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Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. The education

strives to develop inquisitive minds, logical reasoning, and teamwork abilities in

addition to subject-specific knowledge. Furthermore, STEM students required to

improve their communication, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.

Moreover, by developing their mathematical creativity, these abilities can be improved.

Mathematical creativity is the capacity to see a given problem from several

angles, spot patterns, contrasts, and parallels, come up with numerous solutions, and

select the appropriate approach to handle challenging mathematical circumstances

(cited in Idris & Nor, 2010) .

In the whole cycle of advanced mathematical reasoning, creativity is important.

When potential of kind are put forth as a result of the individual's experience with the

mathematical setting, it helps in the early phases of the creation of a mathematical

theory.

Important factor that affects mathematical creativity is a difficult task because it

is difficult to describe its structure and traits. According to Poincare, 1948 mathematical

creativity has been describe as discernment, or choice.

Understanding mathematical concepts and methods, being able to describe these

notions, being able to comprehend some mathematical issues, and applying them in

regular life.
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Mathematical communication is the term used to describe communication in

mathematics. The formation of mathematical communication to motivate pupils to be

able to articulate and communicate their ideas regarding mathematics. The ability to

communicate mathematically has a wide range of applications, including day-to-day

life (Yaniawati et al., 2019).

This study aims to understand the learners' level of mathematical

communication skills as a determinant of their mathematical creativity. In light of this,

the aim of this study is to raise the students' proficiency in mathematical

communication in order to foster their mathematical creativity.

Hence, this study will be conducted at Saint Michael’s College- Senior High

School Department, Iligan City, from the year 2022-2023.

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on Praxeology Theory of Mathematical Creativity. In

praxeology, a framework for a particular use—like angles, fractions, or volume—is

used. According to this theory, creativity is a skill that can be developed and is

particularly useful for enhancing mathematical creativity. This framework is built on

two main components, praxis (know how) and logos (know why) (See Figure 1).
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Praxeology has four components, technique, technology, theory, and task.

Technology can be related to the study because technologies are “the discourse that

produce, explain, validate, and justify the technologies”. With the mathematical

creativity is about how the students see a given problem from several angles, spot

patterns, contrast, and parallels. The next section examines the idea of mathematical

creativity in order to determine the traits of creative mathematical praxeologies—that is,

those in which creativity plays a particular role. With compelling mathematical theory,

students' mathematical communication can also be improved. The development of

mathematical communication helps to inspire students to be able to express and explain

their views about mathematics.

Conceptual Framework

This illustrates the connection of variables in the research study, which provide

the connection of the following:

In the boxes below, the first box is the mathematical communication skills of the

participants that they could use in understanding the problem, students should use a

variety of forms of communication in a variety of settings to generate and share ideas.

The second box is the mathematical creativity skills of the participants that they

use to identify given problems in different angles and their approach.

Furthermore, the final of the study is how the researchers will identify the

contribution of level of mathematical communication to the mathematical creativity of

the participants.
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Mathematical Mathematical
Communication: Creativity:

 Abstraction  Fluency Tutorial

 Mathematical  Flexibility Program
Ideas  Originality
 Mathematical  Elaboration
Expressions

Figure 1.0 Research Paradigm of the Study

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Statement of the Problem

This research study aims to explore the influence of students’ mathematical

communication to their mathematical creativity. Specifically, the researcher further

seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the students’ level of mathematical communication in terms of :

a. Abstraction

b. Mathematical Ideas

c. Mathematical Expressions

2. What is the students’ level of mathematical creativity in terms of:

a. Fluency

b. Flexibility

c. Originality

d. Elaboration

3. How do students’ mathematical communication influence their mathematical

creativity?

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study focused mainly on the Level of Mathematical Communication of SHS-

STEM students as a contributing factor to their Mathematical Creativity. The

respondents of this study are the grade 11 SHS students of Saint Michael’s College.
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Significance of the Study

This study aims to know the Level of Mathematical Communication Skills of

SHS-STEM students as a contributing factor to their Mathematical Creativity. This

research benefits the following:

To the School Administrator: This will help them to know if the Level of

Communication in SHS-STEM students are enough as a contributing factor to their

Mathematical Creativity.

