Stimulating student aesthetic response to mathematical problems by means of manipulating the extent of surprise

We investigated aesthetic responses of 60 middle school students as they engaged in a pair of similar looking geometry problems in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The investigation was driven by three predictions. The first two predictions were about the association between the evaluative aesthetic response and surprise stemming from the solution to each problem. The third, main, prediction was that the problem with more surprising solution would be evaluated as more beautiful. The extent of surprise was manipulated by the order in which two problems were given. The third prediction came to be true in 90% of the cases, in which the first two predictions were fulfilled. The findings suggest that school students' evaluative aesthetic response to mathematical problems can be stimulated in instructional settings. Implications for research and practice are drawn.