MULTI-CREA Model for Teaching Mathematics in Multigrade Contexts with Verification Using the Neutrosophic Delphi Method

Abstract

This is an exploratory and motivational study with elementary school students in a multi-grade classroom. We develop a flexible and holistic teaching approach "MULTI-CREA" to stimulate mathematical thinking in multi-grade settings related to local employment and respective needs, considerate of students' cognitive and linguistic inclusivity. The collected data are consistent with qualitative research design featuring action research, documentary analysis and construction of teaching sequences based on students' future employment. The teaching sequence stresses motivations and abilities in the respective field, field leadership and teamwork, interdisciplinary relevance and integration of multidisciplinary mathematical thinking. The subsequent validation of the approach is reinforced by the Neutrosophic Delphi Method—truth, indeterminacy and falsity—which assists in addressing ambiguities and contradictions in expert recommendations and increases the relativity of the teaching sequences assessed within the multi-grade classroom. The results mean the flow of knowledge from asymmetric peers, which shorten the learning time while interest and integration come from family, school and community settings, developing employment-oriented mathematical thinking for assessment purposes.