To the Senior High School Students: This will help them to know their

capability of Communication skills to apply as a contributing factor to their

Mathematical Creativity.

To the Department of Education: This will help them to know what they would

do in their teaching to improve the Level of Communication Skills of SHS-STEM

students to their Mathematical Creativity.

To the Future Researcher: This study can be used as basis in their related

studies.
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Definition of Terms

To further understand the study, the following terms are conceptually and

operationally used in this study.

Mathematical Communication. Mathematical communication is the term used to

describe communication in mathematics. The formation of mathematical

communication to motivate pupils to be able to articulate and communicate their ideas

regarding mathematics (Yaniawati, et al., 2019).

Mathematical Creativity. An ability to analyze a given problem from different

perspective, see patterns, differences and similarities, generate multiple ideas and

choose a proper method to deal with unfamiliar mathematical situations. Mathematical

Creativity refers to the score of the students coming from a creativity test material. It has four

components namely: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. The accurate and efficient

numerous responses of the learners refer to fluency. The ability to change thinking paths when

encountering a thinking obstruction refers to flexibility. The ability to find a unique path or

solution among the group refers to originality. Lastly, the ability to produce a detailed plan and

generalized ideas or give in-depth reasoning behind a solution path refers to elaboration

(Sriraman, 2005).
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Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter provides related literature and studies that would be useful in

laying the groundwork for this research. The papers and research listed below

supported the study’s theories. Furthermore, these would contribute to the final data

collection for future chapters.

Related Literature

On Mathematical Communication

One of the talents students must possess is the ability to communicate

mathematically. The abilities help children comprehend mathematics through the

processes of thinking, debating, and making decisions. Additionally, the abilities can

help student’s present mathematical concepts in a variety of ways. In order to improve

students' ability to think critically and effectively communicate their ideas,

mathematical communication skills should be a top priority in mathematics education

(Utami, 2015).

One of the main goals of mathematics education is to foster higher order

mathematical abilities like reasoning, conceptual comprehension, problem solving, and

critical thinking. Numerous research have been done on how to effectively improve
mathematics knowledge and skills in a classroom context. One of these methods,

improving mathematical communication, concentrates on how students think about

and comprehend mathematics. Mathematical communication is characterized as

deliberate classroom contact, which includes techniques like questioning, group

exercises, and discussions. Mathematical communication's goal is to inspire pupils to

express,

They converse, then consider their opinions (Defne Kaya, Hasan Aydin 2014).

On Mathematical Creativity

Mathematical creativity is an overbroad issue since its ramifications have the

potential to greatly advance society. Although there has been an increase in interest and

engagement in general creativity studies in recent years, the literature on mathematical

creativity is still comparatively underdeveloped (Akgul & Kaveci, 2016).

According to Sriraman 2014, "The process that yields a novel solution or concept

to a mathematical issue or the formulation of new questions" is the definition of

mathematical creativity.

Related Studies

On Mathematical Communication

The capacity to communicate mathematical concepts verbally, in writing,

graphically, and in other visual mediums is a component of mathematical

communication skills. Students' knowledge of mathematics can be improved by both

oral and written mathematical communication. Students may have the chance to

communicate ideas with one another through the mathematical communication

process. The classroom must therefore effectively incorporate mathematical

communication, and students must be encouraged to express themselves verbally and

in writing by formulating problems and asking questions. It can be argued that

mathematical communication is the capacity to represent mathematical ideas and

symbols verbally as well as in writing, images, or diagrams, based on some of the

meanings of the term previously discussed (Chung, Yoo, Kim, Lee, & Zeidler, 2016).

The focus of this study is to help students become better at communicating

mathematical ideas both orally and in writing. Additionally, as their mathematical

creativity grows, they will be better able to analyze problems from many angles and

recognize patterns.

On Mathematical Creativity

In his study about creativity, Sriraman 2014, "The process that yields a novel

solution or concept to a mathematical issue or the formulation of new questions" is the

definition of mathematical creativity. Furthermore, Siswono (2015), mathematical

creativity is the mental process used to develop "new" ideas quickly and easily. The

range of definitions used to describe creativity gives some indication of how intricate

the thought process is.

