Teachers' attitudes toward students' mistakes and students’ mathematical creativity: The mediating role of diagnostic skills in a multi-level model based on organizational creative theory

Background Although the importance of mathematical creativity is increasingly recognized, the relationships between teacher-related factors and students' mathematical creativity remain unclear. Teachers' attitudes toward students' mistakes and their diagnostic skills have been identified as potentially relevant factors; however, their relationships with students’ mathematical creativity have not yet been fully examined. Objective Drawing on Organizational Creativity Theory, this study examines teachers' diagnostic skills as a mediator in the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward student mistakes and students’ mathematical creativity, assessed through problem-posing tasks in terms of fluency, flexibility, and originality. Sample This study employed purposive sampling and included 81 middle school mathematics teachers from different regions of China and 2046 students from their classes. Methods Teacher questionnaire data and student mathematical creativity task responses were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modeling. Results Teachers' attitudes toward student mistakes significantly and positively predicted teachers' diagnostic skills ( β = 0.42), and teachers' diagnostic skills significantly and positively predicted students' mathematical creativity ( β = 0.85). Teachers' diagnostic skills significantly mediated the association between teachers' attitudes toward student mistakes and students’ mathematical creativity (indirect effect β = 0.36). Conclusion These results help clarify how (i.e., through teachers' diagnostic skills) the effects of teachers' attitudes toward students' mistakes on students’ mathematical creativity are strengthened. The findings are also consistent with the proposition in Organizational Creativity Theory that group-level processes are important for understanding the association between contextual factors and individual creative outcomes.