Unlocking Creativity in Solving Novel Mathematics Problems

This text delivers a fascinating insight into thinking and feeling approaches used in creative problem solving and explores whether attending to ‘feeling’ makes any difference to solving novel problems successfully. This book reveals ways of identifying, describing and measuring ‘feeling’ (or ‘intuition’) in problem-solving processes. Unlocking Creativity in Solving Novel Mathematics Problems delivers a fascinating insight into thinking and feeling approaches used in creative problem solving and explores whether attending to ‘feeling’ makes any difference to solving novel problems successfully. With a focus on research throughout, this book reveals ways of identifying, describing and measuring ‘feeling’ (or ‘intuition’) in problem-solving processes. It details construction of a new creative problem-solving conceptual framework using cognitive and non-cognitive elements, including the brain’s visuo-spatial and linguistic circuits, conscious and non-conscious mental activity, and the generation of feeling in listening to the self, identified from verbal data. This framework becomes the process model for developing a comprehensive quantitative model of creative problem solving incorporating the Person, Product, Process and Environment dimensions of creativity. In a world constantly seeking new ideas and new approaches to solving complex problems, the application of this book’s findings will revolutionize the way students, teachers, businesses and industries approach novel problem solving, and mathematics learning and teaching.