According to Akgul and Kahvecci, 2016, the connection between mathematics

and affect is one of the main drivers of the new interest in mathematical creativity. The
relationship between a student's emotions and mathematics may be crucial to their

capacity to come up with original ideas.

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Chapter 3

Research Methodology

This chapter will show you the research design will be used in this study. This study will

use a quantitative method of research particularly, the casual comparative research design. It also

discuss the method, data gathering and respondents as well as the statistical treatment data used

in this study.

Research Design

This study will descriptive method of research. This research design is appropriate in

determine the influence of mathematical communication to mathematical creativity.

Locale of the study

This study will be conduct at Saint Michael’s College Basic Education Department in

San Miguel, Iligan City. Saint Michael’s College is a private catholic institution administered by

Virgin Mary Sisters since 1915. Saint Michael’s College offering four level education

(Elementary, High School, College and Graduate School).

Respondents of the study

 The respondents of this study are the incoming Grade 11 SHS-STEM (Batch 2022-2023)

students of Saint Michael’s College, taking up General Mathematics subjects.

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Figure 2: Locale of the Respondents

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Research Instrument

In this study, the researcher will utilize two (2) sets of research instruments. The first

instrument to be used to assess the students’ level of mathematical communication

skills is a 30-item researcher made test which will be validated. The second instrument to

be used to assess the students’ mathematical creativity is the Mathematical Creativity Test

(MCT). It consists of six open-ended questions with multiple possible solutions for every item.

MCT was originally developed by Kattou, Christou, & Pitta-Pantazi (Kattou et al., 2016) and

translated by Kroesbergen, & Schoevers (Kroesbergen & Schoevers, 2017).

Scoring Procedure

This was used to interpret the data gathered about the students’ level of

mathematical communication. The rubrics below was adapted from “Guidelines for

Mathematical Communication Ability Test Scores” by (Surya, 2027).

Table A.
Guidelines for Mathematical Communication Ability Test Scores

Indicator Aspect of Communication Score

Abstraction No answer 0
Can explain a problem with giving arguments to the 1
math problem but incomplete and incorrect.
Can explain a problem with giving arguments to the 2
math problem completely but not good.
Can explain a problem with giving arguments to the 3
math problem completely but incomplete.
Can explain a problem with giving arguments to the 4
math problem is complete and correct.
Mathematical No answer 0
Ideas Can paint pictures, diagrams, graphs, and tables but 1
incomplete and incorrect.
Can paint pictures, diagrams, graphs, and tables to 2
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complete but not good.

Can paint pictures, diagrams, graphs, and tables with 3
correct but incomplete.
Can paint pictures, diagrams, graphs, and tables with 4
complete and correct.
Mathematical No answer 0
Expressions Can express mathematical ideas using symbols or 1
mathematical language in writing as a representation
of an idea or ideas but incomplete and incorrect.
Can express mathematical ideas using symbols or 2
mathematical language in writing as a representation
of an idea or ideas but complete but not good.
Can express mathematical ideas using symbols or 3
mathematical language in writing as a representation
of an idea or ideas with correct but incomplete.
Can express mathematical ideas using symbols or 4
mathematical language in writing as a representation
of an idea or ideas with complete and correct.

Solutions of the students obtained from MCT were analyzed to determine the four

components of mathematical creativity. These are fluency, flexibility, originality, and

elaboration.

To determine the score for fluency, the number of correct solutions was counted and

divided by the maximum number of correct solutions provided by one student in the group

multiplied by 100% for each item.

To determine the flexibility score of the student, the number of different types or

categories of correct solutions were counted in every question and divided by the maximum

number of different types of solutions provided by one of the participants. This ratio is then

multiplied by 100% for each item.

For originality, it will be calculated by comparing the solution of each student with the

solutions of all of the participants. The frequency of the categories of the participants' solutions
will be counted, and the least (rare solution) is divided by the total number of participants

multiplied by 100%. The score 80, 60, 40, and 20 were given if the percentage belonged to 1%

and 5%, 6% and 10%, 11% and 20%, and more than 10%, respectively.

