The Development of a Creative and critical thinking education method for Primary School Teachers

In the annals of history, education had many facets, nuances and understandings but it had the same aim, i.e. to make the recipient learned. The modes of operation of imparting knowledge have been different but the beneficiaries profited from what was done. In other words, the gurus, known as the teachers initiate the students to acquire wisdom which would free them from the darkness of ignorance. If merely a student's potential can be turned into a widely recognized behavior, a teacher has shown their worth. Hence, it is critical to understand the psychology of the learner. Teacher's capacity to inspire and encourage pupils is one of the most important qualities. As a result, the most important aspect in education is the teacher. A student's ability to succeed in school is directly tied to his or her own initiative. So in addition to being an expert in their field of study, teachers should be able to read the thoughts of their pupils and appreciate their uniqueness.[1] Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the tools of the teachers for understanding the tempo of learning styles of the students. It enables the teachers to meet the learning needs and environment of the students in different cultures effectively. These aspects have to be harvested by his or her own experiences to share what he or she has been learning in theory. The teachers have to impart thoughtful and inspiring values to their students in their studies.

embedded in Indian society. In India, education is a shared responsibility between the central government and the states, with some obligations falling to the national level and others being left to state discretion. The right to an education is enshrined in several sections of the Indian constitution. Almost all of India's colleges and universities are under the supervision of either the central or state government.[2]

"The advancement of elementary education is one measure of the broader social and economic growth of the society as a whole," said Naik (1966), a prominent educator in our country. At this period, a well-planned and implemented educational system is critical in providing the correct basis for a child's cultural, emotional, ethical, intellectual, moral, physical, social, and spiritual growth. It also makes a significant contribution to the development of emotional and national integration ideals. So, it is extremely important to make a sufficient investment at this level of education.[3]

The phrases "elementary," "basic," and "primary" are frequently used in the same context. The National Policy of Education (NPE) has used primary education for grades one through eight. In its paper National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education: A Framework (1988), the NCERT states that elementary education (8 years) is divided into two stages: primary (5 years) and upper (5 years) (3 years). The Department of Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) employs elementary education, which comprises primary classes (classes I through V) and middle courses (classes VI to VIII). In general, basic education refers to a mixture of two educational stages: primary I through V (ages 6 to 11) and upper primary schools (ages VI to VIII) (age group 11 to 14). Primary education is prioritized by the Indian government till the age of fourteen. The Indian government has also prohibited child labor to protect youngsters from dangerous working circumstances. However, due to economic disparities and social conditions, both free education and the prohibition of child labor are difficult to implement. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was established in 1994 with the goal of universalizing primary education in India through revamping and revitalizing the current system. 85% of the DPEP is funded by the central government and the remaining 15 percent is funded by the state. A total of 160000 new schools, including 84000 alternative education schools, have been created as a result of the DPEP, which has received funding from UNICEF and other international organizations. In certain areas, the Gross Enrollment 1.4 Thinking

The term 'critical' as it is used here is does not mean thinking, which is negative or finds faults or censors; but rather thinking which evaluates reason. Here the term critical thinking is intended to highlight the intellectual autonomy. The critical thinking model embarks upon the task of fostering thinking skills in the students like making interpretations, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, making plausible inferences, exploring assumptions etc. Critical thinking is described as good, unemotional judgement that results from an analysis of the material or a situation closely allied to the scientific attitude, critical thinking can be developed as the result of the problem solving approach to learning It is also involved in a more personal analysis of a situation, or written or an oral presentation. Critical thinking as defined by Beyer (1987), is "Determining the authenticity, accuracy and worth of information knowledge claims." Robert Ennis (1985) states that, "Critical thinking is reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do." This concept provides for a wide range of applications, including decision-making, problem-solving, metacognition, value judgment, and Bloom's taxonomy's higher knowledge level.[6] 1.6 Characteristics of Critical Thinking A person may be said to think critically to the degree that he exhibits the following skills and attributes:[7] 1. Recognizes and defines problems - He is sensitive to issue circumstances; he understands and expresses the nature of any challenge that prevents him from achieving a desired objective; he simplifies complicated difficulties down into manageable components. 2. Formulates adequate hypothesis - He approaches problems in a flexible manner; he is skilful in establishing an appropriate solution model. discriminates between relevant and irrelevant assumptions. He distinguishes between reliable and unreliable information and exhibits good judgement. 4. Draws valid conclusions - He is rational and applies both deductive and inductive reasoning to reach the conclusion. 5. Applies conclusions - He grasps the general principles, which relate to a problem. He is apt in applying these generalizations whenever they are appropriate and he is capable of decisions, of actions consistent with his conclusions.

