TEACHING

MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

This new and updated edition of Teaching Mathematics Creatively offers a range of strategies to
enable trainee and practising teachers to take an innovative, playful and creative approach to
maths teaching. It promotes creativity as a key element of practice and offers ideas to involve
your students and develop knowledge, understanding and enjoyment.
Exploring fresh approaches, this text explains the role of play in bringing mathematics alive
for children and teachers alike. It identifies the power of story-telling in supporting mathematical
thinking, examines cross-curricular teaching and allows you to plan for teaching creatively.
Imaginative ideas, underpinned by the latest research and theory, include:

learning maths outdoors – make more noise, make more mess or work on a larger scale;
everyday maths – making sense of the numbers, patterns, shapes and measures children see
around them;
music and maths – the role of rhythm in learning, and music and pattern in maths;
giant maths – how much food do you include on a giant shopping list?

Stimulating and accessible, with contemporary and cutting-edge practice at the forefront,
Teaching Mathematics Creatively includes a wealth of innovative ideas to enthuse teachers and
enrich maths teaching. This book is an essential purchase for any professional who wishes to
embed creative approaches to teaching in their classroom.

Linda Pound has 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 2–15, based in Deptford, London, UK.
THE LEARNING TO TEACH IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL SERIES
Series editor: Teresa Cremin, The Open University, UK

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 foster learner creativity in the process.
The Learning to Teach in the Primary School Series draws upon recent research that 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 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 in this series offer support for student and practising teachers who want to
develop more creative approaches to teaching and learning. Uniquely, the books highlight the
importance of the teachers’ own creative engagement and share a wealth of research informed
ideas to enrich pedagogy and practice.

Titles in the series:

Teaching English Creatively, 2nd Edition

Teresa Cremin

Teaching Mathematics Creatively, 2nd Edition

Linda Pound and Trisha Lee

Teaching Religious Education Creatively

Edited by Sally Elton-Chalcraft

Teaching Physical Education Creatively

Angela Pickard and Patricia Maude

Teaching Music Creatively

Pam Burnard and Regina Murphy

Teaching History Creatively

Edited by Hilary Cooper

Teaching Geography Creatively

Edited by Stephen Scoffham

Teaching Science Creatively

Dan Davies
TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

Second edition

Linda Pound and Trisha Lee

First published 2015
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2015 L. Pound and T. Lee

The right of L. Pound and T. Lee to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification
and explanation without intent to infringe.

First edition published by Routledge 2011

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 / Linda Pound and Trisha Lee. – 2nd edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-138-80054-0 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-138-80055-7 (pbk.) – ISBN 978-1-315-71786-9 (e-book) 1. Mathematics – Study
and teaching (Secondary) 2. Curriculum planning. 3. Lesson planning. I. Lee, Trisha. II. Title.
QA11.P6325 2015
510.71 – dc23
2014042837

ISBN: 978-1-138-80054-0 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-80055-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-71786-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman and Helvetica Neue

by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon
CONTENTS

List of figures
List of tables
Series editor preface

1 Introduction: What counts as creative mathematics?

2 I hate maths! Positive feelings, creative dispositions and mathematics

3 Motivating children: Problem finding and problem solving

4 Developing understanding: Talking and thinking about mathematics

5 Teaching mathematics creatively: Real maths!

6 Teaching mathematics creatively: Using story to teach maths

7 Teaching mathematics creatively: Giant maths

8 Cross-curricular teaching: Mathematics at the heart of the curriculum?

9 Mathematics outdoors: The world beyond the classroom

10 Building mathematical understanding: Construction and architecture

11 Exploring mathematics through music

12 Conclusion: Learning mathematics through playful teaching

List of mathematical activities

Guesstimates
Bibliography
Index
LIST OF FIGURES

1.1 Creative teaching involves a variety of strategies, including large and small groupings, independent work and collaboration
1.2 An estimation involving sweets
2.1 Teachers confess to a range of feelings about mathematics
2.2 Children attempt to share their island fairly
3.1 Questions promote investigations
3.2 Problem finding and solving arising from One is a Snail
3.3 Inspired by Maths Curse, children identify a range of potential problems or investigations
4.1 Dialogue promotes mathematical thinking
5.1 Making numbers real through visualisation
6.1 Representations of numbers arising from A Little or a Lot
6.2 Counting grains of rice
7.1 The children received a letter from the giant
7.2 The giant’s shoe is used to encourage children to guesstimate the size of the giant
8.1 Children attempt to divide fields accurately and fairly as part of their work on Farming for Fractions
8.2 Children explore mathematics in a Roman market, examining coins and merchandise
8.3 Number property assault course layout
9.1 Mathematical opportunities in the natural world of growth and living things
9.2 Mathematics in the built environment
9.3 Water play and exploration offer many mathematical opportunities
9.4 Outdoor experiences offer a world of mathematical exploration
9.5 Children prepare to work on the maze described in A River Always Finds Its Way
9.6 Den building offers rich mathematical experiences
10.1 Properties pleasing to the eye
10.2 Pythagoras’ theorem
10.3 Children’s block constructions involve a great deal of mathematical thinking
10.4 Children are challenged to build a house they can lie down in
10.5 Town planners set up their town
10.6 Map-makers study a map and attempt to recreate it on a grid
11.1 Similar instruments of different sizes and designs allow children to explore the science and mathematics of sound
11.2 Music has a significant effect on creativity
12.1 Questioning and challenging ideas built on children’s interests
12.2 Creative teaching requires a belief in the power of play and story
LIST OF TABLES

1.1 Teaching strategies and creative mathematics

2.1 Is maths hard?
3.1 Stories with problem-solving opportunities
6.1 Kieran Egan’s story model form
8.1 Example of a physical response to learning number properties
9.1 The benefits of outdoor provision for the development of creative mathematics
10.1 The stages of block building
10.2 The development of block play
SERIES EDITOR PREFACE
Teresa Cremin

Over recent decades teachers working in accountability cultures across the globe have been
required to focus on raising standards, setting targets, and ‘delivering’ prescribed curricula and
pedagogy. The language of schooling, Mottram and Hall (2009: 109) assert, has predominantly
focused upon ‘oversimplified, easily measurable notions of attainment’, which they argue has
had a homogenising effect, prompting children and their development to be discussed ‘according
to levels and descriptors’, rather than as children, as unique learners. Practitioners, positioned as
passive recipients of the prescribed agenda appear to have had their hands tied, their voices
quietened and their professional autonomy both threatened and constrained. At times, the
relentless quest for higher standards has obscured the personal and affective dimensions of
teaching and learning, fostering a mindset characterised more by compliance and conformity
than curiosity and creativity.
However, creativity too has been in the ascendant in recent decades; in many countries efforts
have been made to re-ignite creativity in education, since it is seen to be essential to economic
and cultural development. This impetus for creativity can be traced back to the National
Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE, 1999), which recommended
a core role for creativity in teaching and learning. Primary schools in England were encouraged
to explore ways to offer more innovative and creative curricula (DfES, 2003) and new national
curricula in Scotland also foregrounded children’s critical and creative thinking. Additionally,
initiatives such as Creative Partnerships, an English government-funded initiative to nurture
children’s creativity, inspired some teachers to reconstruct their pedagogy (Galton, 2012). Many
other schools and teachers, encouraged by these initiatives, and determined to offer creative and
engaging school experiences, have exercised the ‘power to innovate’ (Lance, 2006). Many have
proactively sought ways to shape the curriculum responsively, appropriating national policies in
their own contexts and showing professional commitment and imagination, despite, or perhaps
because of, the persistent performative agenda (e.g. Cremin et al., 2015; Neelands, 2009, Woods
and Jeffrey, 2009).
Schools continue to be exhorted to be more innovative in curriculum construction and
national curricula afford opportunities for all teachers to seize the space, exert their
professionalism and shape their own curricula in collaboration with the young people with
whom they are working. Yet for primary educators, tensions persist, not only because the dual
policies of performativity and creativity appear contradictory, but also perhaps because teachers’
own confidence as creative educators, indeed as creative individuals, has been radically reduced
by the constant barrage of change and challenge. As Csikszentmihalyi (2011) notes, teachers lack
a theoretically underpinned framework for creativity that can be developed in practice; they
need support to develop as artistically engaged, research-informed curriculum co-developers.
Eisner (2003) asserts that teaching is an art form, an act of improvisation (Sawyer, 2011), and that
teachers benefit from viewing themselves as versatile artists in the classroom, drawing on their
personal passions and creativity as they teach creatively. As Joubert too observes:

Creative teaching is an art. One cannot teach teachers didactically how to be creative; there
is no fail safe recipe or routines. Some strategies may help to promote creative thinking, but
teachers need to develop a full repertoire of skills which they can adapt to different
situations.
(Joubert 2001: 21)

However, creative teaching is only part of the picture, since teaching for creativity also needs
to be acknowledged and their mutual dependency recognised. The former focuses more on
teachers using imaginative approaches in the classroom (and beyond) in order to make learning
more interesting and effective, the latter, more on the development of children’s creativity
(NACCCE, 1999). Both rely upon an understanding of the notion of creativity and demand that
professionals confront the myths and mantras that surround the word. These include the
commonly held misconceptions that creativity is the preserve of the arts or arts education, and
that it is confined to particularly gifted individuals.
Creativity, an elusive concept, has been multiply defined by educationalists, psychologists and
neurologists, as well as by policy makers in different countries and researchers in different
cultural contexts (Glăveanu, forthcoming). Debates resound about its individual and/or
collaborative nature, the degree to which it is generic and/or domain specific, and the differences
between the ‘Big C’ creativity of genius and the ‘little c’ creativity of the everyday.
Notwithstanding these issues, most scholars in the field believe it involves the capacity to
generate, reason and critically evaluate novel ideas and/or imaginary scenarios. As such, it
encompasses thinking through and solving problems, making connections, inventing and
reinventing, and flexing one’s imaginative muscles in all aspects of learning and life.
In the primary classroom, creative teaching and learning have been associated with
innovation, originality, ownership and control (Woods and Jeffrey 1996; Jeffrey 2006) and
creative teachers have been seen, in their planning and teaching, and in the ethos which they
create, to afford high value to curiosity and risk taking, to ownership, autonomy and making
connections (Craft et al., 2014; Cremin et al. 2009; Cremin, 2015). Such teachers often work in
partnership with others: with children, other teachers and experts from beyond the school gates
(Cochrane and Cockett 2007; Davies et al. 2012; Thomson et al., 2012). These partnerships offer
new possibilities, with teachers acquiring some of the repertoire of pedagogic practices – the
‘signature pedagogies’ that artists use (Thomson and Hall, forthcoming). Additionally, in
research exploring possibility thinking, which Craft (2000) argues drives creativity in education,
an intriguing interplay between teachers and children has been observed. In this body of work,
children and teachers have been involved in immersing themselves in playful contexts, posing
questions, being imaginative, showing self-determination, taking risks and innovating – together
(Burnard et al. 2006; Cremin et al., 2006; Chappell et al., 2008; Craft et al. 2012; Cremin et al.,
2013). As McWilliam (2009) argues, teachers can choose not to position themselves as the all-
knowing ‘sage on the stage’, or the facilitator- like ‘guide on the side’. They can choose, as
creative practitioners do, to take up a role of the ‘meddler in the middle’, co-creating curricula in
innovative and responsive ways that harness their own and foster the children’s creativity. A
new pedagogy of possibility beckons.
This series Learning to Teach in the Primary School, which accompanies and complements the
edited textbook Learning to Teach in the Primary School (Cremin and Arthur, 2014), seeks to
support teachers in developing as creative practitioners, assisting them in exploring the synergies
between and potential for teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. The series does not
merely offer practical strategies for use in the classroom, though these abound, but more
importantly seeks to widen teachers’ and student teachers’ knowledge and understanding of the
principles underpinning creative approaches, principles based on research. It seeks to mediate the
wealth of research evidence and make accessible and engaging the diverse theoretical
perspectives and scholarly arguments available, demonstrating their practical relevance and
value to the profession. Those who aspire to develop further as creative and curious educators
will find much of value to support their own professional learning journeys and markedly enrich
their pedagogy and practice right across the curriculum.

ABOUT THE SERIES EDITOR

Teresa Cremin (Grainger) is a Professor of Education (Literacy) at the Open University and a
past President of UKRA (2001–2) and UKLA (2007–9). She is currently Research Director of the
Cambridge Primary Review Trust, co-convenor of the BERA Creativity SIG and a Trustee of
Booktrust and UKLA. In addition, Teresa is a Fellow of both the English Association and the
Academy of Social Sciences.
Her work involves research, publication and consultancy in literacy and creativity. Many of
Teresa’s current projects seek to explore the nature and characteristics of creative pedagogies,
including for example, examining immersive theatre and related teaching techniques, children’s
make believe play in the context of storytelling and story acting, their everyday lives and literacy
practices, and the nature of literary discussions in extracurricular reading groups. Additionally,
Teresa is researching creative science practice with learners aged 3–8 years and possibility
thinking as a driver for creative learning. Teresa is also passionate about, (and still researching),
teachers’ own creative development and their identity positioning in the classroom as readers,
writers, and creative human beings.
Teresa has written and edited over 25 books and numerous papers and professional texts, most
recently editing with colleagues Researching Literacy Lives: Building Home-School Communities
(2015, Routledge), Teaching English Creatively (2nd edn, 2015, Routledge); Building Communities
of Engaged Readers: Reading for Pleasure (2014, Routledge); and The International Handbook of
Research into Children’s Literacy, Learning and Culture (2013, Blackwell). Storytelling in Early
Childhood: Enriching Language, Literacy and Classroom Culture is forthcoming (2016,
Routledge). In addition, her book publications since 2000 include: Writing Voices: Creating
Communities of Writers (2012, Routledge); Learning to Teach in the Primary School (2014,
Routledge); Teaching Writing Effectively: Reviewing Practice (2011, UKLA); Drama, Reading
and Writing: Talking Our Way Forwards (2009, UKLA); Jumpstart Drama (2009, David Fulton);
Creative Teaching for Tomorrow: Fostering a Creative State of Mind (2009, Future Creative);
Documenting Creative Learning 5–11 (2007, Trentham); Creativity and Writing: Developing
Voice and Verve (2005, Routledge); Teaching English in Higher Education (2007, NATE and
UKLA); Creative Activities for Character, Setting and Plot, 5–7, 7–9, 9–11 (Scholastic 2004); and
Language and Literacy: A Routledge Reader (2001, Routledge).

REFERENCES
Burnard, P., Craft, A. and Cremin, T. (2006) ‘Possibility thinking’, International Journal of Early Years Education, 14(3): 243–62.
Chappell, K., Craft, A., Burnard, P. and Cremin, T. (2008) ‘Question-posing and question-responding: The heart of possibility
thinking in the early years’, Early Years, 283: 267–86.
Cochrane, P. and Cockett, M. (2007) Building a Creative School: A dynamic approach to school improvement, Stoke on Trent:
Trentham Books.
Craft, A. (2000) Creativity Across the Primary Curriculum, London: Routledge.
Craft, A., Cremin, T., Hay, P. and Clack, J. (2014) ‘Creative primary schools: Developing and maintaining pedagogy for creativity’,
Ethnography and Education, 9(1):16–34.
Craft, A., Cremin, T., Burnard, P., Dragovic, T. and Chappell, K. (2012) ‘Possibility thinking: Culminative studies of an evidence-
based concept driving creativity?’, Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early, 41(5): 538–56.
Cremin, T. (2015) ‘Creative teachers and creative teaching’, in A. Wilson (ed.) Creativity in Primary Education, London: Sage, pp.
33–44.
Cremin, T. and Arthur, J. (eds) (2014) Learning to Teach in the Primary School (3rd edn), London: Routledge.
Cremin, T., Burnard, P. and Craft, A. (2006) ‘Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years’, International Journal of
Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1(2): 108–19.
Cremin, T., Barnes, J. and Scoffham, S. (2009) Creative Teaching for Tomorrow: Fostering a creative state of mind, Deal: Future
Creative.
Cremin, T., Chappell, K. and Craft, A. (2013) ‘Reciprocity between narrative, questioning and imagination in the early and
primary years: Examining the role of narrative in possibility thinking’, Thinking Skills and Creativity, 9: 136–51.
Cremin, T., Glauert, E., Craft, A., Compton, A. and Stylianidou, F. (forthcoming, 2015) ‘Creative little scientists: Exploring
pedagogical synergies between inquiry-based and creative approaches in Early Years science’, Education 3–13, International
Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, special issue on creative pedagogies.
Cremin, T., Mottram, M., Powell, S., Collins, R. and Drury, R. (2015) Researching Literacy Lives: Building home school
communities, London: Routledge.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2011) ‘A systems perspective on creativity and its implications for measurement’, in R. Schenkel and O.
Quintin (eds) Measuring Creativity, Brussels: The European Commission, pp. 407–14.
Davies, D., Jindal-Snape, D., Collier, C., Digby, R., Hay, P. and Howe, A. (2012) ‘Creative environments for learning in schools’,
Thinking Skills and Creativity. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2012.07.004.
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (2006) Government Response to Paul Roberts’ Report on Nurturing Creativity in Young
People, London: DCMS.
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003) Excellence and Enjoyment: A strategy for primary schools, Nottingham: DfES.
Eisner, E. (2003) ‘Artistry in education’, Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 47(3): 373–84.
Galton, M. (2010) ‘Going with the flow or back to normal? The impact of creative practitioners in schools and classrooms’,
Research Papers in Education, 25(4): 355–75.
Glăveanu, V., Sierra, Z. and Tanggaard, L. (forthcoming, 2015) ‘Widening our understanding of creative pedagogy: A North–
South dialogue’, Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, special issue on
creative pedagogies.
Jeffrey, B. (ed.) (2006) Creative Learning Practices: European experiences, London: Tufnell Press.
Jeffrey, B. and Woods, P. (2009) Creative Learning in the Primary School, London: Routledge.
Joubert, M.M. (2001) ‘The art of creative teaching: NACCCE and beyond’, in A. Craft, B. Jeffrey and M. Liebling (eds) Creativity
 in Education, London: Continuum.
Lance, A. (2006): Power to innovate? A study of how primary practitioners are negotiating the modernisation agenda,
Ethnography and Education, 1(3): 333–44.
Mottram, M. and Hall, C. (2009) ‘Diversions and diversity: Does the personalisation agenda offer real opportunities for taking
children’s home literacies seriously?’, English in Education, 43(2): 98–112.
National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE) (1999) All Our Futures: Creativity, culture and
education, London: Department for Education and Employment.
Neelands, J. (2009) ‘Acting together: ensemble as a democratic process in art and life’, Research in Drama Education, 14(2):173–89.
Sawyer, K. (ed.) (2011) Structure and Improvisation in Creative Teaching, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Thomson, P. and Hall, C. (forthcoming, 2015) ‘Everyone can imagine their own Gellert: The democratic artist and “inclusion” in
primary and nursery classrooms’, Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education,
special issue on creative pedagogies.
Thomson, P., Hall, C., Jones, K. and Sefton-Green, J. (2012) The Signature Pedagogies Project: Final report, London: Creativity,
Culture and Education.
Woods, P. and Jeffrey, B. (1996) Teachable Moments: The art of creative teaching in primary schools, Buckingham: Open
University Press.
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
What counts as creative mathematics?

