The effect of creative problem-solving teaching on the creative thinking skills and classroom management attitudes of prospective teachers

This research aims to determine whether creative problem solving based classroom management education causes a significant difference in classroom management attitudes and creative thinking skills of teacher candidates. The research was done with a semi experimental design that has pretest posttest experimental and controlled groups. In the research, students in the experimental group have been implemented process models (Osborn- Parnes, Gestalt, Isaksen and Treffinger and Gelb), discipline models about classroom management (Redl and Wattenberg, Jones, Kounin, Ginott, Canter, Gordon, Curwin and Mendler) and lesson plans based on goals and behaviours that include the source of undesirable behaviours. The research group consists of 61 third- graders who studied in Turkish Language Teacher Department during the spring of the 2017-2018 academic year of a faculty of education. The "Torrance Creative Thinking Test", "The Scale of Beliefs and Attitudes of the Prospective Teachers in Class Management" and "Meeting Form" have been used as data collecting tools. The studies were carried out correspondingly two hours a week for ten weeks in the experimental and controlled groups. In the first and tenth weeks of the research, the scales were applied to the students who are in the experimental and controlled groups. The course implementation was put into practice for sixteen hours totally between the second and ninth weeks. In the eleventh week of the research, interviews were made only with the students who are in the experimental group. At the end of the research, total creativity scores of the posttest of the experimental group were found significantly higher than the total creativity of the posttest of controlled groups. (p=0,000). The qualitative data obtained in the research revealed the emphasis of the concepts such as "improving, impressive, different, inspiring". Accordingly, importance on adding creative problem solving practices to the content of the classroom management lessons and creating opportunities for teacher candidates to practise these activities during their school practices should be given.