An investigation of the relationship between creative cognition and autonomous learning skills

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between creative cognition and autonomous learning skills to investigate whether there are differences on the levels of two constructs in terms of gender and class level. Study group consists of 266 gifted secondary school students enrolled in Bursa Science and Arts Center, Sakarya Science and Arts Center, Kayseri Science and Arts Center, and Aksaray Science and Arts Center, aged 11 – 13. In this study, relationships between the variables of autonomous learning and creative cognition and the sub-dimensions of autonomous learning were investigated. Pearson Product Moment Correlation, Partial Correlation methods were utilized in order to investigate these relationships. The differences on the levels of autonomous learning and creative cognition in terms of gender and class level variables were examined with the statistical procedures of independent samples t-test (for variables having two groups) and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA; for variables having more than two groups). Besides, descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation and percentile values were calculated. Autonomous Learning Scale (12 items) that was developed by Macaskill and Taylor (2010), was adapted to Turkish by Arslan and Yurdakul (2015) was conducted to measure autonomous learning. Creative Cognition Scale (5 items) which was developed by Rogaten&Moneta (2015), was adapted to Turkish by Arslan and Ünal (2016) was carried out to assess creative cognition level. The research findings showed that autonomous learning and creative cognition scores were correlating significantly. The sub-dimensions of autonomous learning including independence of learning and study habits were found to be the predictors of creative cognition in a positive way. According to the results, it can be argued that autonomous learning meaning taking charge of one's own learning process has a positive interaction with creative cognition which views creativity as a universal human characteristic and a multidimensional construct depending on multiple cognitive processes. As a result of the research, neither autonomous learning nor creative cognition showed a statistically significant difference in terms of gender and class level. Findings were discussed in detail within the related literature. Keywords: Creative Cognition, Autonomous Learning, Demographic Variables.