Why mathematical creativity?

There is a pressing interest from society for creativity being central in education, as evidence by the most viewed TED Talk of all time, ​"Do schools kill creativity?" by Sir Ken Robinson.

Mathematicians need to be creative in their research, CEOs across the world believe that creativity is an essential skill for their employees, and math organizations are requesting that creativity be involved in the undergraduate classroom.

So how do we value mathematical creativity in the undergraduate classroom?

The Creativity-in-Progress Reflections (CPR) - on Proving and Problem Solving

The CPRs on Proving/Problem Solving are research-based tools developed by conducting studies exploring mathematicians’ and students’ views on mathematical creativity, investigating students' proving and problem-solving attempts, and triangulating these results with research-based reflections and existing theoretical frameworks and related studies. These metacognitive tools are aimed at enhancing undergraduate students' mathematical creativity in their mathematics courses. Two categories featured on the CPRs are Making Connections and Taking Risks. Making Connections is defined as the ability to connect the proving task with definitions, theorems, multiple representations, or examples from the current course that a student is in or possible prior course experiences. Taking Risks is defined as the ability to actively attempt a proof, demonstrate flexibility in using multiple approaches or techniques, posing questions about reasoning within the attempts, and evaluating those attempts. 

Creativity calls. Will you answer?

PUBLICATIONS

Our publications are listed, with links to either open-souce or pre-printed papers on mathematical creativity in proving.

PRESENTATIONS

We presented at various conferences, colloquia, and events. All our presentations and powerpoint/beamer slides about mathematical creativity are included.

BIOGRAPHIES

The backgrounds of each of our members are highlighted, including our diversity in citizenship, university affiliation, and motivation for researching creativity.