The first reference of critical thinking is found in Plato's recording of Socrates' instruction. When a person studies, assesses, and interprets information before making a decision, they are using critical thinking. Self- evaluators, problem solvers, clear analyzers, receptive to others' views, careful (thinking before acting), open- minded, good listeners, and keen to take on challenges are all characteristics of critical thinkers. A critical thinker is someone who is always thinking and interacting with the world.[8]

Koutsoupidou and Hargreaves (2009) found that children's musical improvisation skills improved after exposure to improvisational techniques. Research shows that improvisation has a substantial impact on the growth of creative thinking in children's music-making, especially in the areas of musical flexibility, originality, and syntax.[9] Erdogan, Akkaya and Akkaya (2009) found that sixth grade primary school pupils' creative thinking levels were significantly influenced by Van Hiele the experimental group after the training.[10] Almeida, Prieto, Ferrando, Oliveira and Ferrandiz (2008) used data from Spain and Portugal to examine the construct validity of the Torrance test of creative thinking. These cognitive functions are not robust enough to explain the variation in results, according to this theory. However, the key components are identified with the goods in each subtest, demonstrating that format, substance, and demand on TTCT specific activities play a significant role in the elaboration factors.[11] Memmert (2006) proven that a diverse sports enrichment program had a positive impact on the development of creative thinking in team ball games among brilliant youngsters Creative performance in talented youngsters improved significantly when compared to a control group and a treatment group that was not gifted.[12] Middleton (2005) Design and technology education, according to the author of an essay titled Creative Thinking, Values, and Design, is not only a great place to teach ethics and values, but it may also be one of the most important reasons to include design and technology programs in school curricula.[13]

• To select appropriate thinking tools for enhancing creative and critical thinking skills.

• To study the effectiveness of the instructional strategy in enhancing creative and critical thinking skills in teachers.

The current inquiry was a 12-week intervention study with a developmental focus. Students' creative and critical thinking abilities may be improved through the use of appropriate material matter, according to a research. In order to carry out this experiment, the researcher used a pre-experimental design, which does not allow for much control over external factors. Pretest-posttest design was used for the current study's research method. Taking into account the challenges faced by schools and instructors, the practicality of commuting, the costs of conducting experiments, and many other restrictions, the design was developed. In light of the risks posed by this experimental design, however, the researcher guaranteed that this study's internal validity could be established by implementing the following measure. History and maturation are two the experimental treatment. They took precautionary measures to ensure that the 9 researchers did not expose their subjects to any additional treatments while conducting their research study.

Teachers in the Visnagar taluka of Mehasan district who use textbooks from the Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks in Gandhinagar made up the study's population.

Every teacher in Visnagar taluka was chosen for the study because of their readiness to take part in the research at all times. At least 153 instructors have shown an interest, and the administration has granted their requests. Twenty-five instructors were chosen at random to participate in the current study because 153 seemed like a high amount.

The goal of this intervention research was to improve teachers' ability to think critically and creatively. Researchers devised a technique to track teachers' growth in creative and critical thinking in order to better understand how the intervention affected them. A survey of existing instruments for studying creative and critical thinking by other researchers led to the development of two new ones by the investigators: o Creative and critical thinking tool o Reaction scale

Appendix I contains the created method for assessing creative and critical thinking. These processes were used to create this instrument to assess creative and critical thinking. Step-1 Identification of dimensions of creative and critical thinking. Step-2 designing the test items Step-3 Validation ofthe tool Step-4 Pilot study Step-5 Scheme of scoring

Treatment depending on the researcher's teaching technique is viewed as an independent variable.

EXPERIMENTATION

• Pre- test and post-test of sample of male primary school teacher on awareness scale of creative and critical thinking.

