Abstract
Mathematical creativity is perceived as an increasingly important aspect of everyday life and, consequently, research has increased over the past decade. However, mathematical creativity has mainly been investigated in children and adolescents so far. Therefore, the first goal of the current study was to develop a mathematical creativity measure for adults (MathCrea) and to evaluate its reliability and construct validity in a sample of 100 adults. The second goal was to investigate how mathematical creativity is related to intelligence, mathematical competence, and general creativity. The MathCrea showed good reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the data fitted the assumed theoretical model, in which fluency, flexibility, and originality constitute first order factors and mathematical creativity a second order factor. Even though intelligence, mathematical competence, and general creativity were positively related to mathematical creativity, only numerical intelligence and general creativity predicted unique variance of mathematical creativity. Additional analyses separating quantitative and qualitative aspects of mathematical creativity revealed differential relationships to intelligence components and general creativity. This exploratory study provides first evidence that intelligence and general creativity are important predictors for mathematical creativity in adults, whereas mathematical competence seems to be not as important for mathematical creativity in adults as in children.
Highlights
In our rapidly changing world where technological and scientific advancements affect our everyday life, creativity is an increasingly important aspect (Sternberg and Lubart1999; Leikin and Pitta-Pantazi 2013)
The current study investigated the question of how different cognitive abilities are related to, and uniquely predict, mathematical creativity in adults
The second part of this study focused on the question of how intelligence, mathematical competence, and general creativity are related to mathematical creativity in adults and what unique predictive value they have
Summary
In our rapidly changing world where technological and scientific advancements affect our everyday life, creativity is an increasingly important aspect (Sternberg and Lubart1999; Leikin and Pitta-Pantazi 2013). In our rapidly changing world where technological and scientific advancements affect our everyday life, creativity is an increasingly important aspect Creativity does help us to adapt to changes, but is a prerequisite for technical and scientific advances (Leikin 2013). Creativity in mathematics is necessary to ensure the growth of the field itself, and it is essential for solving mathematical problems, for which there is no learned solution. This applies regardless of whether a mathematician tries to solve a complex open problem or a primary school student tries to solve an unfamiliar problem (Leikin and Pitta-Pantazi 2013). One of the main research gaps, which this study tries to fill, is that there is no empirically validated mathematical creativity measure for adults, because mathematical creativity has mainly
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