Programme 375, Using Picture Story Books to Teach Maths (16-10-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney

On this week's programme I bring you a special episode for Maths Week and to mark the seventh conference of Mathematics Education in Ireland held last weekend in Dublin City University's Institute of Education. First I speak to Dr. Siún Nic Mhuirí (from 1'43") from Dublin City University about the Maths4All project she's working on. Among the topics we discuss are:

• The Maths4All website and resources
• Alan Schoenfeld's Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU) framework
• Challenges of developing video representations of teaching
• Pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching mathematics
• Her thoughts on this year’s Mathematics Education in Ireland conference
• A message about the importance of believing that maths is for all students

Next I speak to Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai from the University of Reading (from 15' 51") about using picture story books to teach mathematics.We discuss the following:

• His goal to have mathematics picture story books used in both primary and secondary schools to teach mathematics
• Why picture books can help students learn abstract topics
• Handa’s Surprise
• Sir Cumference series
• Using a picture book to provide context for a lesson
• Reading a story to apply learning to help characters in a story solve a problem
• How to use a maths picture story book in a mathematics lesson
• Benefits of using maths picture story books
• How children react to using maths picture story books in maths class
• Children writing their own maths picture story books
• Papert’s theory of constructionism
• When should maths picture story books be used in mathematics teaching
• His website mathsthroughstories.org
• His view of effective mathematics teaching
• The journey that brought him from Thailand to England
• Why he likes the Times Educational Supplement

The episode closes with a rant from me about teaching mathematics. I refer to the following books:

• W. Timothy Gallwey The Inner Game of Tennis
• Donald Graves A Fresh Look at Writing