INTRODUCTION
Faced with the question ‘What counts as mathematics?’, many people will respond by talking
about numbers and sums. In the past, most people were taught mathematics by rote and either
failed or succeeded. Success as a mathematician offered high academic status but, perversely, any
apparent failure as a mathematician has not carried the stigma that not being able to read or
write carries. Although illiterate adults adopt all manner of strategies to hide their inability,
innumerate adults will happily declare that they can’t do maths to save their lives!
Research has highlighted the fact that humans are born with a wide range of mathematical
competences (Dehaene 1997; Butterworth 1999, 2005; Devlin 2000). This is strangely at odds with
the fact that, for many years, a significant proportion of the adult population has been
functionally innumerate (see, for example, Boaler 2009). Over 30 years ago, the Cockcroft Report
(DES 1982) highlighted then-current concerns about low standards of mathematical achievement,
but also reported that such anxieties had existed for well over a century before that. The
intention at the time of the initial introduction of the National Curriculum (DfEE 1999a) was to
raise standards and to ensure entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum. The entitlement
for mathematics included number (including, at Key Stage 2, algebra), and shape, space and
measures. Handling data was added to this at Key Stage 2. The programme of study for
mathematics (DfEE 1999a) emphasised the ways in which mathematics is linked to spiritual,
moral, social and cultural development. It also underlined the integral key skills and cross-
curricular nature of mathematics.
However, the introduction of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) (DfEE 1999b) and the
nature of the Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) shifted the focus back to a narrower perception
of what mathematics is. In an international test of the mathematical understanding of everyday
maths of 15-year-olds, UK students came eighth in 2000 but twenty-fourth in 2007 (Boaler 2009).
This is particularly perplexing when the term numeracy, as adopted by the NNS, apparently set
out to emphasise those aspects of mathematics that would be needed to manage everyday life.
The NNS framework (DfEE 1999b: 4) defined numeracy as, ‘a proficiency which involves
confidence and competence with numbers and measures’. The document further suggested that
numeracy involves: an ability to compute numbers, including an understanding of the number
system; an ability and motivation to solve number problems; and an understanding of the ways
in which mathematical information can be collected and presented.
Predictably, SATs came to focus on the elements of the curriculum that are more readily
assessed, but these elements, although of vital importance, are by no means all that mathematics
is. Boaler (2009) has called the mathematics that is taught in school ‘fake mathematics’. She
underlines the differences between ‘real mathematics’ (as it is understood both by ordinary
people and by mathematicians) and the mathematics that is taught in school. She stresses that
there is an urgent need to address the gap.
Despite – or, cynics might suggest, because of – all these changes, standards of mathematical
achievement continue to give rise to concern. An OFSTED report published in 2012 underlines
the fact that, as children progress through the key stages, the proportion of them failing to
achieve expected standards increases significantly. The report (Ofsted 2012: 6) states that:

The responsibility of mathematics education is to enable all pupils to develop conceptual

understanding of the mathematics they learn, its structures and relationships, and fluent
recall of mathematical knowledge and skills to equip them to solve familiar problems as
well as tackling creatively the more complex and unfamiliar ones that lie ahead.

Any yet, the most recent National Curriculum for mathematics (DfE 2013) places increased
emphasis on formal computation and bigger numbers, and less explicit focus on problem solving.
Although these changes may place greater emphasis on recall, they seem unlikely to give
children better conceptual insight or more creative strategies for tackling problems. The
Department for Education claims to have looked to other, more successful nations in determining
this curriculum – notably Singapore and Finland. The National Union of Teachers (NUT 2013)
offers a critique of this National Curriculum, claiming that the influences from other countries
have been both partial and skewed. Moreover, they argue that the programmes of study:

fail to reflect the aims set out for the subject, having no real applications;
ignore the development of mathematical reasoning; and
focus too much on the mastery of basic mathematical routines.

Acknowledging the value of some memorisation in the subject, the authors suggest that the
increased focus will not support:

the development of mathematical reasoning;

the understanding of abstract mathematical concepts; or
the enjoyment of mathematics, which they suggest is vital at primary level, if children are to
maintain high standards.

SO WHAT IS MATHEMATICS?
Mathematics has been described as ‘the abstract key which turns the lock of the physical
universe’ (Devlin 2002: 10, citing Polkinhorne). Devlin (2000, 2002) simply describes mathematics
as the science of patterns. Guy Claxton, in his submission to the Cambridge Primary Review
(Alexander 2010: 224), argues that the high status given to mathematics is based on a false
premise, derived from the legacy of the classical emphasis on logical and ‘quasi-logical’ thinking
that has long dominated Western education. This presents mathematics, erroneously in Claxton’s
view, as a subject that:

is timeless and does not therefore need to be relevant;

may be broken down into segments that can be taught in isolation through graded exercises;
can be organised in such a way as to ensure that there are clear right and wrong answers,
making it simple to assess.

For Claxton, this approach to mathematics is ‘a million miles away’ from ‘the real way
mathematicians actually solve problems and make discoveries’ (Alexander 2010: 224, citing
Claxton). Similarly, Worthington and Carruthers (2006: 222) compare young children’s attempts
to learn mathematics to those of someone learning a new language. They suggest that children
need to become much more than mere ‘adders and dividers’. What society actually needs, they
argue, are ‘seekers and solvers of problems and makers of new mathematical meanings’.
Mathematics is a vital part of human endeavour at many levels. At an unconscious level, it is
what enables:

a baby to match two sounds to two objects, or to recognise errors when a small number of toys
are added or removed from another group of toys (Pound 2006);
a golfer to judge the distance he or she must hit the ball;
snooker players to get the white ball ricocheting off the coloured balls at exactly the correct
angle;
a cook to estimate the timings to ensure that all elements of a meal are ready at the same time;
all of us to cross the road safely.

The subject includes some mundane and perhaps downright boring elements. Knowing
number bonds and tables by heart is often seen as an essential part – indeed, the National
Curriculum (DfE 2013) now requires children to know tables up to the twelve times table by the
end of Year 4. Yet not all mathematicians are good at remembering these facts. Marcus du
Sautoy, the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a professor of
mathematics at Oxford University, declares, for example:

Times tables. You know, I’m not terribly fast at my times tables, because that’s not what I
think mathematics is about. I think it’s the same thing as thinking that a good speller will
make a great writer. Well, no, actually – great writers can be crap at spelling, but have great
vision and ways of bringing stories alive – and I think you’ve got to put over that
mathematics is a similar idea.
(du Sautoy 2008a)
 Conversely, some highly skilled and intuitive users of mathematics do not regard themselves
as mathematicians at all. Nunes et al. (1993) offer examples of street sellers in South America –
young boys able to execute complex sums in their heads, as they sell fruit and give change.
Parallel everyday experiences for many of us may include darts players able to work out which
number they must next hit, or gamblers working out complicated odds on horses or dogs
winning a race. However, offered pencil and paper to support their calculations, many of these
skilled users of mathematical strategies and ideas would have great difficulty in coming up with
a sensible answer to the very same problems.
We are told that, in an increasingly technological world, an understanding of mathematics
becomes ever more important (Boaler 2009; Devlin 2002; du Sautoy 2010). Understanding of our
world demands what is often called ‘mathematical literacy’. The Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development (OECD) uses the term mathematical literacy, defining it as:

the capacity to identify, to understand and to engage in mathematics and make well-
founded judgements about the role that mathematics plays, as needed for an individual’s
current and future private life, occupational life, social life with peers and relatives, and life
as a constructive, concerned, and reflective citizen.
(OECD 1999: 50)

This view of mathematics is perhaps richer than that offered by NNS and involves being able
to understand something of how statistical statements and mathematical claims are arrived at,
and what they actually mean. This is certainly a far cry from the mathematics that was
demanded in Victorian times, when compulsory schooling was introduced. It is not enough to be
able to add up columns of figures – we have machines to do that – but it is vital that children are
able to calculate quickly and with some degree of accuracy in everyday situations – with
confidence. Perhaps more important than being able to compute – add, subtract, multiply or
divide – is an ability to estimate an answer, using common sense (Devlin 2000; Pound 2006).
Boaler (2009: 26) comments on the difficulties that face many children when they are asked to
estimate: ‘they have not developed a good feel for numbers which would enable them to estimate
instead of calculate … they have learned, wrongly, that mathematics is all about precision, not
about making estimates or guesses.’
Despite widespread misapprehensions about mathematics, Alex Bellos (2014: 24) claims that
most people have strong feelings about numbers, and that they attribute particular
characteristics to them. He argues that we are daily assaulted by numbers and that, whether we
like it or not, ‘they ceaselessly needle our neurons’.
Then, there are writers who emphasise the world of mathematics that is fascinating and
beautiful, puzzling and exciting. This world is often described by those who experienced it as
children. Seymour Papert’s subsequent passion for mathematics – which led him to develop
Logo, an early piece of software that enabled young children to program the movements of a
‘turtle’ – began with a consuming interest in cogs. After visiting a mill in early childhood, he, by
his own admission, became obsessed with the idea of ratio (Papert 1982). Shakuntala Devi,
described in the Guinness Book of Records as a ‘human computer’, considers mathematics to be a
thing of beauty and entertainment. She writes:
 At three I fell in love with numbers. It was sheer ecstasy for me to do sums and get the right
answers. Numbers were toys with which I could play … My interest grew with age. I took
immense delight in working out huge problems mentally – sometimes even faster than
electronic calculating machines and computers … All along I had cherished a desire to show
those who think mathematics boring and dull just how beautiful it can be.
(Devi 1977: 9)

This enthusiasm is also described by mathematicians keen to share their interest. Carol
Vorderman (2010) describes her excitement about numbers as coming from the way in which
they dance in her head. Marcus du Sautoy describes the many and varied functional uses of
mathematics and concludes that his interest in mathematics was motivated by:

the sheer beauty of the ideas, structures and new ways of looking at the world. A world
without knowing about primes, symmetry and 4D geometry would be like never hearing
Mozart, seeing Picasso, or experiencing Shakespeare. A world without maths would be
impoverished politically, technologically, scientifically and culturally.
(du Sautoy 2010: 7)

Keith Devlin, journalist and professor of mathematics, shares this broader view. He states that,
‘Mathematics is not about number, but about life. It is about the world in which we live. It is
about ideas. And, far from being dull and sterile as it is so often portrayed it is full of creativity’
(Devlin 2000: 76).
Of course, mathematics is about number – but it is about other things too. In 2009, the
National Strategy produced an article entitled ‘So what is mathematics?’ (National Strategies
2009a). Although this document is no longer current policy, the five aspects that it highlighted
are still of interest. They remain genuine and valued aspects of mathematical understanding in
the wider world:

Mathematics builds from simple definitions and propositions that are based on observation. The
idea of mathematics being based on observation is not one that has been widely
acknowledged within mathematics education. Bellos (2014) suggests that the first thing that
humans counted was time – observing the cycles of night and day and changing seasons.
Perhaps humans noticed relationships between various objects (Cairns 2007; Brandt 2009) and
used these as symbols. Fingers and footsteps, sun, moon and stars all served to support the
development of early human mathematical understanding.
Mathematics involves measuring, comparing and classifying objects. The algorithms for
addition and subtraction, multiplication and division evolved in order to help us measure and
compare, and yet, somehow, this has been lost, as confused children faced with a
mathematical problem enquire ‘is it an add or a take away?’ The notion of mathematics as a
tool for classifying is also often lost. In the early years, for example, practitioners become
anxious about children who ‘don’t know their colours’ and see this as a failure in
mathematical understanding. Of course, it’s useful to be able to tell red from yellow, but it is
not an inherently mathematical idea. Let’s be equally interested in children who know their
 colours, can tell one butterfly, flower or superhero from another, and those who can
differentiate engine sounds – as 4-year-old David was able to tell, without looking, whether
he was hearing a Ford or Volkswagen.
Mathematics describes patterns, properties and general concepts. In education, pattern has been
a much-neglected element of mathematics. It is found in numbers and counting, in shape, in
motion, reasoning, probability and topology (Devlin 2002). Devlin (2000) describes the
patterns and relationships studied by mathematicians as occurring in nature, knots, planets,
animal fur and birds’ feathers, in voting, games, the structure of language and in music. The
patterns frequently involve things that are not yet visible – either in helping to predict events
or in considering ideas such as the Big Bang. Devlin (2002) argues that, as we seek and find
patterns, we begin to make the ‘invisible visible’.
Mathematics provides the tools to abstract and work in an imagined world. Imagination is not a
word that is readily associated with mathematics by the average man or woman in the street.
It is, however, increasingly understood to be a vital element of mathematical thinking.
Mathematics involves a great deal of abstract thought – from the earliest days, just thinking
about ‘two’ is an abstraction. Devlin (2000) suggests that mathematics is the most abstract
subject – but that may be because he is a mathematician! Whether or not mathematics is
more abstract than other disciplines, thinking in the abstract involves imagination. A range of
research suggests that abstract mathematical thinking has at its roots imagination. Devlin
writes:

The key to being able to think mathematically is to push this ability to ‘fake reality’ one
step further into a realm that is purely symbolic … Mathematicians learn how to live in and
reason about a purely symbolic world … created in the mind.
(Devlin 2000: 120)

Mathematics is a creative subject in which ideas can be generated, tested and refined. Equally
alien to popular thinking about mathematics is the idea that it is a creative subject. Many
writers have made this link. Mazur (2003: 225) cites Kant when saying that, ‘mathematics is
pure poetry’. Thoreau echoes and extends that idea when he writes, perhaps a little cynically,
that, ‘we have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has yet been
sung’ (cited by Pound 2006: 42). This is an idea that will be explored throughout this book. We
hope that, by the end of it, you will not only recognise mathematics as a creative subject, but
be ready to help more of it to be sung – by teaching this creative subject creatively!

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CREATIVITY?

A vast number of complete books have been dedicated to trying to define creativity; this
paragraph can do little more than highlight a few aspects of the subject. Ramachandran and
Blakeslee (1999: 197) have described it as the ‘ineffable quality’ that makes us human. It is,
however, a term that is widely used in education, but not always with the same sense of
existential qualities. Alexander (2010) states that the words ‘creative’ and ‘creativity’ appeared
more frequently in submissions to the Cambridge Primary Review than any others. Anna Craft,
in her submission to the committee, reminds us that:

The very nature of creativity in education remains ambiguous. To what extent creativity in
primary education is conceived of as involving creative partnerships, as opposed simply to
valuing and nourishing children’s ideas in multiple contexts, is not clear. To what extent
collective or collaborative creativity is valued as against individualized models, is also
unclear; similarly there are still slippages in language between ‘creative teaching’, ‘teaching
for creativity’ and ‘creative learning’.
(Craft, cited in Alexander 2010: 227)

Gardner (2006) suggests that creativity is a skill or attribute that will be much needed by
society in the near future, but he reminds us that creativity has not always been welcomed. The
early purposes of universal schooling were not to promote creativity, but to prepare children for
a life of routine. He writes that:

In the past, creative individuals in a society were at best a mixed blessing – disdained,
discouraged, even destroyed at the time of their breakthrough, possibly to be honored by
posterity at some later point. Our time, our era is different.
(Gardner 2006: 78)

Gardner (2006) criticizes the view of creativity, widely adopted in business, as being little more
than lateral thinking (see, for example, de Bono 1995). He emphasises the importance of
recognising the very varied nature of creativity, not simply Big C (such as demonstrated by
Mozart or Picasso) or little c (such as is demonstrated in everyday situations where new solutions
are found to everyday problems or events) creativity. Moreover, a person creative in one area of
endeavour is not necessarily creative in another. Gardner underlines the seminal view of
Csikszentmihalyi (1997) that creativity emerges from an interaction of:

an individual’s mastery of a discipline and his or her willingness to modify or change current
thinking in the area;
the cultural domain – ideas and models open to the creator;
the social field through which the creator’s work or ideas are disseminated to a broader
audience.

