What Mathematics Education Can Learn from Art: The Assumptions, Values, and Vision of Mathematics Education

Abstract

Eisner (2002) proposes that educational challenges can be met by applying an artful lens. In this article, I draw from Eisner's proposal to consider the assumptions, values, and vision of mathematics education by theorizing mathematics curriculum as an art form specifically, I argue that by conceptualizing mathematics curriculum (both in written and enacted forms) as stories, the mathematical lessons experienced by students can be artfully crafted to inspire wonder or grab attention through surprise. An example of a mathematical story from a Grade 7 mathematics textbook is presented and discussed. By framing mathematical content in narrative terms, I seek to enable a rewriting of mathematical expeneces for learners.

STEAM Pedagogy as an Approach for Teacher Professional Development

“…This could be one of the reasons behind students' low motivation, and low performance in school mathematics and science. In the recent years, many educators (Dietiker, 2015;Eisner, 2002;Goldberg, 2016) around the globe have strongly advocated the needs of arts integration in school education. The fundamental reason behind the integration of arts is to create, "aesthetically-rich learning environments as those that enable children to wonder, to notice, to imagine alternatives, to appreciate contingencies and to experience pleasure and pride" (Sinclair, 2001, p. 26).…”

The Role of Sequence in the Experience of Mathematical Beauty

“…Note that the interpretation of this first-grade lesson as a story reframes its sequence of mathematical content as a form of art [7] that can be deliberately sequenced for effect. Studying the aesthetic dimensions of mathematical experiences is not new (see, for example, [16,19]), and several other researchers have used the metaphor of story (or narrative) to describe the aesthetic qualities of mathematics classrooms and texts (a mixture of in-teresting examples include [3,9,10,11,17]).…”

“…As with the example in this paper, these reactions marked aesthetic moments during which the students were captivated with the mathematics and not by aspects outside of mathematics (such as a funny contextual word problem or appealing music). The sequential analysis of written mathematics curriculum for their potential aesthetic dimensions for middle and high school has been published elsewhere, including mathematical stories that involve repeating decimals [5], probability [7], and the roots of quadratic equations [6].…”

Using an Artistic Approach to the Teaching of Non-Euclidean Geometry in a Professional Development Course for Mathematics Teachers

“…This is not a recent problem: more than a decade ago, Gadanidis and Hoogland [4] described the mathematics that is experienced in school as being flat-lined and, over 30 years ago, Davis and Hersh [5] described mathematics classes as being dry as dust. Dietiker [6] refers that, in spite of several curricular reforms (mostly conformed to content revisions), students commonly experience mathematics as being uninspiring and dull.…”