Unlocking Mathematical Understanding: Inclusive Education in Teaching and Learning Fractions

• In Event: Making Sense of Mathematics: Harnessing Pre-Colonial Knowledge, History, Neuroscience, and Inclusive Education to Address Gaps

Proposal

In the realm of mathematics education, the teaching and learning of fractions often present significant challenges for students of diverse learning profiles. There is a critical need for inclusive education practices to address these challenges and promote equitable access to mathematical understanding. It is important to build on the content of the prior two presentations by understanding the development and evolution of fractions through history in conjunction with current-day neuroscience and how this bridges working with students who have individual differences in sensory processing.

Sensory Processing differences in students have a significant impact on their social-emotional well-being and development, as well as on their learning opportunities and educational outcomes. Yet this consequential area of research is largely ignored in planning for inclusive education and has only received attention in some studies of individuals identified with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), given the greater impact of their differences in sensory processing on their learning, social interactions, and behavior.

Sensory processing- (also referred to as sensory integration)- is the way the brain and the central nervous system receive, organize, and respond to sensory input from the environment (Armstrong, 2011). Our senses include sight (visual), taste (gustatory), touch (tactile), hearing (auditory), and smell (olfactory). Three additional senses that we are not as familiar with have been identified as: vestibular (balance), proprioceptive (movement), and interoceptive (internal senses such as hunger or cold). Individuals' level of sensitivity and differences in the ways they process information through these senses underlie their learning differences, strengths, and challenges, with great implications for designing curriculum, classroom activities, and school environments that are more or less inclusive based on these considerations.

This presentation explores the connection between sensory processing differences in the teaching and learning of fractions (both symbolic and non-symbolic).

Author

• Golnar Abedin, American University