ABSTRACT
Teaching science concepts for understanding often requires conceptual change. Based on their experiences in the world, students come to class with prior notions of scientific phenomena. They have seen the sun come up, watched things fall to earth, and made their best sense of all manner of interactions with their environments. Even when firsthand investigations are not possible, flexible thinking can enhance science activities. Good science demands persistence, patience, and commitment to task. It requires flexible thinking and examination of new avenues when old ones prove fruitless. Teaching math procedures is not enough, either for good learning or for creativity. Problems can be especially appealing when they spring from the environment in which students live. Mathematics has natural ties to creativity: seeking patterns and beauty, looking in many directions, solving problems, and seeking new ideas. Unfortunately, some math instruction can rob from math much of its beauty and make it difficult for students to see links between creativity and mathematics.