The test of creativity is summed up by Gardner, citing such notables as Einstein and Picasso,
with the question, ‘Has the domain in which you operate been significantly altered by your
contribution?’.
Clearly, strict adherence to this view of creativity would mean that creativity never occurred
in the primary years of schooling, and that would be far from the truth. Ken Robinson chaired
the committee that produced a report on creativity in education for the government (NACCCE
1999). In that report, creativity was identified as having four key elements, namely, imagination,
reflection, originality and a sense of purpose. In a subsequent publication, Robinson (2001)
describes three levels of originality – personal, social and historic. Children are unlikely to
produce work of historic originality, but they will often produce things that are original for
them, and it is this that should be nurtured in school. Promoting collaboration is also likely to
ensure the development of social originality – producing things new to a culture or group.
Gardner (2006: 84) suggests that, prior to entering statutory schooling, children are at the
height of their creative powers. He suggests that the challenge for educators is ‘to keep alive the
mind and sensibility of the young child’. For Gardner, there is a simple recipe:

for the nurturing of creating minds in the first decades of life. Following a period of open,
untrammeled exploration in early childhood, it is indeed appropriate to master literacies
and the disciplines … Even during periods of drill, it is vital to keep open alternative
possibilities and to foreground the option of unfettered exploration … In the middle years of
schooling, parents should make sure that their children pursue hobbies or activities which
do not feature a single right answer … Teachers ought to illustrate the several ways in
which a particular math problem can properly be solved … they ought to encourage
youngsters to play games drawn from other cultures or to invent new games on the
playground or on the computer.
(Gardner 2006: 86–7)

MATHEMATICS AND CREATIVITY

It is apparent that mathematics is not generally well taught. Government interventions have
made some difference in raising standards in mathematics, but not enough (Ofsted 2008; Boaler
2009). British governments continue to raise concerns about standards of attainment (see, for
example, Ofsted 2012), although the solutions proposed in the most recent National Curriculum
are not widely perceived as offering the necessary solutions (see, for example, NUT 2013).
Robinson (2001: 4) suggests that change is needed in education because:

We are caught up in a social and economic revolution. Robinson likens the change needed to
the Industrial Revolution. Changes brought about by technological advances are having an
ongoing impact and show little sign of halting.
To survive it, we need a new conception of human resources. Current approaches to education
and training are hampered by ideas of intelligence and creativity that have wasted untold
talent and ability.
To develop these resources, we need radically new strategies. We won’t survive the future
simply by doing better what we have done in the past. Raising standards is no good if they’re
the wrong standards.

The aim of this book is to consider some approaches that might help to change the way in
which mathematics is conceived, taught and learned. Just as the term creativity has many
meanings and interpretations, so too the way in which the term can be applied to mathematics
education also has many possibilities. We are keenly aware of the pressures faced by teachers as
mathematics education is used as a political football, but, however much the curriculum changes,
the nature of children’s learning remains unchanged, and their creativity and zest for the subject
must continue to be nurtured. For this reason, detailed reference has been made throughout the
book to views of the curriculum that do not chime neatly with current legislation. Teaching
Mathematics Creatively will be essential if children are to enjoy mathematical reasoning and
begin to explore the abstract nature of the subject. Ways of achieving this are explored by
focusing on creative teaching, creative learning, creative partnerships and creative mathematics.

CREATIVE TEACHING
In order to teach creatively, teachers will use all their creative skills to plan and provide
imaginative and stimulating activities, experiences and resources. Creative teaching will also
involve promoting the creativity of children in order to develop their understanding. This may
be through encouraging them to question or challenge what has been presented to them, to
imagine other possibilities, to make connections with other ideas or areas of learning and to
present their ideas in ways that promote critical reflection.
 Figure 1.1 Creative teaching involves a variety of strategies, including large and small
groupings, independent work and collaboration

Ofsted (2010), in its review of creative partnerships, suggests that creative learning is
supported by the following creative teaching strategies:

cross-curricular learning and independent enquiry;

inclusive provision;
provision for experiential learning, involving first-hand, concrete experience;
technology integrated into teaching;
a planned enrichment programme – going beyond the National Curriculum entitlement;
links with the community and its cultures and a spirit of partnership;
flexible timetabling.

Creative approaches have the power to engage pupils more fully in their learning, and
nowhere is this more needed than in teaching mathematics. Upitis et al. (1997) report a study in
which cross-curricular and creative approaches to mathematics were tried out. Pimm (Upitis et
al. 1997: xv), in his preface to the book, suggests to teachers that: ‘This is not an enterprise that
requires a complete upheaval in classroom setting … It is containable. But beware. The
excitement of mathematical thinking is contagious: “hard fun” can prove addictive.’
This underlines the relationship between teaching and learning – important in many subjects,
but particularly so in mathematics, where many adults and children alike have a poor attitude
towards the subject. This topic will be considered in more detail in the next chapter.

CREATIVE LEARNING
If it is difficult to define ‘creativity’, it is even more taxing to try to define ‘creative learning’. It
may be thought of as a way of thinking – like de Bono’s lateral thinking. Alternatively, it is
sometimes thought of as a set of characteristics or attributes likely to be found in creative people.
These may include risk taking and flexibility, or being more curious and more open to new ideas,
demonstrating greater application and willingness to work with others (QCA 2005). Above all, of
great importance in mathematics is the attribute of developing a ‘what if?’ learning disposition.
As we will see in subsequent chapters, this disposition, sometimes termed ‘conjectural thinking’,
is at the heart of problem solving.
A further aspect of creative learning concerns the use of creative arts to symbolise, support
and represent mathematical ideas. This is the focus of the work of MakeBelieve Arts in
developing creative approaches to mathematics. MakeBelieve Arts bases its philosophy on the
following ideas, all of which will be explored in some detail throughout this book:

Narrative supports learning (Paley 1990), even mathematical learning (Egan 1988), because it
symbolises ideas and concepts and contextualises them.
Symbolic representation in a range of different modes and media supports thinking and
learning (Egan 1991; Malaguzzi 1995; Rogoff 2003; Namy 2005) across all intelligences,
including mathematical intelligences (Gardner 1999).
The imagination supports exploration of the boundaries between reality and unreality.
Moreover, it supports the development of abstract thought.
 All learning, including mathematical learning, requires that the learner go beyond hard facts. It
requires emotional engagement and motivation (Goleman 1996).

CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Ofsted’s report on creative partnerships (2010) underlines the importance of what artists,
including actors, designers, musicians and storytellers, can bring to supporting children’s
achievement. The reported benefits that working with artists brings to children learning
mathematics and science are, for many people, counter-intuitive. Why should focusing on
creative arts help to improve children’s understanding in other areas of the curriculum? We hope
that this book will show the benefits and identify some of the reasons why this should be the
case.
Gardner (2006: 86) offers some answers when he suggests that creativity can be fostered by:

exhibiting different equally viable solutions to a single posed problem; exposing youngsters
to attractive, creative persons who model both the approach and the experiences of the
creative life; and introducing new pursuits that are removed from the academic treadmill
and that reward innovation and look benignly on errors.

Gardner’s comments are interesting when applied to mathematics. Earlier policy documents
made strenuous efforts to ensure that the notion of a single right answer was challenged.
Whether right or wrong, children were encouraged to explain their thinking – a strategy that can
highlight the effectiveness of many different approaches. In the current National Curriculum for
mathematics, this emphasis has now been reduced, with less explicit requirement to encourage
children to describe their thinking or explain their reasoning (DfE 2013).
The notion of creative mathematicians coming into contact with children is an interesting one.
In describing the work of a mathematician, Devlin (2000) emphasises an absence of deductive
reasoning in the early stages of mathematical problem solving. He highlights the
experimentation, guessing, sweeping generalisations, intuition and ‘unwarranted conclusions’
that occur. He concludes with a description that is far from the popular understanding of what
mathematics is and what mathematicians do: ‘Only after the mathematician thinks she has
solved a problem does she start to work out a logical proof, a process that involves organizing
the various ideas and insights that led to the solution into a precise, logical argument’ (Devlin
2000: 253).

