LATERAL THINKING AND SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY IN STUDENTS: A CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Lateral thinking is an approach to problem solving that strives for creative solutions. Debate on whether creativity is the result of lateral or logical thinking, perhaps the most fundamental creative act occurs when we combine previously unrelated concepts, such a combination can occur when we think either laterally or logically. The key aim of lateral thinking is to deliberately and systematically create unrelated concepts forcing them together to see where it takes us. Scientific creativity is defined as the ability to perform novel and useful thoughts, ideas or behaviours pertaining to science. As science is a discipline that requires creativity, this research explored the relationship between Lateral Thinking Skills and Scientific Creativity of 400 Secondary School Students based on a survey analysis. Even though negative correlation was found outbetween the variables in the sample chosen, students were found to differ based on their gender and type of syllabus in terms of the variables.As lateral thinking does not work in a vacuum, considering a rounded approach is necessary to look at a more holistic and practical approach to foster such skills and improve scientific creativity.