Innovativeness Perceptions and Innovative Thinking Tendencies of Middle School Students: An Exploratory Sequential Design

Abstract

The aim of this study is firstly to determine the perceptions of middle school students with regard to innovativeness, secondly it is to develop a measurement tool based on the perceptions that have been identified, and thirdly it is to examine the general tendencies with the use of the developed measurement tool. This research was designed according to an exploratory sequential design, which is one of the mixed method research approaches. A total of 1300 middle school (5-8th grade) students participated in the study. In this study, seven categories were identified through the use of codes generated from the analysis of the qualitative data: openness to innovation, innovative group leadership, innovative problem solving, innovative self-efficacy, innovative risk taking, individual innovation, and innovative perseverance. It was determined that this instrument has 25 items and five factor structures (openness to innovation, innovative problem solving, innovative self-efficacy, innovative group leadership, innovative perseverance). Considering the general innovative thinking tendencies of the students, it was determined that approximately 35% was low, 19% was medium and 46% was high.