ABSTRACT
The in-depth examination of literature related to macroscopic and microscopic models of creativity (described in Chapter 2) underpinned the four-stage research design adopted by the author in her quest to build and test a comprehensive model of creative problem solving. This model would be used to ultimately demonstrate how to unlock creativity in solving novel mathematics problems and to share a new creative approach to problem solving with teachers and learners. This chapter details Stage 1—incorporating construction of the conceptual framework for the model of creative problem solving at the particular level. The author describes data collection with a small sample of expert problem solvers in a qualitative exploratory study, which involved using protocol analysis to identify and describe cognitive and non-cognitive elements of creativity used in novel mathematics problem solving. She explains how the identified elements can be used to construct a conceptual framework of creative problem solving.