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS
Teaching mathematics creatively involves gaining an understanding of the creative nature of
mathematics. Earlier in this chapter, reference was made to Marcus du Sautoy’s claim that it is
the beauty of mathematics that motivated him. Reference was also made to writers describing
the poetry of mathematics. Mathematics is not a subject that is simply a set of right and wrong
answers, but one that requires conjecture – using imagination and guesswork, or even intuition
(Claxton 1997). It requires a mindset that seeks out patterns and problems. It relies on abstract
thought, which in turn is linked to both imagination and the representation of ideas through
two- and three-dimensional symbol systems, images, diagrams and models (see, for example,
Worthington and Carruthers 2006).
In considering the work of creative partnerships, Ofsted (2010) emphasises some of the
characteristics of successful teaching leading to creativity. Table 1.1 identifies some of those
characteristics with particular value for mathematics.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the chapters that follow, we intend to explore a range of topics relevant to the consideration of
creative mathematics. These are not offered as recipes or as the one right way to approach
mathematics. Indeed, that would be far from the spirit of creativity. Rather, we hope that they
will enable you to see possibilities that work for you and the children you teach. Similarly,
although in some cases the age of the children involved is indicated, this is not intended to be
taken as a definitive guide. Despite a widespread belief to the contrary (see, for example, DfE
2013), children vary and do not always learn according to the ladder of rules (Boaler 2009) that
mathematics education has established. Interest and experience will often determine what
children are able to do – and how they approach mathematics and learning.
Chapter 2 will consider dispositions to mathematics, and Chapter 3 will focus on the problem-
solving nature of mathematics. Chapter 4 explores the nature of mathematical talking and
thinking. Chapter 5 examines what makes mathematics real (rather than fake) for children. There
is a strong emphasis on story throughout the book, but Chapter 6 outlines some of the reasons
for this, as well as exploring some of the practical uses of books and story. Chapters 7–11
highlight different aspects of curricular provision and their role in developing mathematical
understanding, and the final chapter considers the nature of creative, and therefore playful,
teaching.
The practical activities that appear in each chapter are listed in the preliminary pages of the
book. Throughout the book, in addition to the theme of story, an emphasis will be placed on the
role of play and physical action in mathematical learning. We remain committed to focusing on
the development of an understanding of pattern, the use of imagination, the use of technology
and the aesthetics of mathematics, as these offer creative ways to support the reasoning,
understanding and enjoyment essential to mathematical development. The role of cross-phase
learning and teaching and the impact of an inclusive approach will be further themes.
Above all, in this, the second edition of this book, we, the authors, have chosen to place an
even greater emphasis on the role of estimation. Children in primary school (and arguably
beyond that stage) find it notoriously difficult not to see as a failure any gap between an estimate
and a measurement. Yet estimation is a powerful tool in a learning community:

It can provide helpful feedback for the student. The Ofsted report (2012) entitled Made to
Measure describes a group of Year 6 pupils using software that requires them to estimate the
 size of an angle and then shows the correct answer.
It can encourage the learner to check whether their worked-out answer makes sense. If children
are in the habit of estimating, or guessing, first, they are unlikely to be satisfied with an
answer that is in the hundreds, when this clearly does not match common sense. Thus, it
prompts the question, ‘Can this answer be true?’.
It helps to create a mindset in which the brain is actively engaged or ‘on the right track’.
It shows teachers what the child’s current understanding is and indicates where misconceptions
may lie.

Table 1.1 Teaching strategies and creative mathematics

Characteristics of teaching that successfully promote
Application to teaching mathematics
creativity (based on Ofsted 2010)

Mathematics education has a long history of being over-directive. We make

Teachers guide but do not over-direct pupils assumptions that the rote elements must be in place before the creative element can
be introduced. This has the effect of stultifying children’s creative abilities

Considerable emphasis is placed on developing

skills, especially problem solving and
communication, with pupils able to track their As problem solving is key to mathematics, this emphasis is vital
progress and to understand how one level of
competence led on to the next

Teachers’ skills in questioning pupils are excellent.

They foster a spirit of enquiry and an awareness of Again, an emphasis is placed on there being more than one right way – key to
there being multiple possibilities, rather than one creativity and key to mathematics
acceptable answer
If mathematics is viewed as entirely a hierarchical subject, there is an assumption
that some children will be unable to undertake certain challenges. Group working
Pupils with widely differing abilities and interests
and a problem-solving approach can overcome some of these difficulties. Lower-
are fully engaged and appropriately challenged
achieving children can sometimes achieve surprising results when the challenges
motivate and engage them
Teachers and pupils use many kinds of technology
effectively: to gather information, to model possible
solutions to complex questions, to construct Mathematical data can be presented in some exciting and innovative ways
presentations and to communicate in an engaging
and provocative way
Role-play is used to explore ideas, to encourage MakeBelieve Arts has used role-play and other drama techniques very effectively to
empathy and speculation, to practise working in promote mathematical understanding. Story is at the root of imaginative play and
teams and making decisions, and to build drama and has a strong part to play in developing mathematical understanding
confidence (Haven 2007). These issues will be explored in subsequent chapters
Positive mathematical dispositions are vital for supporting mathematical
Teachers and pupils respond enthusiastically,
understanding. Teachers and parents, in common with most other adults, are often
purposefully and with curiosity to opportunities
not enthusiastic about maths, and this can have a dramatic impact on children’s
offered by partnerships and outsiders with specific
achievement. Creative approaches can revitalise teaching, giving new routes into
expertise
mathematics
 Figure 1.2 An estimation involving sweets

You may have noticed that the word guess crept into the previous list. Guess is a word that is
easily understood by even the youngest children. For children, it does not carry the same
burdensome weight as words such as estimate, predict or hypothesise. Claxton (1997: 118) argues
for encouraging guessing:

When we treat something as a ‘pure guess’, we do not feel responsible for it in the same
way. We are freed to utter things that come to us ‘out of the blue’ because there is no
apparent standard of correctness or success against which they, or we, will be judged.

He goes on to describe a study in which, when subjects were asked only to guess, not to try,
their performance increased rapidly and markedly. Claxton’s explanation is that:

To ‘try’ is to have some kind of investment in the outcome. You care, you bother – and
therefore you cannot help but be ‘bothered’ if your effort proves unsuccessful. With a pure
guess, on the other hand, you feel as if you are plucking an answer out of thin air. … When
the pressure is reduced you are able to allow your choice to be guided by unconscious
promptings that are adequate for the task, despite consciousness’s lack of faith.
(1997: 121)

If the idea of guessing offends you, stick to your preferred term. Teachers are often worried
that children will make wild guesses, but, in fact, our experience has been that, when asked
always to guess first, children become increasingly accurate. If their guesses or estimates appear
to be way off beam, it may be an indication that:

they don’t have the vocabulary to say what they want to say;
they lack the confidence to say what they really think, and so make a joke of it;
 they lack conceptual understanding.

Each of these possibilities provides teachers with a way of supporting children in becoming more
skilful estimators, predictors or hypothesisers – or just better ‘guesstimators’.

CONCLUSION
It is apparent that radical changes are needed in the teaching of mathematics. Despite the fact
that we are all born mathematical, too many adults fear and dislike mathematics – and therefore
feel unable to use it in their everyday lives. Innovations in policy and practice have made some
improvements, but this is not enough. At the root of the difficulty lies the fact that educators
have worked hard to develop practice, focusing on making mathematics more real or more
concrete. Although vital, this does not take account of the need to develop abstract thought
(Pound 2006). Creative approaches, with their symbolic and motivational properties, help
children to bridge the two. By teaching creatively, teachers can support children in becoming
creative learners.

FURTHER READING
Alexander, R. (ed.) (2010) Children, Their World, Their Education. London: Routledge.
Bellos, A. (2014) Alex Through the Looking Glass: How life reflects numbers and numbers reflect life. London: Bloomsbury.
Boaler, J. (2009) The Elephant in the Classroom. London: Souvenir Press.
Devlin, K. (2000) The Maths Gene. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Gardner, H. (2006) Five Minds for the Future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Gravett, E. (2009) The Rabbit Problem. London: Macmillan Children’s Books.
The cover blurb for this book states that it is based on the work of the thirteenth-century mathematician Fibonacci. It also states
that it is not a book about maths but about rabbits. Try it out – is this maths? It’s certainly creative!
 CHAPTER 2

I HATE MATHS!
Positive feelings, creative dispositions and mathematics

TRISHA’S STORY
As I begin writing a book for teachers on approaches to mathematics, I reflect on the irony of
this. At school, I hated maths. By the time I was in Year 6, I was certain that I was destined never
to be any good at the subject. Three of my previous teachers had been very clear about this fact.
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand some of it; my main problem was I often rushed my sums and
made what the teachers very specifically defined, in red pen on all my books, as careless
mistakes. I fidgeted a lot at school. I got bored easily. I was easy to engage in a subject, but just
as easily distracted if I didn’t see the point in something.
By the time we started on algebraic equations, I had totally lost any interest in the subject. On
a good day, I would be the annoying child who asked: Why are we doing this, and what good
will it do me in my future life? On a bad day, I would doodle on the back of my exercise book,
but on very few days would I engage with the learning.
My other problem was that I didn’t, and actually still don’t to this day, know any more than
my 2, 5 and 10 times tables without counting on my fingers. I tried to learn them, but they just
didn’t stick. So, when times tables were introduced as short cuts, they were never any shorter for
me. It was only years later, as a parent struggling to teach my dyslexic 7-year-old son his times
tables, using as many creative and fun ways as I could think of, that I realised that, for some of
us, this kind of information is never going to stick, no matter how many bottles of shaving foam
are poured on to trays to finger trace 7 × 7 = 49. Needless to say, I failed maths, obtaining a CSE
grade 3 at the end of secondary school. In my twenties, I retook it, so that I could do a PGCE
teacher training course, and I finally passed with GCSE grade C – not brilliant, but enough to
count. The good thing about my experience at school was that it left me with a hunger to work
with children and teachers on developing approaches that support pupils in engaging with the
curriculum in a way that I had never been able to.
My journey to this book has been a practical one. Having read Egan’s work on Teaching as
Story-telling (1988), I became fascinated with his premise that you can teach anything through a
story – even mathematics. Suddenly, it brought back all of my experiences with maths at school.
I began a journey into mathematics that has excited and enriched me. Creating stories and
exercises to teach mathematics as part of my role at MakeBelieve Arts has been an exciting
experience. My maths has improved along the way, but I had a purpose for learning it. I needed
to understand the maths in order to find a way to make it creative. I have held algebra picnics
with Year 7 pupils and giants’ parties with Reception to Year 4. I have worked with pupils on
creating rap songs to remember the three types of average and I now approach maths as an
exciting and dynamic subject. My primary school teachers of old would have been very
surprised if they’d heard me say that all those years ago. I have become passionate about
education – even (or perhaps especially) about mathematics education.

