Assessing creativity in primary mathematics though multiple choice questions in large scale assessments

Creativity is widely accepted as one of the most desirable 21st century skills in today’s generation. Schools and policymakers want to cultivate it in young people. Its importance is implicitly acknowledged in many national curricula but seldom explicitly defined. This paper is based on the philosophy that creativity can be learned as well as assessed in a specific domain. The paper suggests a theoretical underpinning for defining domain-specific, mathematical creativity and the possibility of assessing it through multiple-choice questions in large scale numeracy surveys. The paper offers a working definition of mathematical creativity and builds a case for assessing it at the national level to pave the path for larger educational reforms. Multiple-choice questions are chosen for the study as it is believed that they can be developed to assess higher-order thinking skills and can be scored objectively. The “thinking” is implemented in the procedure of selecting the best choice. Paper argues for the wider research for the specific tasks which help in developing mathematical creativity in students.