What is Mathematical Creativity

This chapter discusses how preservice elementary teachers learned to foster creativity and teach geometric concepts to children via art and children's literature. An action research study was conducted in Fall 2019 within a face-to-face mathematics content (geometry) and methods course for prospective elementary teachers. This chapter explores how preservice teachers were supported in learning how to integrate arts and geometry to foster creativity—critical for mathematical reasoning and problem-solving—within existing curricular structures. Specific examples of tasks completed within the courses and how they broadened the preservice elementary teachers' exposure to, and understanding of, the connections between creativity, art, children's literature, geometric ideas, and computer graphics are explained.