This research examines how teachers‘ creativity-fostering behaviours and emotional intelligence can predict their students’ performance in circular geometry. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses, and the research methodology employed was that of a survey. The starting population consisted of a total of 2056 people, and a multi-stage sampling procedure was used to draw a sample of 384 respondents, female and male: 336 students aged 15-19 and 48 teachers aged 35-58. The Teacher Creativity Fostering Scale (TCFBS), the Teacher Emotional Intelligence Scale (TEIS) and the Circular Geometry Performance Test (CGPT) were used to obtain the research data. For the statistical analysis of the data, correlations and analysis of variance were carried out. Teacher creativity-enhancing behaviours were found to predict 58% of student performance in circular geometry, while teachers' emotional intelligence explained 41%. These findings highlight the importance of fostering creative problem-solving strategies and designing tasks tailored to students' individual strengths.
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How to Cite
Metu, C., & Ugwuanyi, C. (2024). Teachers’ creativity-fostering behaviours and emotional intelligence as predictors of students’ performance in circle geometry. Revista de Estudios e Investigación en Psicología y Educación, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.17979/reipe.2024.11.2.10810
Departamento Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, Sociales y de la Matemática, Facultad de Educación y Trabajo Social, Universidad de Valladolid: https://www.feyts.uva.es/ Valladolid, Castilla y León – España
Chika Ugwuanyi, University of Nigeria
Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria: https://scienceeducation.unn.edu.ng/ Nsukka, Enugu – Nigeria
Metu and Ugwuanyi: Teachers’ creativity-fostering behaviours and emotional intelligence as predictors
of students’ performance in circle geometry
Today, mathematics is not only a crucial field of study and research in its own right;
it is also essential to various intellectual pursuits. A nation's economic wealth
and technological advancement rely on scientific success (). This underscores the importance of a solid foundation in mathematics and its role
in improving students’ inductive and deductive reasoning (; ). Additionally, to gain admission into tertiary institutions for science or related
courses in Nigeria, candidates must achieve a credit pass in the Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination (). The high number of students failing the mathematics portion of the Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination demonstrates that, despite the subject's importance, the desired
progress remains inconsistent and minimal. The West African Examination Council's
(WAEC) Chief Examiner's Reports, from 2020-2023, identified some mathematics topics
as areas of weakness among the students. These topics include bearing and distances,
logarithms, vectors, circle geometry, measurement, set theory, inequalities, statistics,
and graphically solving quadratic equations. Perhaps these weaknesses have resulted
in the poor performance of students in circle geometry over the years. Among the topics
listed, circle geometry was a consistent area of weakness among the students.
Circle geometry, as a branch of mathematics, studies the properties of a circle (). Most secondary school students have difficulty constructing, visualising, and testing
geometric concepts (). Despite circle geometry being a cornerstone of geometry, linking several significant
and vital Euclidean geometry principles, students have found it challenging to understand
the numerous required theorems. (; ; ). When students have other options in Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE),
they avoid questions about the circle theorem. In rare cases, a handful of students
who attempt questions on circle geometry demonstrate nothing but inadequate knowledge
of the subject ().
Perhaps the reason for the poor performance of students in circle geometry may be
that they lack the requisite ability and creativity in this subject, which ultimately
leads to their poor performance in circle geometry. We can attribute the students'
lack of creative thinking to the teacher's lack of innovative power and ability in
teaching circle geometry, as no education system can surpass the expectations of its
teachers, and nations cannot progress beyond the capabilities of their qualified educators
(). Mathematics teachers are to help students build attitudes, patterns of investigation,
and problem-solving skills, thereby ensuring that students grasp the right information
and abilities to become more productive (). To this end, mathematics teachers ought to have the ability to foster creativity
among the students and control emotions in the classroom to ensure better learning
outcomes for them. The capacity of the teacher to encourage creativity among students
may depend on their level of emotional intelligence (; ).
defined the creativity-fostering behaviour of a teacher as the mental, intellectual,
or imaginative ability to create and invest. The teacher can keep an open mindset
towards novel concepts, exhibit humanistic control over the students, and value their
independent thinking (; ). According to , teachers' creativity-fostering behaviours include social modelling, reinforcers,
alternate options, and opportunities for students to express their creativity. Teachers
should know the range of behaviour that is right and acceptable for their position
when they interact with students, and they should be cautious before making any decisions.