FEELINGS ABOUT MATHEMATICS

Trisha’s experience is by no means unique. For many, children and adults alike, mathematics is a
subject that elicits strong negative reactions. Boaler (2009) reports that it is the second most
disliked subject – only science is more disliked among schoolchildren. Adults’ reactions in any
discussion of the subject are often ‘I hated maths’ or ‘my maths teacher hated me’ or ‘it was
never my favourite subject’.
In recent years, MakeBelieve Arts has begun asking teachers, at the beginning of INSETs or
conferences, to write on a piece of card one word to describe their feelings about mathematics.
Bearing in mind that the teachers present are often the people with responsibility for maths in
their primary school, the results can be quite surprising. Most of the time, in response to this
question, negative words are written on the cards by more than 50 per cent of the room. These
words include ‘anxious’, ‘frightened’, ‘nervous’, ‘uncomfortable’, ‘apprehensive’, ‘perplexed’ and
‘failure’, and, once, the words ‘cold sweat’ appeared. It is often only 40 per cent of the room who
have positive words to describe how maths makes them feel. These words include ‘excited’,
‘confident’, ‘enthusiastic’, ‘satisfied’, ‘good’, ‘fine’ and even, fairly regularly, the non-committal
‘OK’.
Atkinson (1992) researched parents’ views of mathematics: some talked of their panic and
suffering, whereas others focused on the content. One parent is reported as saying, ‘I don’t
approve of all this messing about with shapes and cubes’ (Atkinson 1992: 165), and another
talked of the need for doing ‘real maths’ – not practical stuff! Trisha’s account and the anxieties
of many adults (including parents) highlight a number of important misunderstandings about
the nature of mathematics.
 Figure 2.1 Teachers confess to a range of feelings about mathematics

Why do feelings matter?

Negative feelings about mathematics cause disaffection or a kind of learning paralysis. The
feelings Trisha describes about sitting in the class and failing to engage with the mathematical
ideas on offer will be recognised by many readers. Enthusiasm and interest are what make us
good learners. Trisha learned enough maths when she needed to, for her own purposes, and this
is often the case, but she still acknowledges that there are areas where she feels she will never
overcome the barriers established in childhood. Some adults talk of their inability to use
mathematics in their everyday lives almost as a badge of honour, but perhaps this is just
defensiveness. Others determine to get over it.
Stephen, for example, was a teaching assistant. Although studying for an honours degree in
his own time, he felt that this could never be for anything other than his own interest. Tutors
suggested that he might consider taking a PGCE, but he felt that what he saw as his inability to
do maths was an insurmountable barrier. His tutors persisted, and Stephen sought the help of the
university’s access services. He attended a summer course to diagnose his difficulties and, like
Trisha, was eventually able to successfully undertake a PGCE. Devlin (2000: 254) suggests that
wanting to do maths is the key to success: ‘When people find that they really need to master
some mathematics, they invariably do so’.
A range of neuroscientific evidence (Goleman 1996; LeDoux 1998; Gerhardt 2004) has
underlined the impact of feelings and emotions on learning. LeDoux, for example, describes in
some detail the way in which conditioned fear responses arise. They may arise after only one
incident; they may be reawakened by something apparently unrelated; they may be unconscious
and, in some cases, very long-lasting. Transfer this idea from rats to the maths classes that many
adults attended, and you begin to see why so many members of the population hold such
negative feelings about the subject.
Although adults can get over a negative disposition towards mathematics, those working with
children should aim to avoid setting up such feelings in the first place. Positive learning
dispositions such as curiosity, perseverance and persistence, making unusual connections,
confidence and communication underpin successful learning across the curriculum (Pound 2006).
Adults need to support and maintain positive dispositions in their teaching of mathematics.
Throughout this book, the focus will be on teaching that engages children, that promotes
effective communication, that helps children to understand that mathematics in everyday life
does not always have one right answer, and that boosts rather than undermines confidence.
The attitudes we communicate to children influence heavily the way they view mathematics.
The parents that Atkinson (1992: 165) interviewed made constant references to their own
experience, saying things such as: ‘Most of all I don’t want them to panic like I did’, ‘I wasn’t any
good at maths so I don’t suppose my child will be either’ and ‘I don’t want my child to suffer
what I went through. I want her to enjoy it and understand it’.
Paradoxically, there are also parents who failed at maths at school and want their children to
do better, and yet still feel that the teaching their children undergo should be like that which
they themselves endured unsuccessfully (Pound 2006). The attitude that adults display, whether
parents, teachers or support staff, has an impact on children. We owe it to them to do all that we
can – as Trisha did – to develop our own enthusiasm and, in the process, our expertise.
A potential area of conflict arises from the differing views of staff and parents about what
counts as maths. It is this difference that contributes to children’s feeling that, if they haven’t
been sitting at a table with a pencil in their hand, they have not been doing real maths. Parents
can and do make a difference to the standards children achieve and to their perceptions of
mathematics (Sylva et al. 2012), and this is widely understood. The much-vaunted Singapore
approach to mathematics includes training sessions with parents. Involving parents is
particularly important when teachers are considering how to set about teaching mathematics
creatively. Teachers and support staff need to keep parents informed about the approaches to
mathematics they are using, and why. This may involve workshops, handouts, displays and
speakers, but it will certainly involve a lot of talk. The job of staff will be made very much easier
where there is a whole-school approach and clear policy. If you want to teach mathematics
successfully through story or dance or drama, you will need to prepare parents (and probably
some of the staff you are working with). Children will sense differences of opinion and will
value these potentially rich opportunities less.

Do we need to be accurate?
Most of the mathematics that we use in our everyday lives relies on guesswork and
approximations. We estimate how much our shopping will cost, how much milk we’ll need
between now and next Thursday, whether we’ve got time to have a bath before we go out, or
how many rolls of wallpaper we will need. Some calculations are required, but there is usually a
significant amount of leeway. Of course, there are situations where absolute accuracy is required.
In preparing for space travel, for example, it is a matter of life and death, but in most everyday
situations it is not. Where it is important, calculators and computers can help us to achieve
accuracy – providing we have a rough idea of what the answer should be.
Devlin (2000) makes the point that the human brain is good at estimating, but much worse at
accurate calculations. He suggests that the difficulties faced by Trisha (and others) in learning
tables, for example, stem from the brain’s enjoyment of pattern and the way in which our
memories work by association. We actively look for patterns, even where none is obvious, and
we try to connect everything, as this is how we make it memorable. Although, by the age of 7,
several two-digit number bonds are well established, as multiplication tables are introduced,
children begin to make apparently careless errors. He argues that children who previously
confidently knew that 2 + 3 = 5 may begin to say that 2 + 3 = 6, but rarely that 2 + 3 = 7. The
numbers associated with addition and multiplication begin to interfere with one another. He
gives a further example where the interference comes from language itself:

Asked for 5 × 6 … [we] answer 36 or 56. Somehow, reading the 5 and the 6 brings to mind
both incorrect answers. People do not make such errors as 2 × 3 = 23 or 3 × 7 = 37. Because
the numbers 23 and 37 do not appear in any multiplication table, our associative memory
does not bring them up in the context of multiplication. But 36 and 56 are both in the table,
so when our brain sees 5 × 6, both are activated.
(Devlin 2000: 63)

To sum up, our brains have excellent survival skills of seeking out patterns, making
connections and making rapid judgements or guesses. These enable us to make decisions quickly
and on the basis of relatively little information. They form the basis of what is sometimes called
intuition (Claxton 2000). For Claxton, intuition is one of the many ‘ways of knowing’ employed
by humans and involves expertise (which may be unreflective or unconscious), judgement, and
awareness or sensitivity. He further suggests that it includes ‘rumination’ or ‘chewing the cud’
(Claxton 2000: 40) and creativity. Creativity, he claims, requires reflection – one of the
components of creativity put forward in the NACCCE report (1999).
Schiro (2004: 57), whose writing considers the role of narrative in mathematics education at all
stages and phases, suggests that the role of the teacher is to:

help children know mathematics on the intuitive level where ‘they know it in their bones’.
Once they have an intuitive understanding of and feel for mathematics, then they can move
on to understand it at a more abstract, generalised objective level.

