MIYOUNG HONG and NAM-HWA KANG SOUTH KOREAN AND THE US SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF CREATIVITY AND TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY Received: 21 October 2008; Accepted: 2 November 2009 ABSTRACT. This study examined science teachers’ conceptions of creativity in science education, pedagogical ideas, and contextual factors perceived as constraints on teaching for creativity and any differences in the conceptions of teachers from South Korea and the United States. Participants in the study consisted of 44 South Korean and 21 US secondary science teachers. Data was collected from open-ended and Likert-type questionnaires. Results indicated that each individual teacher’s conception was considerably limited, but the teachers’ conceptions of creativity as a whole group were consistent with the literature. In terms of teaching methods for creativity, the teachers commonly emphasized problem-based or project-based inquiry which was consistent with the literature. The South Korean teachers tended to consider ethics as a more important criterion for judging creativity than the US teachers and emphasized providing thinking opportunity for fostering creativity, while the US teachers emphasized environmental or emotional support. Possible sources of these differences were discussed. The commonly mentioned constraints included pressure of content coverage for high-stakes tests, difficulties in assessing creativity, and class size. Suggestions for professional development of teachers and further research questions were made based on the findings. KEY WORDS: conceptions of creativity, science teachers, teaching for creativity INTRODUCTION Since 1990, there has been an increasing number of policy statements and educational projects that have called for incorporating creativity into the school curriculum and fostering creativity in education (Craft, 2003; Gibson, 2005; Ng & Smith, 2004; Park, Lee, Oliver & Crammond, 2006). Two main driving forces for the growing emphasis and values placed on creativity are students’ personal fulfillment and their economic capabil- ities as future citizens (Craft, 2003; Gibson, 2005). Along with the theories and research on creativity originating from the Western world, creativity has been recognized and emphasized as one of educational goals in many Asian countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan (Choe, 2006; Niu, 2006; Ng & Smith, 2004; Tan & Law, 2004). International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education (2010) 8: 821Y843 # National Science Council, Taiwan (2009)