These behaviours may help students become more open to learning by modelling a creative
attitude, coming up with innovative solutions to challenges, and sharing ideas that
encourage a creative mindset (; ). Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is the capacity of a teacher to be self-aware
of their own emotions, effectively manage and express those emotions, and navigate
interpersonal relationships with students (). This means that in an educational setting, effective teacher-student relationships
translate to improved rapport, understanding, and effective problem-solving.
Previous studies seem to support the importance of creativity-fostering behaviours
and emotional intelligence in students’ performance. A study by determined the effectiveness of creativity-fostering behaviours, and the findings
revealed that any classroom that encourages creativity provides students with alternatives,
embraces different views, and boosts the students’ self-confidence. This is in line
with , who reported that factors such as encouraging students’ unusual ideas and responses,
encouraging different learning activities, and creating an environment that promotes
freedom of thought could enhance creative thinking in the classroom. Teachers who
give students freedom and inspire originality in their students' work are crucial
to their success in scientific classes (). On the contrary, when teachers criticise the inconsistent behaviour of students,
they limit their creativity (). The findings of and revealed that emotional intelligence plays a vital role in students' performance,
with higher emotional intelligence leading to greater performance. A strong positive
association was found between teachers' emotional abilities and students' performance,
which accounted for a substantial 61% of the variance in academic performance (; ). In essence, any stress affecting a teacher's emotional well-being can influence
their ability to handle their students' emotions.
Based on the preceding information, creativity-fostering behaviours and emotional
intelligence seem to be potential indicators of students' academic performances in
mathematics. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that we cannot universally apply
the assertion that teachers' behaviour and emotional intelligence have a positive
influence on performance, as different subject areas and topics may have varying effects.
With circle geometry being a consistent area of weakness among the students, it could
be a major contributing factor to poor academic performance in mathematics. Additionally,
the lack of empirical literature examining the predictive power of teachers' creativity-fostering
behaviours and the emotional intelligence of students' performances in circle geometry
necessitated the current study. Therefore, this study investigated a) the predictive
power of the creativity-fostering behaviour of the teacher on students’ performance
in circle geometry and b) the predictive power of the emotional intelligence of the
teacher on students’ performance in circle geometry.
Following these objectives, the study tested the following hypothesis: a) the predictive
power of the creativity-fostering behaviour of the teacher on students’ performance
in circle geometry is not significant. b) the predictive power of the emotional intelligence
of the teacher on students’ performance in circle geometry is not significant.
Method
The study was conducted using a correlational survey research approach. Correlation
research, according to , attempts to establish the relationships that exist between multiple variables. In
a similar study by , , and , a similar design was adopted.
Participants
The study had a population of 2056 respondents, comprising 2001 Secondary School II
students and 55 mathematics teachers from Aguata Education Zone, Anambra State. The
study's sample consisted of 384 respondents with an age range of 15-19 years for the
students and 35-58 years for the teachers. This comprises 336 students (189 females
and 147 males) and 48 teachers (37 females and 60 males). The mean age and standard
deviation for the students are 16.97 and 1.21, respectively, while those of the teachers
are 47.23 and 6.56.
The recommendation by for determining the sample size of a finite population was used. A multi-stage sampling
was used to determine the respondent's sample size. There was no sampling at the first
stage. The study utilised all the schools in the education zone. At the second stage,
one SSII mathematics teacher was selected from each school in the education zone.
