Abstract
This exploratory mixed-methods study set out to explore Maltese primary school teachers’ perceived barriers to, and enablers for, the integration of children’s literature in mathematics teaching. D...
Highlights
The idea of integrating mathematics and storytelling as part of the school curriculum is not an altogether new one
Given that the majority of the participating teachers acknowledged the potential benefits of the approach and expressed a wish for training, one key recommendation of the study is for teaching mathematics through stories to be explicitly included in pre-service and in-service professional development programmes
Perceived barriers All 34 questionnaire participants responded to the following questionnaire question: “In your experience, what are the key barriers that stop you from incorporating children’s literature in your mathematics teaching?” As some participants indicated more than one perceived barrier, the total number of coding occurrences (49) was larger than the number of participants
Summary
The idea of integrating mathematics and storytelling as part of the school curriculum is not an altogether new one. In the context of Malta, the use of children’s literature in mathematics teaching and learning aligns well with the aim of the Maltese National Curriculum Framework (Ministry for Education and Employment, 2012). For Grades 3 to 6 (ages 8–11), “These learning outcomes are designed to be used in a range of delivery contexts and taught using different methods” Using children’s literature to address mathematical ideas would appear to be a very suitable approach as part of the new curricular direction, but what Maltese teachers think about this approach (and the extent to which they adopt it) is virtually unknown
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