Designing Spaces for Creativity and Divergent Thinking: Pre-Service Teachers Creating Stop Motion Animation on Tablets

Abstract

In recent years, tablets have been shown to serve as incredible teachingtools in classrooms around the world. In mathematics education, divergentthinking, creativity, and play may play a key role in formation of adaptive thinkingand math achievement. This qualitative, participatory action researchinvestigated the use of an instructional model that provided minimalinstruction in the use of tablets to create stop motion animation movies. Thisstudy focused on the themes and patterns that emerged as pre-service teachersintegrate a design thinking philosophy as they explore creativity and divergentthinking through the creation of stop motion animation movies. This study employed aparticipatory action research design  that examined the use of an instructionalapproach informed by design thinking that utilized tablets to enablepre-service teachers to create stop motion animation movies and examinepedagogical implications of creativity, divergent and convergent thinking.