If more than one mathematics teacher was teaching SSII students, we used a simple
random sampling technique to select only one teacher from each school. This gave a
total of 48 teachers used for the study. At the third stage, a stratified random sampling
technique was used to select 7 students from each of the 48 schools in the education
zone. This gave a total of 336 SSII students.
Instruments
This study employed the Teachers’ Creativity Fostering Behaviour Scale (TCFBS), the Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Scale (TEIS), and the Circle Geometry Performance Test (CGPT) for data collection. TCFBS and TEIS comprise 17 items each, evaluated on a
4-point Likert scale. The items were assessed on a scale from 1 to 4, representing
Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, and Strongly Agree, respectively.
Teachers’ Creativity Fostering Behaviour Scale
Derived from the works of and , encompassing two dimensions: integration and motivation, used to collect information
on the teacher`s creativity-fostering behaviours. Some of the items of this instrument
include: I use different activities in class to maintain students’ interest; my superiors
do not try to block my advancement; my salary is enough for my needs; among others.
Teachers’ Emotional Intelligence Assessment Scale
Was adapted from model of emotional intelligence with dimensions of self-regulation and sociability,
and used to collect data on the teachers´ emotional intelligence. The instrument includes
items such as I find it difficult to control the students' emotions; I do not allow
the students' moods to control me; I find it easy to adapt in a social environment,
among others.
Circle Geometry Performance Test
Consisted of 20 questions with multiple choices, with each item having 4 response
alternatives, which was used to gather information on the student’s performance in
circle geometry. The CGPT was developed using the test blueprint as a guide.
Three experts from the Education Faculty, University of Nigeria, validated the instruments.
One was in the mathematics education unit, one in the evaluation unit, and one in
the educational psychology unit. The TCFBS and TEIS underwent additional construct
validation while the CGPT was further subjected to content validation. The Cronbach
Alpha approach and the KR-20 method were used to establish reliability (internal consistency.
This resulted in α coefficients of .78 for TCFBS, .85 for TEIS, and .82 for CGPT.
Procedure
The TCFBS and TEIS were administered directly to the teachers. In addition, students
were given the CGPT to obtain information about their mathematical knowledge. The
three instruments were distributed and collected at the moment.
The collected data was analysed using regression analysis. All the research questions
were answered using the obtained r value. The hypotheses were tested using the obtained ANOVA at a significance level
of p ≤ .05.
Results
The study's findings demonstrate the prediction of teacher creativity-fostering practices
on students' performance in circle geometry. The results suggest that the correlation
coefficient (r) between teachers' creativity-fostering behaviour and students' performance
in circle geometry is .76. This indicates a strong connection between teachers' innovation
in nurturing behaviour and students’ performance in circle geometry. The coefficient
of determination (r2) for the .76 correlation coefficient is .58. This demonstrates that teachers' creativity-fostering
behaviours can predict a 58% change in students' performance in circle geometry. Therefore,
42% of the change in the students' performance in circle geometry is attributable
to other variables not mentioned in this study.
The prediction of teachers' creative-fostering behaviours on students' performance
in circle geometry was ascertained using analysis of variance. The result showed that
F(2, 45) = 31.48, p < .001 with a mean value of 9.62 (SD = 1.52). The exact probability value of .001 is less than the significant level of
.05 established as the threshold for testing the hypothesis, and the result was determined
to be significant. As a result, the null hypothesis that teachers’ creativity-fostering
practices have no prediction of students' performance in circle geometry is rejected.
The inference drawn is that teachers who foster creativity have a significant (p<.05)
impact on students' performance.
The study's findings demonstrate the prediction of teachers' emotional intelligence
on students' performance in circle geometry. The results revealed that the correlation
coefficient (r) between teachers' emotional intelligence and students' circle geometry performance
is .64. This suggests there was a strong positive association between teachers' emotional
intelligence and the performance of the students in circle geometry. The coefficient
of determination (r2), also known as the predictive value, for the correlation coefficient of .64, is
.41, accounting for 41% of changes in students' performance in circle geometry. This
means that other variables account for 59% of the variation in students' performance
in circle geometry.