For uniformity, all scores in fluency, flexibility, and originality will be transformed to a

5-point Likert scale. The table below shows the equivalent transformation of scores adopted

from Asahid and Lomibao (Asahid & Lomibao, 2020).

Table B.
Equivalent Transformation of Score to 5-Point Likert Scale
Range Scoring Descriptive
Scale
(%) Scale Equivalent
81 – 100 5 4.20 – 5.00 Excellent
61 – 80 4 3.40 – 4.19 Proficient
41 – 60 3 2.60 – 3.39 Approaching Proficiency
21 – 40 2 1.80 – 2.59 Developing
1 - 20 1 1.00 – 1.79 Beginning

Elaboration scores ranged from 1 - to 5, a student was given the highest score if he can

produce a detailed plan and generalized ideas or give in-depth reasoning behind a solution

path.

Then, the mean score will be calculated for each factor (fluency, flexibility, originality,

and elaboration). The combination of the four factors represents the creativity level of the

students. Table 2 below shows the mean intervals with equivalent descriptions.

Table C.
Mean Intervals for Sum of Scores in Mathematical Creativity

Mean Intervals Description

16.20 – 20.00 Emergent Creativity
12.40 – 16.19 Innovative Creativity
8.60 – 12.39 Inventive Creativity
4.80 – 8.59 Technical Creativity
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1.00 – 4.79 Expressive Creativity

Data Gathering Procedure

The researchers will draft a formal letter, duly signed by their research adviser, to

the principal of the basic education department requesting permission to conduct the study by

selecting respondents and providing them a questionnaire. A second letter will be written to the

potential respondents, also formally acknowledged by their research adviser, requesting

permission to perform the study in their classroom.

The test will be conducted in Saint Michael’s College (Basic Education Department) at

San Miguel, Iligan City. To measure the respondents' level of mathematical creativity, the

researcher created a questionnaire. The objective of the questionnaire will be properly explained,

and respondents will be given the assurance that their answers will be kept confidential.

Additionally, the format of the test, its nature, its objectives, its timeline, and its expectations will

be described and analyzed.

Statistical Treatment of Data

After the data collected from the respondents, it was organized and analyzed. To analyze

and interpret the data the researcher used mean and standard deviation to see the result of the

study.

This statistical tool was used to compute for the mean of the responses in the

questionnaire.

Mean and Standard Deviation

 These basic statistical tools were used to describe the level of students’

mathematical communication skills and mathematical creativity.

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Linear Regression

This statistical tool will be used to determine the influence of students’

mathematical communication skills to their mathematical creativity.

References

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Chasanah, C., & Usodo, B. (2020). The Effectiveness of Learning Models on Written
Mathematical Communication Skills Viewed from Students' Cognitive Styles. European
Journal of Educational Research, 9(3), 979-994.
Disasmitowati, C. E., & Utami, A. S. (2017). Analysis of Students’ Mathematical Communication
Skill for Algebraic Factorization Using Algebra Block. In International Conference on
Research in Education (Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 72-84).
Habsah, F. (2017). Developing teaching material based on realistic mathematics andoriented to
the mathematical reasoning and mathematical communication. Jurnal Riset Pendidikan
Matematika, 4(1), 43-55.
Kaya, D., & Aydın, H. (2016). Elementary mathematics teachers' perceptions and lived
experiences on mathematical communication. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and
Technology Education, 12(6), 1619-1629.
Nadjafikhah, M., Yaftian, N., & Bakhshalizadeh, S. (2012). Mathematical creativity: some
definitions and characteristics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 31, 285-291.
Nadjafikhah, M., & Yaftian, N. (2013). The frontage of creativity and mathematical creativity.
Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 90, 344-350.
Umam, K., Suryawati, S., Suhartati, S., & Hasbi, M. (2021). The Effects of Problem-Based
Learning on Creative Thinking Skills and Mathematical Communication Abilities of
Senior High School Students. Al Khawarizmi: Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran Matematika,
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Yuniara, P., Sinaga, B., & Dewi, I. (2018, December). Analysis Of Difficulties In Completing
Mathematical Communication Problem Solving In Terms Of Learning Styles Using
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