Real Contexts in Mathematical Problem Posing. An Exploratory Replicated Study of Students' Creativity

Abstract

Mathematical Problem Posing (MPP) is key to developing creativity, but its study in relation to contexts can still be expanded. This work analyses how the context influences the creativity of sixth-grade primary school students when posing problems involving fractions. Thirty-seven students from a public Spanish school in the sixth grade participated in two 40-minute sessions where they formulated problems based on a real mathematical context and a real-life context. Firstly, the productions were classified as problems or statements and were assessed based on their mathematical nature, solvability, and relationship with the context. Then, a creativity index was calculated by comparing the problems posed by each student. The results indicate that the definition used to distinguish between a problem and a statement notably affects the number of productions analysed. Most were mathematical and solvable, but the connection with the context was stronger in the real-life context than in the mathematical one. Finally, no significant differences were found in the levels of creativity between contexts, suggesting that the interpretation of the stimulus may have more relevance.