Finally, the analysis of variance on the significance of teachers' emotional intelligence
as a predictor of students' performance detected (F(2, 45) = 15.76, p < .001), with a mean value of 10.58 (SD = 3.40). The exact probability value of .001 is less than the significant level of
.05 used to test the hypothesis, and the result was significant. As a result, the
null hypothesis that teachers' emotional intelligence has no predictive ability over
students' performance in circle geometry is rejected. Hence, teachers' emotional intelligence
has a significant (p<.05) prediction on students' performance in circle geometry.
Discussion
The study's result revealed that teachers' creativity-fostering behaviour predicts
58% of students' performance in circle geometry. The results of the first hypothesis
test revealed that teachers' creativity-fostering behaviours significantly predict
students' performances in circle geometry. This suggests that teachers’ creativity-fostering
behaviours are a significant predictor of students’ performances in circle geometry.
Therefore, we should make classrooms as conducive as possible to maximise students'
potential. Creative teachers can make the most of their experiences and resources.
It is the driving force behind the growth, development, and expansion of students,
organisations, and society as a whole. The study's findings are consistent with those
of , who observed that creativity-fostering teacher conduct is a strong predictor of
students' academic progress in science activities. The results of this study are also
in line with those of , who discovered that students who had teachers who emphasised creativity outperformed
those who had teachers who emphasised moderate creativity in biology. These findings
further highlight the importance of teachers’ creativity-fostering behaviours as a
significant predictor of students’ performances in circle geometry.
The study's findings revealed that teachers' emotional intelligence predicts 41% of
a change in students' performance in circle geometry. The results of the second hypothesis
test revealed a significant correlation between teachers' emotional intelligence and
students' performance in circle geometry. Therefore, emotional intelligence will help
to build a positive relationship between the teacher and the students, which in turn
will promote positive rapport, good understanding, and ways of solving mathematical
problems. reported a strong influence of students' emotional intelligence on their physics
performance, which aligns well with these findings. The results of this study align
with the findings of , who found that emotional intelligence abilities are crucial indicators of academic
success, significantly impacting students' performance, and the higher the emotional
intelligence, the higher the students' performance. These findings highlight the importance
of teachers' interpersonal abilities as predictors of students' performance in circle
geometry.
Conclusion
The research findings showed that teachers' creativity-fostering behaviours significantly
predicted (58%) students' performance in circle geometry. This underscores the crucial
impact of the teacher's actions on students' performance. Similarly, the study revealed
that the emotional intelligence of the teacher is an important predictor (41%) of
the performance of the students in circle geometry. A classroom environment that promotes
creativity gives students options, encourages diverse ideas, enhances self-confidence,
motivates them to study, and incorporates creative learning methods. Teachers with
emotional intelligence may engage their students more effectively, understand their
feelings and well-being, handle disruptive behaviour and academic accomplishments,
and develop relationships with sensitivity. The findings and information on motivation
will stimulate the desire of the mathematics teachers to constantly come for classes
and effectively discharge their duties. It is concluded that students can use their
creative abilities when exposed to a positive learning environment. Teachers will
learn that students display varying emotions, which means they cannot behave uniformly.
The teachers need to assess how students think, evaluate, or perceive themselves for
better achievement in both internal and external examinations.
This study has some limitations. First, only teachers and students in Aguata Education
Zone, Anambra State, were used for this study. Future researchers should replicate
this study with a wider geographic scope to ensure generalisability. It is possible
that some respondents misrepresented their responses, which might have somewhat impacted
the study's findings; therefore, other instruments may be used by future researchers
to replicate this study over an extended period to check the consistency of the results.
It was therefore recommended that teachers create multiple ways to solve mathematical
problems and tasks that play to the unique strengths of each student. Mathematics
teachers should participate in constant in-service training to better prepare them
with cutting-edge teaching techniques to meet the individual needs of the students.
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