The impact of professional development and coaching on implementing mathematical creativity: Fostering a domino effect in instruction

Mathematical creativity instructional practices guide teachers to enable students to solve problems in the mathematics classroom through what some may consider "non-traditional" instruction, like problem-solving and problem-posing.Teachers with limited pedagogical content knowledge instruct students using mathematical creativity practices, need support from professional development and long-term coaching to convert their instructional practices to more creativity-directed ones.In this study, a mixed-methods explanatorysequential design was employed.A quantitative group comparison analyzed survey results from K-8 classroom teachers (n=20) reflecting general and discipline-specific mathematical creativity instructional practices, followed by semi-structured teacher interviews and classroom observations.Results indicated teachers who received professional development on mathematical creativity followed by coaching increased their perceptions of mathematical creativity-directed practices.Interviews and classroom observations revealed two domino effects.The first domino effect held teachers accountable for trying new instructional practices, thus increasing their confidence and promoting leadership characteristics within the school.The second domino effect increased classroom discourse that built student confidence to share, leading to 'in the moment' instructional changes that addressed student misconceptions.The implication of this study is a need exists supporting teachers through professional development and coaching to implement cognitively challenging tasks and innovative instructional practices into their classrooms.