Narrative Methods to Explore Students' Aesthetic Experiences in Mathematics

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Students' Thinking in Math Classrooms

Abstract

This methods paper has two objectives. The first is to review Dewey’s (1934) characterization of aesthetic experience. The second is to propose narrative methods to explore students’ aesthetic experiences in mathematics. These methods potentially serve two scholars’ calls for future research: 1) “How [could] the aesthetic operate in non-inquiry based learning environments?” (Sinclair, 2004); 2) “What mathematical stories do students perceive in the problems they solve?” (Dietiker, 2015a). The alignment between narrative methods and the conception of mathematics as an aesthetically imbued discipline is explored.

Author

• Pamela Vasile, The University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth