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An investigation of relationships between students’ mathematical problem-posing abilities and their mathematical content knowledge

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Abstract

The importance of students’ problem-posing abilities in mathematics has been emphasized in the K-12 curricula in the USA and China. There are claims that problem-posing activities are helpful in developing creative approaches to mathematics. At the same time, there are also claims that students’ mathematical content knowledge could be highly related to creativity in mathematics, too. This paper reports on a study that investigated USA and Chinese high school students’ mathematical content knowledge, their abilities in mathematical problem posing, and the relationships between students’ mathematical content knowledge and their problem-posing abilities in mathematics.

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Acknowledgments

The first author would like to thank her dissertation committee members for their patience and expert guidance. They are Dr. Norma Presmeg, Dr. Nerida Ellerton, Dr. McKenzie Clements, Dr. John Rugutt, and Dr. Bharath Sriraman.

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Correspondence to Xianwei Y. Van Harpen.

Appendix A: Sample tasks from the mathematics content test

Appendix A: Sample tasks from the mathematics content test

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Van Harpen, X.Y., Presmeg, N.C. An investigation of relationships between students’ mathematical problem-posing abilities and their mathematical content knowledge. Educ Stud Math 83, 117–132 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-012-9456-0

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