The creative thinking process of junior high school students in solving mathematical problems

Abstract

This study aims to describe students' creative thinking process in solving mathematical problem. This study used descriptive qualitative method. The data were collected by using written test and interview. The test used six creative thinking questions that each two of them covered one of four indicators of mathematical creative thinking. The research subjects were five 8th grade students who have prior knowledge above the Minimum Mastery Criterion value taken from two research classes. The result shows that students can understand all the questions that indicate fluency, flexibility, and originality by read the questions repeatedly, write important information of questions on another paper, redraw, and imagine the problems situations in daily life. Students can give ideas well on fluency and originality questions by recall and carry out the knowledge but some students don't provide different solution on flexibility questions. Students do the illumination process well by show the ability to count and carry out well-generated ideas. Students can solve the problem by using the trial and error method in any situation. Furthermore, the verification process is carried out by do a recalculation, read the question to adjust the purpose of the problem, and use other strategies to have the same answer.