Using Rich Narratives to Engage Students in Worthwhile Mathematics: Children’s Literature, Movies and Short Films

James Russo,Toby Russo,Anne Roche

doi:10.3390/educsci11100588

Abstract

Using children’s literature to support mathematics instruction has been connected to positive academic outcomes and learning dispositions; however, less is known about the use of audiovisual based narrative mediums to support student mathematical learning experiences. The current exploratory, qualitative study involved teaching three lessons based on challenging, problem solving tasks to two classes of Australian Year (Grade) 5 students (10 and 11 year olds). These tasks were developed from various narratives, each portrayed through a different medium (movie clip, short film, picture story book). Post lesson interviews were undertaken with 24 students inviting them to compare and contrast this lesson sequence with their usual mathematics instruction. Drawing on a self-determination theory lens, our analysis revealed that these lessons were experienced by students as both highly enjoyable and mathematically challenging. More specifically, it was found that presenting mathematics tasks based on rich and familiar contexts and providing meaningful choices about how to approach their mathematical work supported student autonomy. In addition, there was evidence that the narrative presentation supported student understanding of the mathematics through making the tasks clearer and more accessible, whilst the audiovisual mediums (movie clip, short film) in particular provided a dynamic representation of key mathematical ideas (e.g., transformation and scale). Students indicated an eclectic range of preferences in terms of their preferred narrative mediums for exploring mathematical ideas. Our findings support the conclusion that educators and researchers focused on the benefits of teaching mathematics through picture story books consider extending their definition of narrative to encompass other mediums, such as movie clips and short films.

Highlights

For many years researchers and policy makers have endeavored to describe the kinds of pedagogical practices that contribute to improved student outcomes in mathematics [1,2,3]
Given the importance of mathematical tasks and problem solving for supporting student mathematical learning and associated dispositions, we aimed to investigate whether tasks that emerged authentically from a familiar narrative would produce a more positive student learning experience, compared with a typical mathematics lesson
All four themes that emerged through an analysis of the student interview data resonated with one of the three basic psychological needs articulated in self-determination theory: autonomy, competence and relatedness [58]; the theme connected to relatedness (“Students valued opportunities to collaborate and interact”) only emerged after an additional examination of the interview data

Summary

Introduction

For many years researchers and policy makers have endeavored to describe the kinds of pedagogical practices that contribute to improved student outcomes in mathematics [1,2,3] Common to these lists of practices is the importance of mathematical tasks and the features of tasks considered to promote learning. NCTM [2] recommended that students should be exposed to worthwhile and meaningful mathematical tasks, that promote problem solving and reasoning, and develop students’ dispositions for learning mathematics. They suggested that such tasks often have more than one solution strategy, can be represented in multiple ways and demand students justify and communicate their understandings

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Conclusion