AUTHOR=Shaw Stacy T. , Yeghyayan Anahit A. , Ballenger Eric , Ramirez Gerardo TITLE=Generating mathematical strategies shows evidence of a serial order effect JOURNAL=Frontiers in Education VOLUME=9 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1347444 DOI=10.3389/feduc.2024.1347444 ISSN=2504-284X ABSTRACT=

This study investigated whether performance on a mathematical strategy-generating task showed evidence for a serial order effect (decreasing fluency but increasing originality and creativity of strategies over time). One-hundred and fifty-five undergraduate students generated as many strategies as they could to solve a three-digit subtraction problem for 8 min, and the resulting strategies were evaluated using fluency and originality indexes that were heavily informed by research on creativity. Results showed evidence for a serial order effect, such that strategy fluency decreased across the working period, but later strategies were rated as more original/creative. These results demonstrates that classroom practices that encourage strategy generation can be a useful tool to help students think more creatively in mathematics.