Preservice Teachers Creating Equity-Focused Mathematics Picture Books

• In Event: Exploring Equity in the Context of Mathematics Teacher Education Practice: A Town Hall Discussion

Abstract

Purpose
Pre-K and Elementary mathematics teachers routinely use picture books to introduce lessons, reinforce concepts, and connect mathematics to other content areas (Flevares & Schiff, 2014). Picture books can engage young mathematics learners, but reliance on them is problematic. Most mathematics picture books focus only on rudimentary counting skills or shape and pattern identification. Even worse, a large amount of these books include multiple mathematical misconceptions (Powell & Nurnberger-Haag, 2015). Finally, mathematics-focused picture books rarely, if ever, explicitly connect mathematics to issues of equity, access, and empowerment. One way to address this dearth of equity-focused mathematics picture books is empowering pre-service teachers (PSTs) to create their own books. Here, I present my work over four semesters of instructing early childhood/elementary mathematics methods courses where pre-service teachers used digital technology to create early childhood mathematics picture books specifically connecting (1) inquiry-focused mathematics teaching practices and (2) issues of equity, access, and empowerment.

The Study
Participants in this study were PSTs enrolled in an early childhood/elementary mathematics teacher education program at a large Midwestern university. In groups of 3 to 4, the PSTs created picture books using BookCreator, an authoring app for iPads.

Analysis
Using lenses focused on (1) mathematics teaching and learning through inquiry and (2) mathematics teaching for equity and social justice, I analyzed each picture book created by PSTs over four semesters. First, I analyzed each picture book individually, writing analytical memos based upon five criteria: Equity/Diversity, Graphics/Visual Images, Child Appropriate, Representations of Mathematics, Connections for Teachers and Parents, Connections to Children’s Experiences or Prior Knowledge, and Affordances of Technology. Then, through discussion with other members of this team, I collapsed these criteria into three overall themes I consistently noticed in the picture books: Equity, Mathematics Emphasis, and Mathematical Misconceptions/Errors.

Significance
This study explores the ongoing work in mathematics teacher education, our understanding of the ways in which power can be expressed in mathematics-focused literature, and how to leverage this power to support teaching and learning. It showed how to utilize technology for PSTs to create and own their curricular content, explore how PSTs create mathematics picture books, and unpacked PSTs understanding of equity as related to mathematics learning. Overall, I found that (1) the books our PSTs created were very similar to commercial picture books, complete with surface-level content as noted as a larger issue in the field and (2) PSTs struggled with understanding how much each book should “tell” readers rather than inviting the reader to engage in the mathematics on their own. This work impacts our scholarship in early childhood mathematics education, specifically because literacy practices hold immense power in teacher education. For instance, picture books readalouds are often used in the elementary classroom to create and mold the classroom culture. Through this work, we hope to add to the ongoing discussion about the power teachers have in creating their own inclusive and shared experiences and narratives for all students, experiences that create avenues of critical access and power for all children.

Author

• Theodore Chao, The Ohio State University