In a changing technological society, creativity is recognized as the vehicle of economic and social growth. Although the education system has a central role in developing all students’ creativity, it is not often nurtured in schools. Several conditions are offered to justify this situation, among them: external pressures to cover the curriculum and succeed in standardized tests that generally require rote implementation of rules and algorithmic thinking; teachers’ tendency to teach similarly to the way they themselves were taught as school students; relating creativity to giftedness, and therefore avoiding nurturing all students ’ creativity; teachers’ difficulties in assessing their students’ creativity and its development due to a lack of an available simple tool; and more. This paper is aimed at responding to the latter condition, suggesting a coherent and accessible tool or model for assessing students’ creativity and its development in the context of problem posing. The proposed model considers 4 measurable aspects of creativity-fluency, flexibility, originality and organization, and a total score of creativity that is based on relative weights of each aspect. Viewing creativity as relative, the scores for these 4 aspects reflect lea r ner’s achievements in relation to his or her reference group. The proposed model has two flexible components—the first relates to teachers’ interpretation of originality, and the second relates to the weights they may wish to ascribe each aspect of creativity. In addition, it is suggested to provide learners with a graphical display of their scores and progress in order to enable them to refine their products in successive iterations. The examples in this paper are taken from mathematics; however the proposed model can be adapted to any other discipline.
KeywordsEvaluation of CreativityProblem PosingThe “What-If-Not?” StrategySelf-Assessment of Creativity
Aljughaiman, A., & Reynolds, E. (2005). Teachers’ conceptions of creativity and creative students. Journal of Creative Behavior, 39, 17-34. doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.2005.tb01247.x
Andiliou, A., & Murphy, K. P. (2010). Examining variations among researchers’ and teachers’ conceptualizations of creativity: A review and synthesis of contemporary research. Educational Research Re view, 5, 201-219. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2010.07.003
Balka, D. S. (1974). Creative ability in mathematics. Arithmetic Teacher, 21, 633-363.
Beghetto, R. A. (2006). Creative justice? The relationship between prospective teachers’ prior schooling experiences and perceived importance of promoting student creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 40, 149-162. doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.2006.tb01270.x
Beghetto, R. A., & Kaufnan, J. C. (2009). Do we all have multicreative potential? ZDM Mathematics Education, 41, 39-44. doi:10.1007/s11858-008-0143-7
Brandau, L. I., & Dossey, J. A. (1979). Processes involved in mathematical divergent problem-solving. San Francisco: American Educational Research Association.
Brookhart, S., Andolina, M., Zuza, M., & Furman, R. (2004). Minute math: An action research study of student self-assessment. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 57, 213-227. doi:10.1023/B:EDUC.0000049293.55249.d4
Brown, S. I., & Walter, M. I. (1969). What if not? Mathematics Teaching, 46, 38-45.
Brown, S. I., & Walter, M. I. (1990). The art of problem posing. Hills dale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Chamberlin, S. A., & Moon, S. (2005). Model-eliciting activities: An introduction to gifted education. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17, 37-47.
Craft, A. (2001). Little c creativity. In A. Craft, B. Jeffrey, & M. Leibling (Eds.), Creativity in education. London: Continuum.
Craft, A. (2009). Trusteeship, wisdom, and the creative future of education. http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/unesco/ejournal/pdf/craft.pdf
Cunningham, R. (2004). Problem posing: An opportunity for increasing student responsibility. Mathematics and Computer Education, 38, 83-89.
Ellerton, N. F., & Clarkson, P. C. (1996). Language factors in mathematics teaching and learning. In A. I. Bishop (Eds.), International handbook of mathematics education (pp. 987-1033). Alphen aanden Rijn: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Enz, B., & Serafini, F. (1995). Involving students in the assessment process. Teaching PreK-8, 25, 96-97.
Feldman, D. H., & Benjamin, A. C. (2006). Creativity and education: An American retrospective. Cambridge Journal of Education, 36, 319-336. doi:10.1080/03057640600865819
Fryer, M. (1996). Creative teaching and learning. London: Paul Chap man Publishing Ltd.
