Hambali Hambali, Janet Mananay, Habtu Worku Arkew

Learning Innovation Through E-Worksheet Ethnomathematics: Improving Creative Thinking Skills

Introduction

Learning innovation through e-worksheet ethnomathematics: improving creative thinking skills. Boost creative thinking in math with ethnomathematics e-worksheets. This study shows significant improvement in students' originality and elaboration by integrating local wisdom into digital learning.

Abstract

This study aims to develop ethnomathematics-based e-worksheets and analyze their effects on students' creative thinking skills in learning quadrilaterals and triangles. Ethnomathematics was chosen as an innovative approach that connects mathematical concepts with local wisdom, thus creating a more contextual and meaningful learning experience. E-worksheets are made with the stages of development, implementation, and evaluation adopted from branches using 90 samples from purposive sampling techniques. The data collection instrument was an essay test to measure students' creative thinking skills. Data analysis used an independent sample t-test statistical test with the help of SPSS 25 software. The study showed that the t-count value (14.216) was more significant than the t table (1.990) at a significance level of 0.05, indicating an essential difference between the experimental and control groups. The experimental group showed an average increase in creative thinking skills of 67.5%, much higher than the control group of 46.5%. This improvement is especially seen in originality and elaboration, which shows that ethnomathematics can stimulate students' creative ideas through relevant cultural contexts. This study offers a new approach to learning mathematics in the digital era through integrating local culture in e-worksheets, creating interactive learning media, and strengthening students' cultural identity. Using ethnomathematics-based e-worksheets is recommended as an alternative innovative and effective learning media to improve the quality of education, especially in building students’ creative thinking skills in the digital era.

Review

This study presents an innovative and timely exploration into the integration of ethnomathematics with e-worksheets to foster creative thinking skills in mathematics education. The paper effectively addresses a critical need for contextual and meaningful learning experiences in the digital era, particularly by connecting mathematical concepts of quadrilaterals and triangles with local wisdom. The reported findings are compelling, demonstrating a significant improvement in creative thinking skills within the experimental group, with an average increase of 67.5% compared to 46.5% in the control group. The emphasis on gains in originality and elaboration strongly supports the claim that ethnomathematics, delivered through interactive e-worksheets, can genuinely stimulate students' creative ideation through culturally relevant contexts. While the abstract highlights a robust design involving development, implementation, and evaluation stages with a purposive sample of 90 students, some methodological details would benefit from further elaboration in the full paper. The mention of development stages "adopted from branches" is vague; specifying the exact instructional design model would enhance clarity and replicability. Additionally, while an essay test was used to measure creative thinking, a clearer explanation of the rubric and how specific facets like originality and elaboration were quantitatively assessed would strengthen the validity of the reported percentages. Understanding the rationale behind the purposive sampling criteria would also be beneficial for assessing the generalizability of the findings. Overall, this study makes a valuable contribution to the field of mathematics education, particularly in bridging traditional knowledge with modern pedagogical tools. The successful integration of ethnomathematics into e-worksheets not only promises to enhance students' cognitive abilities, such as creative thinking, but also simultaneously strengthens their cultural identity—a dual benefit often overlooked in purely technical approaches to STEM education. The recommendation to adopt ethnomathematics-based e-worksheets as an innovative and effective learning medium is well-supported by the results, suggesting a promising avenue for improving the quality of education and preparing students with essential 21st-century skills. Further research could explore the long-term impact of this approach across different grade levels and mathematical topics.

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