The Effect of Augmented Reality (AR)-Assisted Problem-Based Learning (PBL) on Students’ Mathematical Creative Thinking Skills

Procedural mathematics learning limits students’ mathematical creative thinking skills, causing the development of these skills to receive suboptimal attention. This study examines how integrating the Augmented Reality (AR)-enhanced Problem-Based Learning (PBL) through Assemblr Edu has an impact on the mathematical creative thinking skills of tenth-grade high school students in trigonometry ratios. A quasi-experimental approach featuring a nonequivalent control group design was executed, involving an experimental class (n = 30) that underwent AR-assisted PBL and a control class (n = 30) undergoing conventional instruction. Participants were chosen via purposive sampling, and data were collected through valid contextual open-ended essay tests at SMAN 13 Depok. The Mann-Whitney test revealed a significant difference in creative thinking skills between the groups (p < 0.05) with a large effect size of 0.673. The experimental class achieved higher score gains than the control class in fluency (47.08 vs. 38.75), originality (40.83 vs. 22.45), and elaboration (51.67 vs. 31.66), due to spatial visual exploration. Conversely, the control class recorded a slightly higher gain in flexibility (39.16 vs. 36.24), due to habituation to a single procedural method rather than genuine conceptual flexibility. Overall, AR-assisted PBL positively influences creative thinking by fostering 3D visual exploration and open-mindedness.