Pre-service primary teachers’ conceptions of creativity in mathematics

By David Bolden, T. Harries, Douglas Newton. 2010

156 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Teachers in the UK and elsewhere are now expected to foster creativity in young children (NACCCE, 1999; Ofsted, 2003; DfES, 2003; DfES/DCMS, 2006). Creativity, however, is more often associated with the arts than with mathematics. The aim of the study was to explore and document pre-service (in the UK, pre-service teachers are referred to as ‘trainee’ teachers) primary teachers’ conceptions of creativity in mathematics teaching in the UK. A questionnaire probed their conceptions early in their course, and these were supplemented with data from semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the responses indicated that pre-service teachers’ conceptions were narrow, predominantly associated with the use of resources and technology and bound up with the idea of ‘teaching creatively’ rather than ‘teaching for creativity’. Conceptions became less narrow as pre-service teachers were preparing to enter schools as newly qualified, but they still had difficulty in identifying ways of encouraging and assessing creativity in the classroom. This difficulty suggests that conceptions of creativity need to be addressed and developed directly during pre-service education if teachers are to meet the expectations of government as set out in the above documents.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Visual Arts and Performing Arts

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/1a381c0caefde315518c342f42902313771d174c

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

In Visual Arts and Performing Arts

R. Leikin

Citations in the corpus

CREATING MANIPULATIVES: IMPROVING STUDENTS' CREATIVITY THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING (2019, background): “The students' knowledge is not limited to mathematical knowledge but also the knowledge associated with daily life (Bolden, 2010).”
Teachers’ views on creativity in mathematics education: an international survey (2013, unknown): “Bolden et al. (2010) analyzed written questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with prospective elementary school teachers about their conceptions of creativity, and showed that these conceptions were narrow and associated with their own unique actions.”
Creative mathematics teaching in the eye of the beholder: focusing on teachers' conceptions (2011, background): “This trend leads to the appreciation of the centrality of creativity in the mathematics classroom (Haylock 1987 ; Mann 2006 ; Bolden, Harries, and Newton 2010 ) and the importance of developing creativity in each and every student, as well as in each and every teacher.”