From Science Self-Efficacy to Scientific Creativity: The Role of Curiosity

Innovation in science education should focus on fostering students’ scientific creativity and the motivational strategies that enable it, including science self-efficacy and curiosity. Within a flow-theoretic framework, we posit that science self-efficacy reflects perceived skill and that, when challenge matches skill, curiosity converts this capability into exploratory processing that enhances performance on domain-specific scientific creativity tasks. Data from 490 junior-high students in Taiwan provide mechanistic evidence for this pathway. Scientific creativity was assessed using a multi-task, performance-based assessment scored with a task-specific rubric developed for the present study, whereas science self-efficacy and curiosity were measured using established scales. Structural equation modeling showed that science self-efficacy significantly predicted curiosity, and curiosity significantly predicted scientific creativity. The indirect effect of science self-efficacy on scientific creativity through curiosity was significant, while the direct effect was nonsignificant. These findings support a flow-based, fully mediated pathway from science self-efficacy to curiosity to scientific creativity. Practically, the results highlight the importance of designing classroom environments that strengthen students’ science self-efficacy and adjust the balance of challenges and skills to stimulate curiosity and foster scientific creativity.