The relation between spatial reasoning and creativity in solving geometric problems

Abstract

Abstract Spatial reasoning has been used in daily life, such as in building designs, determining routes and using maps. Spatial reasoning is also used in mathematics, especially in geometry. Therefore, this study aims to find out how spatial reasoning is used by students in solving geometry problems, especially in their creativity to transform 2-dimensional images into 3-dimensional images. Creativity in this study is focused on fluency, flexibility, and originality. This study is an explorative descriptive study through a qualitative approach. The subjects of the study are 11 third grade junior high school students. Data were collected by geometry problem-solving tests with two types of questions in the form of true or false statements and open-ended problems. The results showed that: (1) in terms of fluency, students gave an average of three correct answers out of five, (2) in terms of flexibility, there were five different types of answers, and (3) in terms of originality, there are two students who gave different answers than other students. The results also showed that students applied their spatial reasoning in the form of spatial visualization and mental rotation in their creativity to solve the problems.