Reimagining Possibilities for Mathematics Education Through Storytelling: Learning With and From K–8 Students

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 9:00 am
  In Roundtable Session: Engagement and Mathematical Creativity (Table 11)

Abstract

In this paper, we report findings from a qualitative study drawn from a larger project that seeks to broaden students’ knowledge of mathematics, mathematicians, and their work by exposing them to Black mathematicians’ stories about learning and doing mathematics. We developed short videos from mathematicians’ interviews about their formative, educational, and professional experiences with mathematics and conducted screening sessions and focus group interviews with K-8 students. We find that mathematicians’ stories engage K-8 students in several ways, including by expanding their mathematical knowledge and imaginations, piquing their interest in mathematical applications, establishing personal connections to mathematicians’ identity and their work, exposing them to new pedagogies for mathematics, and enhancing their understanding of what mathematicians do.

Authors

• Nicole Fletcher, Fairfield University

• Robin Wilson, Loyola Marymount University

• Erica N. Walker, University of Toronto - OISE

• Nasriah Morrison, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Anisha Clarke, Queens College - CUNY

• Terika Harris, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Nathan Dilworth, Teachers College, Columbia University