It is shocking to me that the creativity involved in math is often overlooked...A professor at my school is dedicated to integrating creativity in her coursework to ensure students are engaged and excited throughout the entire course. It was in her course that my interest into the topic of number theory grew."
- Peyton, first-generation female undergraduate student, in her application to a summer math program
The CRG obtained a National Science Foundation grant to investigate how fostering creativity in calculus affects both instructors and students.We believe that if instructors foster creativity in their classroom, students, similar to Peyton, may reshape their mathematical identities. This reshaping may help students to persist in STEM degrees.
Our project has two aims:
1. Develop and utilize the Creativity-in-Progress Rubric (CPR) on Problem Solving to explicitly value creativity in Calculus I. We will conduct fundamental research on undergraduate STEM teaching practices by examining how instructors employ the rubric, as well as pedagogical actions they use to attend to their students’ affect throughout the course.
2. Investigate effects of valuing creativity using the CPR on Problem Solving on students’ mathematical identities. Measures of mathematical identity in this project include affect (e.g., confidence, self-efficacy, and math appreciation), mathematical behaviors (e.g., valuing creativity, persistence in problem solving, taking risks, and making connections), and academic choices in their future.
Our project has two aims:
1. Develop and utilize the Creativity-in-Progress Rubric (CPR) on Problem Solving to explicitly value creativity in Calculus I. We will conduct fundamental research on undergraduate STEM teaching practices by examining how instructors employ the rubric, as well as pedagogical actions they use to attend to their students’ affect throughout the course.
2. Investigate effects of valuing creativity using the CPR on Problem Solving on students’ mathematical identities. Measures of mathematical identity in this project include affect (e.g., confidence, self-efficacy, and math appreciation), mathematical behaviors (e.g., valuing creativity, persistence in problem solving, taking risks, and making connections), and academic choices in their future.
Figure 1: Our Conjecture for the Project
For Goal 2, we will have 3 cohorts of instructors implementing the CPR on Problem Solving developed in Goal 1 (Cohort 1 - Spring 2019 ; Cohort 2 – Spring 2020; Cohort 3 - Fall 2020).
Instructor participants will be expected to participate in the following activities:
Instructor participants will be expected to participate in the following activities:
- The research team designed two tasks developed for Goal 1 as models. Each instructor designs four non-routine tasks in Calculus I that aim at fostering mathematical creativity.
- Each cohort meets online once a week for professional development to design and discuss these tasks, and develops implementation and assessment plans for these tasks in the classroom, noting any needed adjustments or improvements. The plan of implementation includes: learning outcomes, description of task, description of implementation, timeline of implementation in the weekly calendar of the class, and grading scheme.
- Instructors are also required to scan or take photos of students’ work on the tasks for discussion.
- Each instructor is supplied an iPad and stand to record their class. Instructors are required to upload to a cloud-based drive. We would like all classes recorded, but we require recording in the classes that the creativity-based tasks are discussed.
- We are conducting a qualitative study with instructors as the unit of analysis. We will explore how instructors incorporate the CPR on Problem Solving and creativity-based tasks in the course design, assess students’ work on creativity-based tasks, and attend to students’ affect. To do this, we are collecting
- students’ work assessed by the instructor to see the instructors’ feedback,
- video recordings of class sessions,
- instructor journal entries, and
- instructor semi-structured interviews.
Figure 2: Faculty Expectations and Timeline
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under DUE Grant Nos. 1836369 and 1836371. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
