Artistic Motion Cues, Number of Pictures, and First-Grade Children's Interpretation of Mathematics Textbook Pictures

Abstract

One method that primary mathematics textbooks currently use to communicate mathematical concepts to children is dynamic drawings in conjunction with written numeral statements. These dynamic illustrations may be either single pictures or sequences of pictures with motion portrayed by use of postural cues (e.g., picturing legs of the characters in a state of nonequilibrium) or conventional cues (e.g., using lines, vibration marks, or clouds of dust about the characters). In a previous study, Campbell (1978) noted that initially viewing and interpreting sequences provided first-grade students with a learning experience that significantly affected their interpretation of single pictures; however, the overall analysis concerning the effect of the number of pictures yielded differing results. She also noted that young children were more likely to observe motion in the pictures depicting both postural and conventional cues than in pictures utilizing only postural cues (Campbell, 1976). This reflection did not complement previous findings involving interpretation of conventional cues on other tasks. Specifically, Friedman and Stevenson (1975) noted that preschool and first-grade children do not readily classify figures with conventional motion cues as moving, whereas Brooks (1977) asserted that second-grade children cannot use conventional cues as a facilitator for recall in a memory task using cartoon pictures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the type of artistic cue (postural or conventional) used to portray motion, and the number of pictures (single or sequence of three pictures) used to depict an event on first-grade children's interpretation of mathematical textbook-type illustrations. The procedure assessed the children's interpretation of the illustrations within two levels of description: verbal (telling the story depicted by the pictures) or spatial (acting out the pictures with toys). Each child was also asked to characterize by a number sentence the mathematical relationship in each of the illustrations.