Hall, L. D., Fisher, C., Musanti, S., & Halquist, D. (2006). Professional development in teacher education: What can we learn from PT3? Tech Trends, 50, 25-31. doi:10.1007/s11528-006-7600-3
Haylock, D. W. (1986). Mathematical creativity in schoolchildren. Journal of Creative Behavior, 21, 48-59. doi:10.1002/j.2162-6057.1987.tb00452.x
Henry, J. (2009). Enhancing creativity with M.U.S.I.C. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 5, 199-211.
Honsberger, R. (1985). Mathematical gems III. The Mathematical Association of America.
Lavy I., & Shriki, A. (2008). Investigating changes in prospective teachers’ views of a “Good Teacher” while engaging in a computerized Project-Based-Learning. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 11, 259-284. doi:10.1007/s10857-008-9073-0
Lavy, I., & Shriki, A. (2010). Engaging in problem-posing activities in a dynamic geometry setting and the development of prospective teachers’ mathematical knowledge. Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 29, 11-24. doi:10.1016/j.jmathb.2009.12.002
Leikin, R. (2009). Exploring mathematical creativity using multiple solution tasks. In R. Leikin, A. Berman, & B. Koichu (Eds.), Creativity in mathematics and the education of gifted students (pp. 129-145). Rotterdam: Sense Publisher.
Lin, Y.-S. (2011). Fostering creativity through education—A conceptual framework of creative pedagogy. Creative Education, 2, 149-155. doi:10.4236/ce.2011.23021
Mann, E. L. (2006). Creativity: The essence of mathematics. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30, 236-260.
Martinez-Cruz, A. M., & Contreras, J. N. (2002). Changing the goal: An adventure in problem solving, problem posing, and symbolic meaning with a TI-92. Mathematics Teacher, 95, 592-597.
NACCCE (1999). All our futures: Creativity, culture and education, national advisory committee on creative and cultural education. London: DFEE. http://www.cypni.org.uk/downloads/alloutfutures.pdf
NCTM—National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM.
Plucker, J. A., Beghetto, R. A., & Dow, G. T. (2004). Why isn’t creativity more important to educational psychologists? Potential, pitfalls, and future directions in creativity research. Educational Psychologists, 39, 83-96. doi:10.1207/s15326985ep3902_1
Reid, A., & Petocz, P. (2004). Learning domains and the process of creativity. The Australian Educational Researcher, 31, 45-62. doi:10.1007/BF03249519
Rowlands, S. (2011). Disciplinary boundaries for creativity. Creative Education, 2, 47-55. doi:10.4236/ce.2011.21007
Shalley, C. E., & Gilson, L. L. (2004). What leaders need to know: A review of social and contextual factors that can foster or hinder creativity. Leadership Quarterly, 15, 33-53. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.12.004
Shriki, A. (2010). Working like real mathematicians: Developing prospective teachers’ awareness of mathematical creativity through generating new concepts. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 73, 159-179. doi:10.1007/s10649-009-9212-2
Silver, E. A. (1994). On mathematical problem posing. For the Learning of mathematics, 14, 19-28.
Silver, E. A. (1997). Fostering creativity through instruction rich in mathematical problem solving and problem posing. ZDM-The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 29, 75-80. doi:10.1007/s11858-997-0003-x
Smith, C. (1997). Student self-assessment at St. Bernadette’s primary school. Primary Educator, 3, 7-9.
Sriraman, B. (2005). Are giftedness and creativity synonyms in mathematics? The Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 17, 20-36.
Stoyanova, E., & Ellerton, N. F. (1996). A framework for research into students’ problem posing. In P. Clarkson (Ed.), Technology in mathematics education (pp. 518-525). Melbourne: Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia.
Torrance, E. P. (1974). The torrance tests of creative thinking: Techni cal-norms manual. Bensenville, IL: Scholastic Testing Services.
Treffinger, D. J., Young, G. C., Selby, E. C., & Shepardson, C. (2002). Assessing creativity: A guide for education. Sarasota, FL: The National Research Center on the gifted and talented.