Questions tagged [creativity]

For questions about identifying, promoting, and fostering intellectual creativity in students of mathematics.

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26 votes
9 answers
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How can mathematics educators encourage innovation and creativity?

Almost by definition, innovation requires that things be done differently than established custom has it, and comes from the young more often than from the old. In a field as old and established as ...
Confutus's user avatar
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36 votes
24 answers
6k views

Imbuing a six year old with a sense of mathematical wonder

My six year old started school a few months back and he's loving it. This first year is more about social skills than anything academic and I like that approach. But we're spending some time at home ...
Mathdad's user avatar
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41 votes
5 answers
3k views

Effects of early study of advanced books

Context: There was recently a question on Math.SE: Inferior to Other Younger and Brighter Kids which starts as follows: I'm a high school student (Junior/Grade 11) and I'm currently studying ...
dtldarek's user avatar
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13 votes
3 answers
1k views

Moving From Rote Learning To Creative Thinking

My mathematics education was essentially rote, you learned the formulas and applied them almost algorithmically to the problems you were presented with; the teacher dictated a method and you followed ...
seeker's user avatar
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10 votes
4 answers
685 views

Creativity in mathematics

I have recently been engaging more and more with my creative side by drawing, writing, and (trying to) playing piano. I have come to see mathematics as much more of a creative field of study than I ...
celeriko's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Jason Padgett's "Struck by Genius"

Can anyone comment knowledgeably on this intriguingly titled book? I have received publisher's promotional materials (as no doubt have many of you), but I know nothing about it. Jason Padgett. ...
Joseph O'Rourke's user avatar
13 votes
5 answers
884 views

Descriptive Thinking vs. Formal Writing

Sometimes I come across some exam answers which describe a proof sketch or a counterexample very well but are not written formally. Such proofs show that a particular student understands the general ...
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12 votes
2 answers
454 views

Correctness in learning mathematics

I came to mathematics via physics, in part because of the reputation of physics as allowing "non-rigorous" reasoning. The subject felt more free and less anal-retentive than mathematics. This is not ...
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