Developing a List of Behavioral Characteristics of Creative Physicists During Their Growth Period

The objective of this study was to understand behavioral characteristics of creative physicists during their growth period, and we want to use any insight gained to help teachers and parents encourage students’ creativity in their everyday life. To do this, the critical incident technique was utilized to extract behavioral traits from six physicists through the study of literature. As a result, 210 cases were extracted and summarized in the form of a list consisting of eight categories and 30 statements. A high degree of validity was obtained through a survey of experts and science teachers who had experiences in gifted education. By applying the developed list to eighteen science high school students, high reliability was obtained through the analysis of Cronbach alpha, Cohens’ kappa, and correlations between two evaluators. Results of this study revealed that students showed various aspects of the extracted behavioral characteristics evenly. However, evaluation scores differed between individuals; thus, it might be possible to use the list as a scientific creativity test tool. Finally, this study discussed various potential applications of the list along with its limitations.