To me, math has always been a right or wrong type of subject. When presented with a mathematical equation, it's pretty much understood that there is only one answer that is considered to be correct and all other answers would be mistakes.

Last week we learned that it is ok to make mistakes because that helps our brains grow. We've discussed having growth mindsets when it comes to math learning. But what if I told you that math didn't always have to have one right answer?

This week we explored different ways of looking at math as a subject in general.

Can math be open for discussion? 

Can math have different interpretations? 

Can math be .. CREATIVE? 

You might be thinking that this sounds a little too good to be true, math has one right answer and that's that. But in this blog post I will be discussing some of the ways we learned that math can in fact be open ended and inspire creative thinking.

One of the most simple ways to make math learning more creative and open ended is to stop concentrating on the answer, and to start discussing the process. We saw a great example of this in one of our videos this week.

What is 18 x 5 ? 

This question seems pretty bland at first doesn't it? We know the answer to be 90. However, if we ask people HOW they got to 90, we start to hear some more interesting results. Lots of people broke down the problem in multiple different ways, each of them arriving at the same response. Who's to say that one way is better than another way? By discussing HOW we got to an answer, students can begin to see different perspectives on a problem and they can even begin to understand that mathematics behind it better by knowing more than one route to the answer.

Imagine you are driving to a friend's house and you only know one way to get there. What happens if you attempt to drive there and there's suddenly a road block in your way? You've never taken a different route to your friends house because this way always worked, what would you do? If only you knew multiple routes to the same place so you would always have a back up.

Discussing mathematical thinking can do the same thing. Students may have memorized a certain method for multiplication but if they get stuck trying to use that one way, they may give up on the problem entirely. But if they have gained multiple perspectives on approaching problems, they will be more likely to think creatively about the problem to figure it out in a new way.

We also looked at another way to make math creative and open ended in class this week. We looked at the website Which One Doesn't Belong. This website is great as a minds on activities for students because it can be opened up for discussion. Students are encouraged to think creatively about which item does not belong and why they think that. Each set of pictures can have more than one answer so students are able to discuss, debate, and answer freely.

"Shape 2" Which One Doesn't Belong. Retrieved From: wodb.ca