GENIUS, PLAGIARISM OR CREATIVITY? A CONTRIBUTION TOWARD A DISCUSSION ABOUT TEACHING PRACTICES

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The plagiarism phenomenon is a subject of intense debate and reflection on educational and academic circles. Despite being perceived almost “epidemic”, little research and clear guidelines have been produced for teaching. Though, this work aims to explore students perception, their behavior and motivations and strategies to avoid plagiarism at schools. METHODS. It was used a sample of 384 secondary and professional school students from Portugal, with a questionnaire about about plagiarism, an inventory to evaluate learning approaches (Rosário & Paiva, 2008) and an inventory of creative abilities (adapted from Epstein, Schmidt & Warfel, 2008). RESULTS. Based on the results, the majority of students seems to know that plagiarism is illegal and a serious problem at schools, more than 40% copied their works from books, 60% from the internet, and more than 70% was never captured. The main causes of these behaviors are related to: i) the easy access to information, ii) pressure to get good grades, iii) perception cannot capture and iv) lack of interest in the topics. Through correlation studies is was observed a statistically significant relationship between the different types of plagiarism and learning approaches , with students who plagiarize having mostly superficial approaches, in motivation and study strategies. Was also verified a relationship between deep approach and creativity. DISCUSSION. The data is discussed considering implications of the results and suggestions to plagiarism prevention, challenging traditional teaching practices.