Exploring Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Perspectives and Practices Regarding Instructional Creativity

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives and practices of middle school mathematics teachers regarding instructional creativity and to reveal to what extent the perspectives and classroom practices overlap. This qualitative study employed a case study design and involved four middle school mathematics teachers as participants. In the process, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the teachers to obtain their perspectives on instructional creativity. Three selected lessons were observed, and video and audio were recorded. After being informed about instructional creativity, the teachers were asked to create a lesson plan based on creative teaching, and this lesson was also recorded. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers at all stages, and the interviews were supported by lesson observations. The data were analyzed by content analysis method. The findings revealed that in their perspectives and practices, teachers mostly mentioned and applied connecting mathematical concepts and interdisciplines in terms of flexibility component and student discoveries in terms of originality component in their lessons. On the other hand, it was determined that teachers paid very little attention to the elaboration component both in the interviews and in the practices. The findings indicated that teachers' perspectives and practices regarding instructional creativity do not overlap sufficiently. Especially in the last lessons observed after the information about instructional creativity, it is noteworthy that very few creative practices were observed as in other lesson observations. The findings indicated that teachers need professional development opportunities in terms of creative lesson teaching. The findings were discussed in the light of the related literature.