Creating meaning by students within class discourse in mathematics: Pre and post the transition to online learning due to pandemic

This Teaching-Research article contains a Pre and Post observation of class discourse from two instructors applying constructivist principles in their classroom to support student insight and shared construction of knowledge before and after the Covid-19 pandemic necessitated on-line learning One goal of this article is to present the difficulties with translating moments of shared construction of knowledge from in-class to on-line learning in an urban community college within the City University of New York (CUNY) system The moments of student insight and learning within classroom discourse takes place within a theoretical framework that integrates constructivist's theory and research on creativity This paper proposes three criteria for analysis of student insights based upon the work of Arthur Koestler (1964) to understand moments of creative insight These three criteria are then applied to teacher led discourse and student insight, responses, and reasoning at different levels of development Thus, a second goal of this work is to bring creativity research closer to the everyday mathematics classroom through analysis of class discourse using these three criteria © 2020 City University of New York All rights reserved