Real Contexts In Problem-Posing: An Exploratory Study Of Students’ Creativity

The aim of this paper is to start investigating how different real contexts could influence students’ creativity in semi-structured problem-posing activities. In order to pursue this goal, an exploratory study was implemented in a lower secondary school class in which two kinds of real contexts had been considered: a real-mathematical context and a real-life context. Results from the study indicate that there was not a significant difference in students’ creativity between the use of a real-mathematical and a real-life context as starting situations for semi-structured problem-posing activities. However, a fundamental factor that influenced students’ problem-posing performances was the meaningfulness given by students to the context. When the context was not experientially meaningful for a student, she/he tried to associate a new meaning to the context, using some elements from it to re-create a new realistic context in which setting her/his problems. In conclusion, to best support students in posing their problems, the significance of the context appears to be an important factor, in order to increase the opportunities in making connections between mathematics in and outside the classroom, and in helping students in giving sense to their mathematical activity.