CONTRIBUTION OF SCIENTIFIC CREATIVITY AND AFFECTIVE FACTORS TOWARDS STUDENTS' PHYSICS ACHIEVEMENT: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING ANALYSIS

Abstract Physics achievement at the secondary school is not encouraging, and physics teachers are not keen to implement creativity-based learning. This affects students’ involvement in physics learning, plus, the affective aspects of students not given attention because it is considered not to influence students' examination grades. The main purpose of this research was to analyses the contribution of creativity domain physics, general creativity and affective factors towards students’ physics achievement by using structural equation modeling analysis. The research employed a survey design with a data collection method using tests and questionnaires among 400 form four students in the public secondary school in Johor. The data were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Analysis of Moments Structures (AMOS) version 21. The structural equation modeling results showed that scientific creativity and divergent thinking directly affect physics achievement. In contrast, general creativity and affective factors affect indirectly. The findings also showed that the strongest relationships were between physics divergent thinking and scientific creativity, scientific creativity and physics achievement and between intrinsic motivation and attitude towards physics. The study's implication suggests that vigorous effort needs to be focused on developing physics divergent thinking and scientific creativity, as these factors are the most influential and directly related to physics achievement. It is equally important that the affective factors, namely students’ self-efficacy and students’ attitudes towards physics, are emphasized. These factors significantly affect students’ physics divergent thinking, which would eventually lead to better physics achievement