Unleashing Creativity with iPads in Mathematics Alex Shum
Head of Mathematics Royal St. George’s College Toronto Ontario Canada
International Boys’ Schools Coalition Action Research Program 2013 Boys, Technology and Creativity
• Beghetto, R. (2005). Does assessment kill student creativity? The
Educational Forum, 69 (2), 254-263.
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• Loveless, A. (2002). Literature review in creativity. new technologies and learning. Bristol: Futurelab
• Mann, E. (2006). Creativity: The essence of Mathematics. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(2), 236 - 260.
• Prenksy, M. (2001). Do they really think differently? On the Horizon, October [ pp 1-6] Retrieved from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20- %20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part2.pdf
• Reichert, M. & Hawley, R. (2010). Reaching boys teaching boys: Strategies
that work and why. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
The full report of this project and an online copy of this poster are available at http://www.theibsc.org/. Researcher’s email: [email protected]
Introduction
• Engaging boys in mathematical research heightens curiosity; empowers action; nurtures creativity (Reichert & Hawley, 2010).
• Digital technologies – develops new ideas, makes connections, encourages creativity, heightens collaboration, communication, evaluation (Loveless, 2002).
• Student-created products integrating up-to-date digital technology engage boys in learning (Reichert & Hawley 2012).
• Royal St George’s boys habituated in mobile technology.
• Using iPads & video technology within student-driven project-based learning task may help boys become meaningful producers of Mathematics – not consumers.
Conclusions
• iPads “made the project more fun because we can get our message across and use things [not typical] in the everyday scenario of math class”.
• Integrating iPad, with Explain Everything into open-ended project helped
foster creativity.
• Students embraced failure - keen to not give up leading to new ideas to solve problems.
• Risk-taking & decision making & critical thinking increased.
Implications on of Study on Practice • 1-1 iPad model necessary to create environment in which flow could be
experienced.
• Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Policy should be considered.
• Cloud storage service worthwhile to implement.
• iPad version of office-type applications worthwhile.
• Sharing completed projects during a “debut” would be more robust using AirServer, AirPlay, AppleTV or other wireless many-to-one options.
“How can using video and tablet technologies encourage boys to express greater
creativity in their mathematical investigations?”
• Traditional/ predictive collection & analysis of data, a written report with
spreadsheet & graph, using equation editor embedded in word processor for mathematical research devoid of creative thinking/problem solving.
• Trialed open approach – topic of choice - via video (Explain Everything video app) with iPad.
• Choice, time in class, access to any tools compatible with iPad to facilitate creative thinking.
Data Collection
Questionnaire - familiarity with iPad & video publishing technologies.
One-to-one interviews on first impressions with iPad, Explain Everything app and Mathematics.
Online survey with quantitative & open-ended prompts on themes identified from interviews.
Class discussion recorded with iPhone Voice Recorder.
•
Questionnaire responses reviewed to guide tutorial and instruction.
Notes from interviews reviewed - common themes were coded: Engagement, Technology, & Creativity.
Themes targeted - online survey presenting quantitative results graphically, & comments grouped/ highlighted..
Audio recordings replayed to elaborate notes & distill insightful comments.
• Boys demonstrated little creativity in applying mathematical principles to demonstrate plausible relationships.
• All fourteen (14) students in a Grade 9 Principles of Mathematics class (MPM1D) volunteered to participate.
• Mixed ability, representative of the majority of students in the grade.
Introduction
The Research Question
Research Context & Participants
The Research Action
Key Readings
Key Findings
Conclusions
ON TECHNOLOGY: “It allowed me to express my thinking more than pen and paper can…I can record myself as well as use images and text. I found the fact that I could speak to people through recording. It was especially helpful that I could show steps on the screen at the same time.”
ON CREATIVITY: “helps bring art to math and helps [make] math more than just equations and charts.”
ON ENGAGEMENT: “I was always excited to come to Math class… it made me want to keep working.”
ON CREATIVITY: “I just feel as
though math is very straight
to the point and using the
iPad can change that.”
ON TECHNOLOGY: “So many features that I could put together my presentation the way I wanted.”
ON ENGAGEMENT: “It was like I was using a toy which makes it easier to be creative.”
ON CREATIVITY: “I get to create something extremely unique and fun to do.”
ON TECHNOLOGY: “I found myself using things we learned in class [but because of the iPad] I was having fun. I got to express myself”
Data Collection Data Analysis
Further Information