Teaching Mathematics Creatively

165 Pages·2010·0.91 MB·English

by  Linda Pound

TEACHING MATHEMATICS
CREATIVELY
Are you looking for new ideas to capture the reluctant maths pupils in your class?
How can story, drama and GIANTShelp you teach maths?
Teaching Mathematics Creatively is crammed full of practical approaches for
bringing the teaching of mathematics to life. From an examination of where maths
is failing to engage pupils in the twenty-first century, to a wide range of exciting
approaches and ideas for ensuring it is possible to teach in a creative way, this is a
stimulating and enjoyable source of inspiration for busy teachers.
It promotes creativity as a key element to develop young children’s knowledge,
understanding and enjoyment of mathematics and offers a range of strategies to
enable teachers to take a playful approach to mathematics teaching. Imaginative
ideas include:
(cid:2) The power of story-telling and play to bring the subject alive for children and
teachers alike
(cid:2) Learning maths outdoors – work on a larger scale, make more noise, make
more mess!
(cid:2) Making sense of the numbers, patterns, shapes and measures children see
around them every day
(cid:2) Motivating children through problem finding and problem solving
(cid:2) Using music, rhythm and pattern to teach maths creatively
(cid:2) Giant maths – how much food does a giant need in a week?
Underpinned by the latest research and theory and with contemporary
and cutting-edge practice at the forefront, Teaching Mathematics Creativelyincludes
a wealth of innovative ideas to enthuse teachers and enrich mathematics teaching.
It is an essential purchase for every teacher who wishes to employ creative
approaches to teaching in their classroom.
Linda Poundhas great educational experience and has published extensively in the
fields of learning and creative maths. She is an Early Years Education Consultant and
a regular contributor to Nursery World.
Trisha Lee is Founder and Artistic Director of MakeBelieve Arts, a social enterprise
offering innovative, high quality theatre and education programmes to develop the
creative potential of children aged 2 to 15, based in Deptford, London, UK.
LEARNING TO TEACH IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SERIES
Series Editor: Teresa Cremin, the Open University
Teaching is an art form. It demands not only knowledge and understanding of the core
areas of learning, but also the ability to teach these creatively and effectively and foster
learner creativity in the process. The Learning to Teach in the Primary School Seriesdraws
upon recent research, which indicates the rich potential of creative teaching and learning,
and explores what it means to teach creatively in the primary phase. It also responds to
the evolving nature of the subject teaching in a wider, more imaginatively framed twenty-
first century primary curriculum.
Designed to complement the textbook Learning to Teach in the Primary School,
the well-informed, lively texts offer support for students and practising teachers who want
to develop more flexible and responsive creative approaches to teaching and learning.
The books highlight the importance of teachers’ own creative engagement and share a
wealth of innovative ideas to enrich pedagogy and practice.
Titles in the series:
Teaching English Creatively
Teresa Cremin
Teaching Maths Creatively
Linda Pound and Trisha Lee
Teaching Science Creatively
Dan Davies
TEACHING
MATHEMATICS
CREATIVELY
Linda Pound
and
Trisha Lee
This first edition published 2011
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Linda Pound and Trisha Lee
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying
and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
The rights of Linda Pound and Trisha Lee to be identified as authors of this work
have been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pound, Linda.
Teaching mathematics creatively/by Linda Pound and Trisha Lee.
– 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Mathematics –Study and teaching (Secondary). 2. Curriculum planning.
3. Lesson planning. I. Lee, Trisha. II. Title.
QA11.P6325 2011
510.71 – dc22 2010017480
ISBN 0-203-84050-X Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978–0–415–57591–1 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–57592–8 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–84050–4 (ebk)
CONTENTS
List of tables vii
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
1 Introduction: what is creative mathematics? 1
2 I hate maths! Positive feelings, creative dispositions and
mathematics 14
3 Motivating children: problem finding and problem solving 25
4 Developing understanding: talking and thinking about
mathematics 39
5 Teaching mathematics creatively: real maths! 51
6 Teaching mathematics creatively: using story to teach maths 63
7 Teaching mathematics creatively: giant maths 77
8 Cross-curricular teaching: mathematics at the heart of the
curriculum? 86
9 Mathematics outdoors: the world beyond the classroom 101
10 Building mathematical understanding: construction and
architecture 112
11 Exploring mathematics through music 123
12 Conclusion: learning mathematics through playful teaching 132
Bibliography 141
Index 149
■
v

TABLES
1.1 Teaching strategies and creative mathematics 11
2.1 Is maths hard? An activity based on The Grand Old Duke of York 19
3.1 Stories with problem-solving opportunities 34
6.1 Kieran Egan’s story model form 67
8.1 Example of a physical response to learning number properties 96
9.1 The benefits of outdoor provision for the development of creative
mathematics 104
10.1 The stages of block building 117
10.2 The development of blockplay 118
■
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the staff and creative associates at MakeBelieve Arts for
allowing us to incorporate several case studies that are drawn directly from the company’s
work. We would particularly like to thank Jen Lunn and Isla Tompsett for their creative
input into the development of the Creative Approaches to Mathematics programme at
MakeBelieve Arts. Thanks are also due to Jeannie Hughes and her staff for their
contribution and their positive and creative approach!
■
viii
PREFACE
Over the last two decades, teachers in England, working in a culture of accountability
and target setting, have been required to introduce both the National Curriculum and the
literacy and numeracy strategies; both content and pedagogy have been specified.
Positioned as passive recipients of the prescribed agenda, it could be argued that
practitioners have had their hands tied, their voices quietened and their professional
autonomy threatened and constrained. In order to conform to expectations and deliver
the imposed curriculum, research reveals that some teachers short-changed their
principles and their knowledge and understanding of pedagogy and practice (English
et al. 2002; Burns and Myhill 2004). The relentless quest for higher standards and
curriculum coverage which dominated this period may well have obscured the personal
and affective dimensions of teaching and learning and fostered a mindset characterised
more by compliance and conformity than curiosity and creativity.
Recently however, creativity and creative policies and practices have become
prominent in government policy alongside the standards agenda and a focus on creative
teaching and learning has been in evidence. Heralded by the publication All Our Futures:
Creativity, Culture and Education(NACCCE 1999), this shift is exemplified in the Creative
Partnerships initiative, in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s creativity framework
(QCA 2005) and in a plethora of reports (e.g. Ofsted 2003; DfES 2003; CAPEUK
2006;Ofsted 2006; Roberts 2006; DCMS 2006). The definition of creativity employed by
most of these documents is that coined in All Our Futures, namely that creativity is
‘imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of
value’ (NACCCE 1999: 30). As a new decade commences, schools continue to be
exhorted to be more innovative in curriculum construction and the coalition government
plans to introduce primary phase academies, which will apparently be formally afforded
increased freedom and the opportunity to shape their own curricula. Yet for primary
educators, tensions persist, not only because the dual policies of performativity and
creativity appear contradictory, but also because in recent years they have been
positioned more as technically competent curriculum deliverers, rather than artistically
engaged, research-informed curriculum developers. I believe, alongside Eisner (2003) and
■
ix