Working like real mathematicians

Atara Shriki has written an interesting article called Working like real mathematicians: developing prospective teachers’ awareness of mathematical creativity through generating new concepts. This article was recently published online in Educational Studies in Mathematics. The author reports from a study related to a methods course, where a strong focus is on creativity in mathematics. The article has a particular focus on prospective teachers' awarenes of creativity in mathematics.

Here is the abstract of Shriki's article.

This paper describes the experience of a group of 17 prospective mathematics teachers who were engaged in a series of activities aimed at developing their awareness of creativity in mathematics. This experience was initiated on the basis of ideas proposed by the participants regarding ways creativity of school students might be developed. Over a period of 6 weeks, they were engaged in inventing geometrical concepts and in the examination of their properties. The prospective teachers’ reflections upon the process they underwent indicate that they developed awareness of various aspects of creativity while deepening their mathematical and didactical knowledge.