Connecting mathematical creativity to mathematical ability

This study aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between mathematical ability and mathematical creativity, and to examine the structure of this relationship. Furthermore, in order to validate the relationship between the two constructs, we will trace groups of students that differ across mathematical ability and investigate the relationships amongst these students’ performance on a mathematical ability test and the components of mathematical creativity. Data were collected by administering two tests, a mathematical ability and a mathematical creativity test, to 359 elementary school students. Mathematical ability was considered as a multidimensional construct, including quantitative ability (number sense and pre-algebraic reasoning), causal ability (examination of cause–effect relations), spatial ability (paper folding, perspective and spatial rotation abilities), qualitative ability (processing of similarity and difference relations) and inductive/deductive ability. Mathematical creativity was defined as a domain-specific characteristic, enabling individuals to be characterized by fluency, flexibility and originality in the domain of mathematics. The data analysis revealed that there is a positive correlation between mathematical creativity and mathematical ability. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis suggested that mathematical creativity is a subcomponent of mathematical ability. Further, latent class analysis showed that three different categories of students can be identified varying in mathematical ability. These groups of students varying in mathematical ability also reflected three categories of students varying in mathematical creativity.     

The state-of-art in mathematical creativity

Creativity is a topic which is often neglected within mathematics teaching. Usually teachers think that it is logic that is needed in mathematics in the first place, and that creativity is not important and learning mathematics. On the other hand, if we consider a mathematician who develops new results in mathematics. we cannot overlook his/her use of the creative potential. Thus, the main questions are as follows: What methods could be used to foster mathematical creativity within school situations? What scientific knowledge, i.e. research results, do we have on the meaning of mathematical creativity?     

The methods of fostering creativity through mathematical problem solving

Which methods could be used to foster mathematical creativity in school situations? The following topics are treated with the respect to this question: 1. “Open-ended approach” and “From problem to problem”, 2. Relation to mathematical creativity, 3. Teacher’s belief and the mathematics textbook.     

Some environmental and attitudinal characteristics as predictors of mathematical creativity

There are many things which can be made more useful and interesting through the application of creativity. Self-concept in mathematics and some school environmental factors such as resource adequacy, teachers’ support to the students, teachers’ classroom control, creative stimulation by the teachers, etc. were selected in the study. The sample of the study comprised 770 seventh grade students. Pearson correlation, multiple correlation, regression equation and multiple discriminant function analyses of variance were used to analyse the data. The result of the study showed that the relationship between mathematical creativity and each attitudinal and environmental characteristic was found to be positive and significant. Index of forecasting efficiency reveals that mathematical creativity may be best predicted by self-concept in mathematics. Environmental factors, resource adequacy and creative stimulation by the teachers’ are found to be the most important factors for predicting mathematical creativity, while social–intellectual involvement among students and educational administration of the schools are to be suppressive factors. The multiple correlation between mathematical creativity and attitudinal and school environmental characteristic suggests that the combined contribution of these variables plays a significant role in the development of mathematical creativity. Mahalanobis analysis indicates that self-concept in mathematics and total school environment were found to be contributing significantly to the development of mathematical creativity.     

Fostering creativity through instruction rich in mathematical problem solving and problem posing

Although creativity is often viewed as being associated with the notions of “genius” or exceptional ability, it can be productive for mathematics educators to view creativity instead as an orientation or disposition toward mathematical activity that can be fostered broadly in the general school population. In this article, it is argued that inquiry-oriented mathematics instruction which includes problem-solving and problem-posing tasks and activities can assist students to develop more creative approaches to mathematics. Through the use of such tasks and activities, teachers can increase their students’ capacity with respect to the core dimensions of creativity, namely, fluency, flexibility, and novelty. Because the instructional techniques discussed in this article have been used successfully with students all over the world, there is little reason to believe that creativity-enriched mathematics instruction cannot be used with a broad range of students in order to increase their representational and strategic fluency and flexibility, and their appreciation for novel problems, solution methods, or solutions.     

How teaching to foster mathematical creativity may impact student self-efficacy for proving

Mathematical creativity has been emphasized as an essential part of mathematics, yet little research has been done to study the effects of fostering creativity in the tertiary mathematics classroom. In this paper, we explore how fostering mathematical creativity may impact student self-efficacy for proving. For this, we developed new methods to study evidence of instructor use of Sriraman’s (2005) five principles for fostering mathematical creativity and changes in student self-efficacy via Bandura's (1997) four sources of self-efficacy. This revealed associations between four of the five principles and changes in student self-efficacy for proving, along with two instances where the combined use of principles may have provided students greater opportunities for building self-efficacy for proving. The implications of these results for teaching and future research are discussed.     

New Brunswick pre-service teachers communicate with schoolchildren about mathematical problems: CAMI project

The use of technology becomes an important didactical resource for communication in the mathematics classroom. In our paper, we will present the Internet project CAMI that allows schoolchildren from New Brunswick, Canada, to get access to a bank of rich mathematical problems, send their solutions electronically and get a personal comment from university students. The didactical potential of the CAMI Virtual Community will be discussed.     

Comparisons of mathematical creativity,some personality and biographical factors of middle school dropouts and stayins

Middle school dropouts and stayins were compared on mathematical creativity, some personality and biographical factors. Verbal and non‐verbal mathematical creativity tests, a Hindi adaptation of the Thorndike dimensions of temperament test and a biographical inventory were used on 70 dropouts and 100 stayins male students, aged 11+ to 13+ years, randomly selected, from Sultanpur District, India. The results showed that: (1) mathematical creativity of dropouts was found to be lower than stayins; (2) dropouts were found to be sociable, accepting, reflective, lethargic and casual in nature whereas stayins were found to be solitary, critical, practical, premeditated, active and responsible in nature; and (3) the level of family income, professional background of the family, parents’ education, standard of living, interest‐patterns, attitude and level of aspiration of the stayins were found to be higher than of the dropouts.     

Tests of creativity in mathematics

A considerable amount of research on ways of testing creative ability in mathematics is now being written and this takes two forms. On the one hand there are fundamental researches which try to provide diagnostic test items on mathematical creativity and then to use these to find the relationship between this variable and a number of others. On the other hand there are attempts to create assessment items which try to measure the end‐product of a modern discovery‐based mathematics curriculum. This paper examines the criteria and form of some of these items.     

Some applications of mathematical programming to problems in mathematical physics

Siberian Mathematical Journal -     

Ethics in mathematical education

The rising of non-Euclidean geometries forces mathematicians to go beyond the criterion of truth and to pose as priority the criterion of freedom. This criterion gains meaning in the circular path that links ethos with logos and it makes us able of experimenting with the wealth of the values of theory. Mathematical education thus finds a new dimension it abandons the ambit of only formal constructions and finds again its role in the determination of the frames on which the originary ethos constructs its “intrinsic geometry”. The role of Bayes’ law in edueation to tolerance is an example of these frames.     

Teacher flexibility in mathematical discussion

The significance of discussion in mathematics classes has been prominently debated in the research literature. Different studies have stressed the importance of teacher flexibility in orchestrating the discussion. We introduce an operational definition of teacher flexibility. In a case study with one secondary-school mathematics teacher, we microanalyzed discussion situations in which the teacher had to change her plan according to unforeseen student replies. The analysis was aimed at characterizing situations in which the teacher was either flexible or inflexible in her interactions with students and describing the factors that affected her flexibility. We suggest four basic patterns of teacher flexibility and discuss the complexity of the factors that shape them.