Fostering Creativity in the Science and Mathematics Classroom

Fostering Creativityin the Science and Mathematics Classroom Sheila Tobias

Author • Overcoming Math Anxiety • Succeed with Math • Breaking the Science Barrier • Revitalizing Undergraduate Science • The Hidden Curriculum: Faculty-Made Tests in Science • They’re not Dumb, They’re Different • Rethinking Science as a Career

Why Creativity is Importantto America’s Future Innovation EducationScienceMathCreativity NewBusiness Economy New Jobs

Innovation=Bringing an Invention or a New Idea to Market • Not enough to generate creative technical people • Have to educate business leaders to understand and appreciate inventiveness • This means: Science and Mathematics for All

Capacity to InnovateWhat the Scholars Tell us • The cognitive ability to produce novel and valuable ideas [Torrance, 1988] Students who use content in creative ways learn the content well. They also learn strategies for identifying problems, making decisions, and finding solutions both in and out of school. [Starko, 1994] • 21st century schools should foster creativity, judgement, the ability to think, and the power of expression [Ogawa, Kuehn-Ebert, Devito, 1991].

When the Teacher Values Creativity in the Science/Mathematics Classroom • Modeling Creativity • Stimulating Creativity • Rewarding Creativity • (above all) Not Punishing Creativity

The Opposite: Rote Learning [Refs: Torrance, 1962,Weistein, 1991 Takahashi, 1993] • Memorization • Recognition of learned materials • Recitation • Seatwork • Teacher-directed small group discussions • Structured instructions

Creativity Educationin General is Fostered by • Student-Centered classroom • High-level Interaction with teacher, with other students • Less structured lesson plan • Exposure to various learning strategies; allowing students to choose their own • Active participation (performance) • Self-management

Personality Variables and General Creativity • Passionate, positive, tenacious, and energetic • Has a long attention span • Does not like a biased view or prejudice • Unique and original, divergent thinking • High self esteem • Looks for various solutions, even after a single solution has been found

But may be Difficult to Teach • Perseverance: sticks to an idea but • Is often impatient • Must finish what he/she starts • Responsible and tenacious but • Indifferent to others’ opinions • Spontaneous, headstrong, even rude

How do you knowwhat you thinkyou know? What would youlike to know? What doyou know? Do you knowwhat you thoughtyou knew? What newinformationhave youlearned? Topic

Cultivating a Proper Attitude toward Errors “I find my mistakes interesting; my confusions even more so. They are windows into my thinking.” “What is making this problem difficult for me? How can I make it easier for myself?” Reif’s “extra points” – Distinguish your trivial from nontrivial errors. Describe how you will avoid trivial errors. Discuss your nontrivial errors in some detail.

Question Posing [Bloom, 1956, Himsl and Millar, 1993] Bloom found that >95% of test questions are at Lowest level, recall of information

Question Posing 2 Himsl and Millar (1993) • Stage One – Gathering Information • Factual: what? why? how many? • Procedural: information as to how something happened • Stage Two – Organizing Information: • Higher level “why” questions including “why not” questions • Stage Three – Extending Information • Hypothetical questions: what might happen next? What else might have happened? • Speculative questions: creating new knowledge

Teaching Techniques • Mosteller’s Minute Paper: • 1. What was the theme of this unit? • 2.What would you like to learn more about? • 3. What was the muddiest issue?

Thoughts Feelings Speculations What if Questions Solution in a logical sequential form Divided Page Exercise

Three part Math Exam • One-third credit for the correct answer • One-third credit for finding MORE than one way to solve the problem • One-third credit for writing a paragraph-long essay on what makes the problem mathematically interesting • (This could be done for science, as well)

Making Use of Other People’s Research • Crux issues in experimental research • Stories around research breakthroughs • Description of current unsolved problems

Vary Approach: Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences(1983, 1999) Verbal Existential Musical Naturalist Kinesthetic Visual Logic Interpersonal Math

Inquiry-Based Learning • Change in Emphasis from “What we Know” to “How we come to know.” • Development of inquiry skills • Nurturing of inquiring attitudes, habits of mind • Going from known to unknown to generating new knowledge • Becoming not an “all-knower” but an “expert learner” • Arons: Introduction to Teaching of Physics • MacDermott

Constructivism • Theory: • Learners are active creators of their own knowledge by asking questions, exploring subject, and constantly assessing what and how they know. • Each new knowledge must be reconciled with prior understanding; else false models (previous knowledge/paradigms) continue to prevail • Teaching through pupil-generated experiments, real-world problem solving, discussion, debate • Role of Teacher: • Coach

Developing Expert Learner • Expert sees patterns and meaning not apparent to novices • Experts have in-depth knowledge of their fields, structured so that it is most useful • Facts in experts’ memory are accessible, transferable, and applicable to a variety of situations • Experts can easily retrieve their knowledge and learn new information in their fields with little effort.

Concept Mapping [Ausubel, Novak, U.S. Buzan, U.K.] • Teacher use: • To communicate complex ideas • Student use: • To explicitly integrate new and old knowledge • Assessment use: • To assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding

The Latest Word on “Learning Styles” Abuse: “Don’t expect me to take notes teacher. I’m an auditory learner.” Facts: Most professionals use more than one learning style, choose most suitable to problem/situation Our goal as educators is to “e-ducare” lead one out of one’s comfort zone into new methods of learning

References • www.sheilatobias.com • www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/month6/ • www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.html • Journal of Creative Behavior • Ai-Girl, Tan, “Singaporean Teachers’ Perception of Activities Useful for Fostering Creativity” (2001) • Norko Srek, Xitro Fan, Lani Van Dusen,“A Comparative Study of Creative Thinking of American and Japanese College Students” (2001). • Howard Gardner, “Frames of Mind” (1983), “The Disciplined Mind” (1999), “Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligence for the 21st Century” (1999). • National Science Resources Center www.nsrconline.org • J.D. Novak,, “Clarify with Concept maps (1991), How do we learn our lesson? (1993) • M.J. Lawson “Concept Mapping,” 1994 • T. Buzan “The MindMap book”, 1995. • Richard Felder, Learning Styles

Fostering Creativity in the Science and Mathematics Classroom