The impact of multiple solutions tasks on Mathematical creativity and democratic practices among Grade 9 Mathematics students in Qalqilya Governorate

This study aimed to provide an environment rich of multiple solutionss tasks in mathematics. In addition, it aimed to investigate the effectiveness of these tasks on the mathematical creativity and democratic practices of ninth grade students in Qalqilia governorate, when they study the "relations & functions" unit. Specifically, the study tried to solutions the following question: What is the effect of multiple solutions tasks on mathematical creativity and democratic practices among ninth grade students in the "relations & functions" unit in Qalqilia schools. To solutions the study question and test the hypotheses related to it, the researcher applied quasi-experimental design. The study population consisted of ninth grade students in Qalqilia governorate (2330) male and female students, where the study sample consisted of (144) students from two schools: Martyr Fatima Ghazal Basic School and Palestine Basic School. The students were selected as a purposue sample, and divided into two random groups. The experimental group studied the unit "relations and functions" using multiple aner tasks prepared by the researcher. The control group studied the unit in the traditional learning method, without multiple solutionss tasks. The study conducted in the second semester of the academic year (2015/2016). Mathletics creativity pretest prepared by the researcher and judged by the specialist arbitrators was used to test the sample, and the coefficient of stability reached (0.71). The researcher used a measure of democracy judged by specialists, where the stability coefficient reached (0.66) using Cronbach's alpha formula. After the completion of testing the sample, another two tests, scale of creativity and scale of democracy were used once again, and the data were collected and analyzed using statistical software packages (SPSS). The study found the following results: • There are statistically significant differences at (α ≤ 0, 05) in both creativity and democracy between the experimental group (studied using multiple solutionss tasks) ، and the control group (studied using the traditional learning method). The total scores for creativity and democracy were in favor of the experimental group. • There are statistically significant differences at (α ≤ 0, 05) in both creativity and democracy in the experimental group due gender, while there are no significant differences attributed to the ability of the student in mathematics or to the interaction between sex and ability in mathematics. Based on the findings that multiple solutionss tasks have positive effect on the practice of democracy in the mathematics class, which develops students' mathematical creativity, the study recommends to enrich math books with multiple solutionss tasks, as well as teachers' training of their students to practce solving such tasks.