Dr Oluyomi Oyedoyin Akintunde, Dr Elisha Ishaku Shwamut & Dr Grace Selzing-Musa
Abstract
The study focused on perceived barriers to creative thinking among tertiary level students in Plateau state Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to explore the barriers to creative thinking among tertiary level students to pave way for creativity, efficiency and academic excellence. Two research questions guided the study. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. Participants for the study were 345 Undergraduate students that were randomly selected from two (2) tertiary institutions in Plateau State, Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was an adapted 36-item 6-point likert-type scale structured questionnaire titled, “Barriers to Creative Thinking Questionnaire” (BCTQ). Data obtained were analysed using mean and standard deviation. The results of the study revealed that students in tertiary institutions of learning experience barriers that interfere with their creative thinking abilities which include barriers related to self-concept need for systematic analysis, task achievement and physical environment. The findings also indicated that the highest barrier to creative thinking was the physical environment barrier. It was recommended that the six barriers to creative thinking among tertiary level students should be reduced to the barest minimum to pave way for improved academic performance.