Developing a creative individual is one of the goals of the mathematical education system. Mathematical creativity is viewed as a product and a process. Likewise, this varies among individuals. The current study focuses on creativity in mathematics, particularly in problem-solving of the pre-service mathematics teachers in a state university in Laguna. The researchers attempted to describe the level of mathematical creativity of these pre-service teachers based on its different domains: fluency, flexibility, and originality. To measure the level of mathematical creativity of the pre-service teachers, they solved a set of non-routine problem-solving tasks presented to them. It revealed that this group of pre-service mathematics teachers have a moderate level of fluency and flexibility but a low level of originality. This finding means that they followed step-by-step solutions to derive the correct answer to the problem. However, they tend to stick to the same and usual strategies to solve the problems. This further showed that the overall level of mathematical creativity of the respondents is moderate. Findings reveal that age has no significant relationship with the level of mathematical creativity. At the same time, academic achievement significantly relates to fluency and originality as mathematical creativity measures. It is found that males and females do not significantly differ in their level of mathematical creativity. Thus, it is firmly believed that mastery of various mathematical concepts and applications of different problem-solving strategies has yet to be developed among pre-service teachers in order to attain higher levels of mathematical creativity.

Promoting contextualization in Mathematics teaching has been the advocacy of the Department of Education (DepEd) in the hope of enhancing students’ learning. Another important emphasis in the current setting is placed on the socio-cultural aspect of Mathematics education in the country. In this study, a socio-cultural Mathematics classroom adopted contextualization to enhance the higher order thinking skills of the students in a public Secondary High School in the province of Laguna. Moreover, it utilized a descriptive design but experimental in nature involving 112 Grade 8 students. Through data investigation and using Sample Paired T- Test and Pearson- Product Moment findings revealed that contextualization in a socio-cultural classroom has produced positive effects on the students’ higher order thinking skills since the performance of Grade 8 students as to their analyzing, evaluating, and creating skills significantly improved. Furthermore, contextualizing a sociocultural classroom by using everyday life scenario in connecting Mathematics to the real world and presenting the lesson with a contextual problem motivate students, challenge them to apply Mathematical reasoning to different circumstances, and deliberately involve them in higher order thinking

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