Mathematical Creativity in Upper Elementary School Mathematics Curricula

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Engagement and Mathematical Creativity (Table 11)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze some of the most used elementary school mathematics curricula (i.e., GoMath, enVision Math, Math Connects, MyMath, and Investigations) in the U.S. to identify how well they are designed to support the development of student’s creative thinking skills. Analyzing 1,000 mathematical tasks revealed that Eureka followed by Investigations included more creativity-directed tasks than the other three curricula. For some categories and subcategories of creativity-directed tasks (e.g., communication, connection), the results are less varied across five curricula. The present study enables school districts, schools, and classroom teachers to know what curricula support the development of creative thinking of students by including various options of creativity-directed tasks in their upper elementary mathematics textbooks.

Authors

• Ali Bicer, Texas A&M University

• Aysenur Bicer, University of Wyoming

• Yujin Lee, Kangwon National University