehir.In the analysis of the data, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum values of average scores taken to determine scientific creativity levels of teacher candidates were calculated and t-test and ANOVA were used to determine differences between groups. According to the result of the research; There weren't significant differences between the groups according to the average scores of scientific creativity of preschool prospective teachers and according to mother education status, father education status, use of tools at home, scientific journal read and grade status of education.However, there was a significant difference between the average scores of the scientific creativity of the prospective teachers and according to the monthly income of the family and the status of having their own room. According to the results of the research; When the scientific creativity of the prospective teachers is examined, it is concluded that the levels of scientific creativity are moderate. Keywords: Creativity, Scientific Creativity, Scientific Creativity Test, Preschool Education