Pre-test mean and standard deviation for male primary school teachers were 49.35 and 3.96, whereas post-test mean and standard deviation for male primary school teachers were 55.85 and 4.52. It has been shown that the mean score of Male primary teachers on the Post-Test on the awareness scale of creative and critical thinking is higher than the mean score of Male primary teachers on the Pre-Test, which is significant at the 0.01 level of significance. On the awareness scale of creative and critical thinking, the mean score of male primary teachers on the Post-Test was substantially higher than the mean score of male primary teachers on the Pre-Test at the 0.01 level of significance. When it comes to creative and critical thinking, men primary teachers performed better on the Post-Test than male primary teachers did on the Pre-Test.

• Pre- test and post-test of sample of female primary school teacher on awareness scale of creative and critical thinking.

Pre-Test: Female primary teachers' awareness of 2.45, respectively. When it comes to assessing students' ability to think critically and creatively, a woman's post-test score was greater than a woman's pre-test score, which is significant at the level of significance of 0.01 on a t-test for significance. Using the creative and critical thinking awareness scale, female primary school teachers' mean post-test scores were shown to be significantly higher than their pre-test scores, with a p-value less than 0.01. On the Post-Test, female primary teachers' awareness of creative and critical thinking is stronger than their knowledge of creative and critical thinking on the Pre-Test. Table 2: t-Value of Pre-Test and Post-test on Creative thinking with Fluency, Flexibility and Originality of Male sample on Writing creative uses

In the above experimental research, the t-values of the Pre- and Post-Test on the Awareness scale of creative and critical thinking, as well as critical thinking and Creative thinking with Fluency, Flexibility, and Originality primary teachers, were found to be significant with male, female. As a consequence, the experiment's treatment was shown to be significant on the Awareness scale of creative and critical thinking, as well as critical and creative thinking with primary instructors of fluency, flexibility, and originality, with a positive link between pre-test and post-test scores. With the use of images from a primary school text book, teachers and specialists may better understand the need of adopting critical thinking and creative thinking exercises in the classroom and how to go about doing so using various illustrations.

1. De Bono, E. (2008). Six thinking hats. UK: Penguin Group 2. Herniksen, D. Richardson, C., & Mehta, R. (2017). Design thinking: a creative approach to educational problems of practice. Thinking skills and creativity, 26, 140-153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2017.10.001 3. Torre, de la, S. (2009). La universidad que queremos. Estrategias creativas en el aula universitaria [The university we want. Creative strategies in the university classroom]. Revista digital universitaria, 10(12), 1067-6079 4. Fink, A., Reim, T., Benedek, M. & Grabner, R. (2019). The effects of a verbal and figural creativity training on different facets of creative potential. Journal of creative behavior, 54 (3), 676-685. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.402 5. Zambrano, N. I. (2019). El desarrollo de la creatividad en estudiantes universitarios [The development of creativity in university students]. Revista Conrado, 15(67), 355-359. Recuperado de http://conrado.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/conrado 6. Davies, D., Jindal-Snape, D., Digby, R., Howe, A. & Collier, C. & Hay, P. (2014). The 41, 34-41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.03.003 7. Yates, E. & Twigg, E. (2017). Developing creativity in early childhood studies students. Thinking skills and creativity, 23, 42-57 8. Gardiner, P. (2020). Learning to think together: creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration and epistemic control. Thinking skills and creativity, 38, 100749. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2020.100749 9. Koutsoupidou and Hargreaves (2009). Paradigms in the study of creativity: Introducing the perspective of cultural psychology. New Ideas in Psychology, 28, 79-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2009.07.007 10. Erdogan, Akkaya and Akkaya (2009). El pensamiento creativo [The creative thinking]. In G. Sampascual, Psicología de la educación [Psychology of education], Vol. 2 (pp. 84-122). Madrid: UNED 11. Almeida, Prieto, Ferrando, Oliveira and Ferrandiz (2008). The function of personality in creativity. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 113-130). New York: Cambridge University Press 12. Memmert (2006). La creatividad: pasado, presente y futuro [Creativity: past, present and future]. In R. D. Strom (Comp.), Creatividad y educación [Creativity and education] (pp. 9-23). Barcelona: Paidós 13. Middleton (2005). Creativity in the classroom. In J. C. Kaufman & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of creativity (pp. 447-463). New York: Cambridge University Press

Research Scholar, Sunrise University, Alwar, Rajasthan