Wang Tian, Zhang Libin, Xie Zhiyong, Liu Jian
Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment Toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
China Education Innovation Institute, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, China.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 13;13:1044580. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1044580. eCollection 2022.
Mathematical modeling has become a crucial competence in mathematics education in many countries and regions due to the increasingly complex real-world problems that students face in the 21st century. Previous research has shown that mathematical modeling contributes to the development of students' creativity, particularly with respect to stimulating and protecting the curiosity of children. However, previous studies have not explored or examined the relationships among middle school students' mathematical modeling competency, curiosity, and creativity based on data drawn from large-scale assessments and have not investigated the influence of teachers' teaching methods in this context.
This study used convenience sampling to select 4,531 seventh-grade students from eastern and western, urban and rural areas in China. Online tests and questionnaires were used to measure their mathematical modeling competency, curiosity, creativity and guided inquiry teaching, and a moderated mediation model was used to analyze the effect of mathematical modeling competency on creativity.
The results showed the following. (1) There are statistically significant differences between boys and girls in terms of their mathematical modeling competency, curiosity, and creativity. Specifically, boys score significantly higher than girls on these variables. (2) Creativity exhibits a statistically significant positive correlation with mathematical modeling competency, curiosity, and guided inquiry teaching. (3) Curiosity mediates the relationship between mathematical modeling competency and creativity, and guided inquiry teaching moderates the influence of curiosity. In high-level guided inquiry teaching classes, curiosity has a stronger influence on creativity, and it mediates the relationship between mathematical modeling competency and creativity more strongly.
This study empirically verified the influence of mathematical modeling competency on creativity and provided a possible way to cultivate children's creativity. Future research should use longitudinal analysis to verify the causal relationship between mathematical modeling competency and creativity and to systematically explore the possible path by which mathematical modeling competency affects creativity.
由于21世纪学生面临的现实世界问题日益复杂，数学建模已成为许多国家和地区数学教育中的一项关键能力。先前的研究表明，数学建模有助于学生创造力的发展，特别是在激发和保护儿童好奇心方面。然而，以往的研究尚未基于大规模评估数据探讨或检验中学生的数学建模能力、好奇心和创造力之间的关系，也未在此背景下研究教师教学方法的影响。
本研究采用便利抽样的方法，从中国东部和西部、城市和农村地区选取了4531名七年级学生。通过在线测试和问卷来测量他们的数学建模能力、好奇心、创造力以及引导探究式教学，并使用有调节的中介模型来分析数学建模能力对创造力的影响。
结果如下。（1）男生和女生在数学建模能力、好奇心和创造力方面存在统计学上的显著差异。具体而言，在这些变量上男生得分显著高于女生。（2）创造力与数学建模能力、好奇心和引导探究式教学呈统计学上的显著正相关。（3）好奇心在数学建模能力和创造力之间起中介作用，引导探究式教学调节好奇心的影响。在高水平的引导探究式教学课堂中，好奇心对创造力的影响更强，并且它在数学建模能力和创造力之间的中介作用也更强。
本研究实证验证了数学建模能力对创造力的影响，并提供了一种培养儿童创造力的可能途径。未来的研究应采用纵向分析来验证数学建模能力与创造力之间的因果关系，并系统地探索数学建模能力影响创造力的可能路径。
