Creativity and its implications for secondary college-preparatory mathematics education

Abstract

A great deal of research has been done in the area of creativity since 1950. Nevertheless, there is still a scarcity of creativity in the schools today. There are several reasons for this situation. Part of the problem is a lack of consensus as to the meaning of creativity. The term creativity is often used by educators to mean any fun and nonintellectual activity. This misuse of the term causes the student to believe that creativity can be achieved with little effort. Another extreme position is to reserve the term only for those creative geniuses who have produced highly acclaimed products. This reflects an elitist viewpoint of creativity. Neither of these perspectives was espoused in this paper. Creativity was regarded as a universal trait to be developed in every human being. For purposes of this study, creativity was defined as an ability to go beyond the commonplace and ordinary, an ability to combine information and/or experience in a unique and insightful way