Reference:MERGA - AAMT, Alice Springs, Australia, 03 Jul 2011 - 07 Jul 2011. Editors: Clark J, Kissane B, Mousley J, Spencer T, Thornton S. Mathematics: Traditions and [New] Practices. The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) Inc. and the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) Inc., Adelaide, Australia. 608-615. 2011
Rights:Copyright: The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT) Inc. and the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) Inc.
Using children’s literature in mathematics is not a new idea. Although resources have been produced to support teachers in using literature in their mathematics programmes, there is little research to show this approach is successful. One debate associated with using children’s literature in mathematics teaching/learning is how much support is required for children to recognise the mathematics in the literature. The research that is available has focused on very young children interacting with stories being read to them or identifying adaptations needed to the text and/or illustrations to allow children to recognise the mathematical information inherent in the story. This paper presents the results of a study that used book reviews as a tool to identify the extent Year 7 students could identify the mathematics in children’s literature.