G.H. Hardy, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20^th century wrote this:

A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns.

The mathematician’s patterns, like the painter’s or the poet’s must be beautiful; the ideas like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics.

1. H. Hardy, A Mathematician’s Apology, 1940

Hardy’s words apply not only to the math produced by professional mathematicians, they apply to the math produced by students as well. For students are makers of patterns and like painters and poets, their patterns must be beautiful; they must fit together harmoniously. The problems or projects we ask our students to do, must therefore, enable them to make beautiful patterns. For our job as teachers is to not only engage them in this process, but to encourage them to make more beautiful patterns.

This is what we mean by, learning math as a creative experience.

As mathematics takes an increasing role in work and life, creativity must become central to its learning, because: 1) creativity and creative problem solving are essential 21st century skills, 2) creativity drives engagement and enjoyment, and 3) creativity builds understanding.

1. 21st Century Skills: In survey after survey, business and STEM leaders rate creativity and creative problem solving at the top of their list of critical workforce skills. The ability to think-out-of-the-box is described as desirable for every worker to enable both practical problem solving as well as innovation. As teachers we know that “The skills we practice are the skills we learn.” Just as practicing long division makes us good at long division, so practicing creativity and creative problem solving, will make us good creative problem solvers.

2. Engagement and Enjoyment: A clutch of crayons, a lump of clay, or a pile of plastic blocks is magnetic to children because it provides them with a vehicle for creativity. Creativity engages us, excites us, energizes us. If we want more students to go into STEM fields, more students to enjoy math, and more students to find learning math a worthwhile activity; then infusing creativity into learning is the surest means to achieve those goals.

3. Understanding: Recognizing a pattern is widely regarded as understanding. If we are to prepare our students to be lifelong learners in a rapidly changing world, then understanding must be our goal. Since math is “the science of patterns”, a focus on patterns and patternmaking in its classrooms is entirely appropriate. And if we think of art as “the language of patterns”, then creativity is essential to developing understanding.

For these three powerful reasons, I seek to focus a conversation on learning math as a creative experience. I believe creativity is essential to the future of math education if we are to meet our obligation to prepare the next generation for the world they inherit. Please join me in this voyage of discovery and invention.

As Lynn Steen said, mathematics is the study of patterns, the “science of patterns”. We focus and want students to focus on patterns, on seeing them and on building them. There is great power in patternmaking, it is the most human of all activities. And there is great power in being able to use mathematics to build and study patterns.