Abstract
The rapid advancement of digital technology and the increasing demand for twenty-first-century competencies require higher education institutions to adopt instructional approaches that foster higher-order thinking skills, particularly mathematical creative thinking ability. This demand is especially critical in defense-oriented higher education, where students are expected to integrate mathematical concepts, modeling, and technology to support strategic decision-making. This study aims to examine the improvement of students’ mathematical creative thinking ability through the implementation of Project Based Learning (PjBL) grounded in the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework in ellipse learning. This study employed a quantitative approach using a pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design. The participants consisted of 25 undergraduate students enrolled in the Mathematics Study Program at a defense-oriented higher education institution. Data were collected through an essay-based mathematical creative thinking test administered before and after the implementation of TPACK-based PjBL. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 27, including descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and normalized gain (N-Gain) analysis. The results indicate a significant improvement in students’ mathematical creative thinking ability after the intervention. The mean score increased from 59.24 in the pretest to 85.32 in the posttest, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). The average N-Gain score of 0.747 falls into the high category, indicating that TPACK-based PjBL is pedagogically effective in enhancing students’ mathematical creative thinking ability. These findings suggest that TPACK-based Project Based Learning is an effective and relevant instructional approach for improving mathematical creative thinking ability in analytic geometry courses within defense oriented higher education.