Creative thinking of female high school students in solving sequence and series problems: Implications for synchronous and asynchronous didactical design

Abstract

This study aims to describe the creative thinking abilities of senior high school students in solving problems related to sequences and series, viewed from the perspective of their mathematical ability. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, data were collected through classroom observation, a mathematical ability test, a creative thinking ability test, and interviews. The research subjects consisted of three Grade 10 female students from SMAN 1 Sampang, representing high, medium, and low levels of mathematical ability, selected through criterion-referenced classification and consultation with the class mathematics teacher. Data were analyzed against three creative thinking indicators: fluency, flexibility, and novelty, with time triangulation used to strengthen credibility. The findings indicate that the student with high mathematical ability satisfied all three indicators, generating fluent, flexible, and novel solution strategies. The student with medium mathematical ability satisfied only the fluency indicator, while the student with low mathematical ability satisfied none of the three. These ability-differentiated profiles suggest that creative thinking does not emerge uniformly across ability levels, and offer an initial, theoretically derived basis for informing didactical design in synchronous and asynchronous mathematics learning environments, particularly in calibrating the level and timing of real-time scaffolding required for students at each ability level.