A Program Based on Task-Based Teaching Approach to Develop Creative Thinking Teaching Skills for Female Science Teachers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Introduction Training the teacher and continuous progress of the teacher's professional development is one of the most important and serious issues that education specialists are concerned with. It is also a priority in educational systems' development and reform programs in many countries around the world, in light of the cognitive and scientific changes in contemporary communities whose effects were reflected on education and, in turn, on the teacher's roles and responsibilities (Erdem & Demirel, 2007; Poulou, 2007). A 21st century science teacher faces several responsibilities and roles, different from those he was previously committed to. During the modern age and its quick cognitive development, a science teacher has to adopt new roles and practices in which he becomes a leader for the development of science teaching. The most important of these roles is his role in developing creative thinking skills. This role cannot be achieved in an educational environment that does not allow teaching for creativity. Accordingly, the teacher is considered the main key in teaching and raising creativity. The teacher should specify how creative he is in planning for science teaching with the aim of developing creative thinking skills of his students. This can be implemented through a flexible lesson plan in which the teacher avoids traditional lesson plans by introducing enriching activities. The teacher should also specify how creative he is in his own classroom behavior while teaching science with the aim of developing his students' creative thinking skills. This can be achieved through improving some characteristics within the students such as challenge, curiosity, research, cooperation, and expression of opinion. In addition, the science teacher should assess students using a task or a problem; this enables the student to perform tasks and avoid the constraints of traditional assessment (Fluellen, 2003; Harris, 2005). Hence, it is necessary to train science teachers in KS A on the various creative thinking teaching skills characterized by fluency, flexibility, authenticity, and problem solving. If the teacher is able to practice these skills, this will be reflected on his students through the development of their own creative thinking skills especially with the current weakness of the students' levels in science in KSA. This increases the need for raising the teachers' levels and providing them with creative thinking teaching skills which contribute to overcoming this weakness (Bayer, 2007; Smunty, 2000). Creative teaching is considered an effective teaching practice followed by the science teacher in the classroom and represented in verbal or motor responses. These responses are characterized by accurate and quick performance, and conformity with the educational situation; and they assist in stimulating and developing the students' creative thinking. Creative teaching skills are measured by the scores which are given to the teacher in a special observation card. Teaching for creativity aims at developing creative thinking skills connected with fluency, flexibility, authenticity, expansion, and sensitivity for problems (Burden & Williams, 2007; Onnel, 2002). Creative teaching is characterized by encouraging the students to produce various several creative ideas regarding what they are taught and regarding the surrounding environment; increasing students' confidence in their ability to create through considering their ideas and special perceptions; helping the students to be more sensitive to problems, contradictions, and knowledge gaps; and helping them to specify areas of difficulties, to search for solutions, to predict, to formulate hypotheses, and to reach new useful results. In creative teaching, the students move from the theoretical, learning by heart frame to the useful applications. Creative teaching also leads to the graduation of a generation of scientists and innovators who can create solutions to the problems of contemporary life (Swartz & Perkins, 2000; Torrance, 2002). …