AN INVESTIGATION ON THE MATHEMATICAL CREATIVITY OF REGULAR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN TAIWAN

This study explores eighth-grade students’ creative thinking skills in the three mathematical processes: formulate, employ, and interpret mathematics in PISA’s mathematical literacy framework. Questionnaires capturing the fluency, flexibility, and originality indicators of creative thinking were developed and randomly distributed to 225 students in four regular schools in Taiwan. Inductive analysis was conducted to gain several categories with each several patterns of the responses. Coding rubric was developed. The results show that Taiwanese students performed well in fluency and flexibility in the formulate process but showed only moderate flexibility in the employ process. The research team was surprised as many students' creative answers surpassed expectations.