ERIC Number: EJ752327
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1598-1037
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Cultivating Divergent Thinking in Mathematics through an Open-Ended Approach
Kwon, Oh Nam; Park, Jung Sook; Park, Jee Hyun
Asia Pacific Education Review, v7 n1 p51-61 2006
The purpose of this study was to develop a program to help cultivate divergent thinking in mathematics based on open-ended problems and to investigate its effect. The participants were 398 seventh grade students attending middle schools in Seoul. A method of pre- and post-testing was used to measure mainly divergent thinking skills through open-ended problems. The results indicated that the treatment group students performed better than the comparison students overall on each component of divergent thinking skills, which includes fluency, flexibility, and originality. The developed program can be a useful resource for teachers to use in enhancing their students' creative thinking skills. An open-ended approach in teaching mathematics suggested in this paper may provide a possible arena for exploring the prospects and possibilities of improving mathematical creativity. The following are appended: (1) Assessment Instrument; and (2) Example of Scoring Rubrics. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Grade 7, Middle School Students, Secondary School Mathematics, Mathematics Instruction, Thinking Skills, Creative Thinking, Creativity, Scoring Rubrics, Creative Development, Pretests Posttests, Matched Groups, Mathematical Applications, Context Effect, Statistical Analysis, Problem Based Learning, Foreign Countries, Teaching Methods
Education Research Institute, Seoul National University. Department of Education, 599 Kwanak-Ro, Kwanak-Gu, Seoul 151-748, South Korea. Tel: +82-2-880-5896; Fax: +82-2-889-6508; e-mail: aper2@hanmail.net; Web site: http://eri.snu.ac.kr/aper
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 7; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: South Korea (Seoul)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A