4 ways to encourage creativity in math instruction
As teachers, we should strive to encourage creativity in all subjects. Creativity in the classroom encourages a growth mindset, trying new methods, allowing for deep thinking, problem solving, practice of skills in a safe-space.
1. Math games
- Math games might be the simplest way to make math feel more creative. Instead of giving them a worksheet, you can use card games or board games to allow students to work on math problems while making it fun for them.
I have created a board game to for adding mixed fractions. You can find it here
2.Hands-on approach
- finding real life examples of math problems helps students see math is all around.
I made a picture book of everywhere you can find arrays in real life you can find it here
3. Using manipulatives in all grades not just the lower grades
- Using manipulatives helps students move objects around and gives them a better understanding because they are physically moving an object that represents part of the number.
4. Teach a variety of strategies
- Each student is different and while some may be able to do things the traditional way, others might need a variety of ways to solve the problem. For example, in multiplication you can use base ten blocks to represent the numbers by breaking them down into hundreds, tens and ones. If you have 22 x 19 You would put two ten rods followed by two ones cubes on top of the paper, and then down the left side you would put one tens rod followed by nine ones cubes. The tens would multiply to make a one hundred cube, the ones cube multiplied by a tens rod would make a tens rod. Then the ones by ones would make a ones cube. After students master that, they can move on to drawing the blocks on paper. Another way of teaching multiplication is the place value way. You would expand 22 x 19 to 20 +2 and 10 + 9. You would write a 20 on top in the tens place and a 2 in the ones place. On the left side you would write a 10 in the tens place and a 9 in the ones place. After that you multiply 20 by 10, 10 by 2, 9 by 20, and 2 by 9.