Every child is creative, but every child expresses creativity in a unique way. Math is often the last subject that comes in mind to many people when we talk about creativity. Quoting a Gr 3 student, “all the kids don’t like math because it’s boring being smart”.
Yes, to some kids, math might be boring. But many of them are expressing their creativity through math without even knowing it!
In this two-part series, I am going to talk about how parents and teachers can recognize a creative thinker in math, and more importantly, ways to nurture this creativity.
How to spot a creative thinker in math?
1) There is a desire for working independently of both teachers and other students.
This is the kid who tends to say, “wait, let me try” or “wait, don’t tell me the answer” because they want to figure out the solution to the problem themselves. They find joy in the mathematical thinking process more than getting the correct answer. To them, it is the thinking process that makes math interesting and solving a problem fulfilling.
2) They find pleasure out of communicating mathematics with others of equal ability and interest.
Communicating mathematics with others range from thinking aloud with group members to sharing their ideas. Creative thinkers in math often don’t care about whether their ideas will lead to the correct solution and answer. They care about building ideas, which stimulates them further through the mathematical process.
For example, in an activity where we began at the coordinate (2, 3) and students are told to find the new coordinate after moving 4 units to the right and 5 units up. The creative thinker in math figured out and could not wait to yell out his idea that instead of counting unit by unit, simply add 2+4 and 3+5, to get the new coordinate (6, 8).
3) They have the ability to perform many operations in their own way or without thinking.
How many ways can you think of to find the answer to 20÷3 x 6?
Or how many ways can you think of to find 25 x 25?
Creative thinkers challenge themselves in coming up with different ways to solve a problem.
For example, in 20÷3 x 6, one of my creative thinker students figured out that if he multiples both 20 and 3 by 2, then he would have 40÷6 x 6. Without having to perform any other steps, he immediately concludes that 40÷6x 6 = 40, since 40 divides by 6 and then multiplies by 6.
A lot of students would consider 25 x 25 a challenge. No doubt it is tedious to get through all the steps if an elementary school student follows the traditional, vertical method of multiplying. I was working with an SK student who figured this out:
25 x 25
= (25 x 4) x (25 ÷ 4)
= 100 x (25 ÷ 2 ÷ 2)
= 100 x (12.5 ÷ 2)
= 100 x 6.25
= 625
The calculations become effortless. All it took was some logical reasoning.
4) They make up mathematical symbols of their own.
When kids make up their own mathematical symbols, it tends to show that they don’t just see math as a set of rules that they are asked to follow. By making up their own symbols, names, or rules, they are bringing in the humanistic side of math. Some math rules are discovered by humans and some math rules are constructed by humans to help solve greater problems. These early math learners definitely recognize that.
For example, a Grade 1 student I worked with labelled 11, 22, 33, 44,…and so on, as “twin numbers”. He also said that adding two twin numbers will result in another twin number.
Check out Part 2 of this series for more ideas and ways to nurture creativity in early math learners.
Written by Mandy Lam
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