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

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.

The Use of Literary Elements in Teaching Mathematics: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…Because professional development and teacher training are still important to develop teachers' pedagogical knowledge, experience and self-consciousnes about integration (Livy et al, 2021). But, based on the keywords that emerged in the context of this bibliometric analysis, it is thought that it is important to conduct research that reveals on which mathematics subjects, for which grade level, under what conditions, with what kind of literary elements, and on which variables the integration of literary elements into mathematics teaching is effective (McGuire et al, 2020;Op't Eynde et al, 2022b;Russo et al, 2021).…”

“…Most of the studies are conducted with kindergarten and pre -school students (Björklund & Palmér, 2020;Björklund & Palmér, 2022;Capraro & Capraro, 2006;Casey et al, 2004;Casey et al, 2008;Elia et al, 2010;Green et al, 2018;Hassinger-Das et al, 2015;Hong, 1996;McGuire et al, 2020;Purpura et al, 2017;Purpura et al, 2021;Rathé et al, 2016;Segal-Drori et al, 2018;Skoumpourdi & Mpakopoulou, 2011;Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al, 2009;Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen & Van den Boogaard, 2008;Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al, 2011;Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen et al, 2016;Wijns et al, 2022;Young-Loveridge, 2004), and some of them are conducted with primary school students (Cooper et al, 2011;Lemonidis & Kaifa, 2019;McAndrew et al, 2017;Mink & Fraser, 2005;Russo et al, 2021), and middle school students (Durmaz & Miçooğulları, 2021;Günbaş, 2015;Yalçın et al, 2022). Since the focus of research with pre-school or kindergarten children is about early mathematics, studies with parents are also conducted (Gaylord et al, 2020;Godwin et al, 2016;Goldstein et al, 2016;Uscianowski et al, 2020), and some of these studies focus on parent-child interaction in the process of reading books about mathematics (Hendrix et al, 2019;Hojnoski et al, 2014;…”

The Role of Storytelling in Teaching STEM to Young Learners: A Case Study in Indonesia

“…An effective story can provide the 'how' and 'why' of certain scientific concepts and allow information to be understood in a way that can be related to everyday situations. 81% of primary school children in the Chicago area were interviewed, and they stated that they enjoyed learning science through storybooks rather than textbooks (Russo et al, 2021) (Zhang & Quinn, 2020). It is often assumed that science literacy is solely based on the knowledge people have of scientific principles and concepts when really it incorporates an understanding of 'how' the knowledge is acquired and the 'why' certain principles apply to everyday phenomena.…”