Investigating the effects of various techniques of mathematical creativity development on motivational and cognitive beliefs in mathematics among female students

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of various techniques of mathematical creativity development on motivational and cognitive beliefs in mathematics among female students. The research method was pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The population of study includes every female students at guidance school in Mashhad city. 40 students were selected by multi-stage sampling method and were replaced in the experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. The used tool included adaptive learning models questionnaire (Middleton and Midgley، 1997)، which consists of mathematics self-efficacy (motivational beliefs) and cognitive engagement (cognitive beliefs) subscales in math. Beginning، adaptive learning models questionnaire was performed as a pre-test on all subjects، then mathematical creativity program were run on experimental group while control group did not receive any training. After training sessions، adaptive learning models questionnaire was performed as the post-test on all subjects. Data was entered into spss software and was analyzed by using descriptive indexs and independent t test. Comparing the difference mean of pre-test and post-test of mathematical self-efficacy and cognitive engagement in two control and experimental groups showed mathematic performance of experimental group has increased rather than the control group at post-test. Therefore، mathematical creativity development has a significant influence on mathematical efficacy and cognitive engagement enhancement in math. Thus، we suggest to include mathematical creativity technique in desiging training courses to improve students’ math performance.