This is not an approach confined to children. Claxton (cited in Alexander 2010: 274) reminds
us that real mathematicians do not operate in the inflexible way indicated by so many
approaches to mathematics teaching and learning. Devlin underlines this view by refuting the
myth that mathematicians use logic as their starting point. Once they have an idea (or
hypothesis), they use logic and reasoning to arrive at a means of proving (or disproving) their
initial idea. He writes:

Precise, formal reasoning is not required for mathematical discovery. Rather its purposes are
verification of things already discovered (or perhaps suspected) … The need for formal
verification is a direct consequence of the nature of mathematical discovery (which
includes) trial and error, guesswork, intuition, and conversation with others.
 (Devlin 2000: 252)

Getting things right, or being accurate, on the other hand, makes different demands on our
brains – as Devlin’s and Claxton’s views indicate. In teaching mathematics, we place the
emphasis on accuracy – the thing our brains find hardest. At the same time, we often underplay
the aspects of thinking, including mathematical thinking, that we are good at. As discussed in
Chapter 1, too often, we tell children not to guess – but guessing comes naturally and has to be
the starting point for all thinking. As we guess, the brain, freed from pressure, begins to explore a
range of possible connections.
We have many ‘ways of knowing’, and approaches to teaching mathematics should exploit
them all. Devlin (2000) suggests, for example, that multiplication tables are best learned through
sound patterns – the very technique that Trisha used with her son. Raps, songs, chants will all
support children in committing the facts to memory. Have you noticed how even very fluent
users of a second language will often revert to their home or first language when making
mathematical computations? Devlin (2000: 63) suggests that this is because:

No matter how fluent they become in their second language … it’s easier to slip back into
their first language to calculate and then to translate the result back, than to try to relearn
the multiplication table in their second language.

CHANGING MINDS AND FEELINGS

In order to develop creative approaches to mathematics, the attitudes, minds (and hearts) of
many parents, teachers and support staff will have to be changed. Deeply held views of what
maths is and how it ought to be taught have to be challenged. In this section, four key aspects of
changing minds and feelings are explored:

gaining insight into the complex nature of mathematics;

gaining insight into the complex nature of children’s learning;
engendering enthusiasm and excitement;
developing whole-school approaches.

The complex nature of mathematics

One important way of changing minds is to raise adults’ awareness of just what a complex
process number, for example, is. In order for you to get a taste of this, Table 2.1 shows a nursery
rhyme, ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’, set out as a counting system. There are also some
suggestions of sums and counting activities for you to try. Although this is an artificial example
and it doesn’t bear much similarity to the counting system we use, there are some important
parallels.
Try these ‘sums’, at first without looking at the key provided. Here is an example:
 had + ten = the

Now try these:

thousand + men = ?
marched – York = ? or ?
hill ÷ Old = ?
top × Old = ?

Table 2.1 Is maths hard? An activity based on ‘The Grand Old Duke of York’

Simply knowing the number names in order does not make it easy to pick out a single number
word without starting again at the beginning.
There are some confusions. In this instance, the confusion could be related to the fact that there
is more than one he or hill. For children, the confusion may be about the fact that 2 and 5
look somewhat similar.
Associations or unwonted connections can get in the way of understanding – or, if
acknowledged, can support it. In this rhyme, thousand = 10 and ten = 9. For children, the
associations might be about the fact that Gran’s house number is 14, and the bus they go to
the shops on is 44. It’s important to talk about these associations, so that children can explore
them.

The complex nature of learning

Another important way of changing minds and feelings is to raise awareness of the learning that
is occurring in interesting and challenging situations. Two published stories of children’s
struggle with mathematical concepts underline what adults can learn from observing and
reflecting on children’s actions and comments. The first story involves 5- and 6-year-old children
in an Italian nursery in Reggio Emilia – a region of the country that, it has been claimed, has
some of the best early childhood education in the world. A group of children was invited to
design a table, which a carpenter would then construct. Castagnetti and Vecchi (1997) describe
and illustrate the processes involved for adults and children. They describe the way in which
adults observed and reflected on what they saw children doing and suggest that collecting what
they term ‘documentation’ of this sort ‘gives new strength to the “potential genius” of teachers …
giving freedom and meaning to a job that is too often humiliated and fraught with routine’
(Castagnetti and Vecchi 1997: 13).
The second story involves a group of American children, aged 6 (Paley 1981). They too were
involved in an activity that involved measurement, but of a rather different nature. Two children
were about to act out the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. They had two rugs, but one child
believed that one was bigger than the other, and that it should therefore represent the giant’s
castle rather than Jack’s house, whereas the other child believed them to be of the same size.
They and a group of friends undertook a number of initiatives in order to establish which was
larger.
What links these two stories is the children’s view of standard measurement. In both cases,
rulers were introduced by adults, but rejected by the children. Both groups of children moved
back and forth between using standard and non-standard measurements. Interestingly, the
Italian group made their own metre sticks – which were, of course, nonstandard. The approach
of the teachers in the two stories was somewhat different: Vivian Gussin Paley took it upon
herself to remind the children about the set of rulers and the steel tape measure, but, in the eyes
of the children, these were not ‘real’. The children designing a table introduced the idea of
standard measurement for themselves. Rinaldi (writing in Castagnetti and Vecchi 1997: 103)
discusses the issue of whether or not the role of the teacher is to produce relevant tools at the
exact moment at which children might want them. She writes:

The real problem, then, is not when and how to explain or present standard measuring
instruments to children (at what age? in what way?), but rather to ask how can we create
the conditions that enable the development of divergent and creative thought; how to
sustain the ability and the pleasure involved in comparing ideas with others rather than
simply confronting a single idea that is presumed to be ‘true’ or ‘right’.

The school and the classroom become the place where each individual is confronted with the
need to explain his own knowledge – first of all to himself – in order to compare it, loan it,
exchange it with others. This requires the teacher to be inside the context, fully participating,
above all because she is curious to understand the various ways that children observe, interpret
and represent the world.
The path of learning that children and adults construct together originates from these ways
and worlds represented by each child. We construct, not only knowledge, but also an awareness
of how this construction takes place – exchange, dialogue, divergence, negotiation – and also the
pleasure of thinking and working together.
Both stories illustrate the way in which children are in what Vivian Gussin Paley has
described as ‘temporary custody’ of mathematical concepts. They vacillate between apparent
complex understandings and complete denial of what appear to adults to be facts. Tommaso, for
example, measured the base of the leg of the table by saying, ‘It’s half of half of half of the shoe’
(Castagnetti and Vecchi 1997: 71) – a remarkable insight. If children are to have any hope of
achieving the understanding of fractions required in the National Curriculum (DfE 2013), the
language that children themselves use and the conceptual insights they demonstrate have to be
the teacher’s starting point.
Wally and his friends found a way to measure the rugs that involved using children. Paley
(1981), as teacher, asked the children whether they could measure the rugs in a way that didn’t
rely on people being tall or short. They tried rulers, but refused to accept that the same ruler
might be used more than once, as it leaves gaps. They used a steel tape, but 156 had little
meaning – measurement only came to life the next day when Warren, just the right size to be a
rug measurer, returned to school. Castagnetti and Vecchi (1997: 49) reflect on the fascinating way
in which children learn complex ideas:

Children’s routes are often unpredictable, at least to us. They do not always follow a linear
and consistent path, in either action or thought. They construct, lose, detour, or temporarily
abandon their schemas, abstraction, and strategies. We adults have to be prepared for
surprises.

This unpredictability (and the surprises it brings to the teacher) is not confined to children. A
group of student teachers in training (all of whom were required to have a minimum of grade C
at GCSE) were exploring place value involving hundreds, tens and units. They were cutting up
squared paper to represent three-digit numbers. Far from finding this a childish activity, one
student, with all the necessary qualifications in mathematics – like the rest of the group, became
very animated and exclaimed, ‘I’ve done so many sums and just never realised that this is what I
was doing! Now I know what it looks like’.

Engendering enthusiasm and excitement

One of the reasons for teaching mathematics creatively is to ensure that the subject does not
become boring. Bellos (2014: xi) refutes any idea that mathematics is boring. He suggests that, as
mathematicians are constantly looking for surprises, wanting to be proved wrong, maths is ‘the
most playful of all disciplines. Numbers have always been toys as much as they have been tools’.
This in turn, he argues, means that mathematics can help us all, not only understand our world
better, but enjoy it more.
Excitement and exuberance, or what Egan (1991) calls ‘ecstatic responses’, support learning
and memory by altering the chemistry of the brain (Eliot 1999). This, in turn, makes learning
more effective. Boredom and disaffection stultify learning, whereas excitement, though hard to
manage, is a means of enhancing engagement and enthusiasm for the subject.
 Adopting the range of creative approaches to the teaching of mathematics outlined in this
book will help to show children what an exciting area of learning mathematics can be. Music,
dance and physical action all enhance enjoyment. Although enjoying mathematics is
undoubtedly not enough, it is a necessary preliminary to becoming good at it. Research into the
nature of genius (Howe 1999) has famously demonstrated the way in which engagement is the
key to mastery. It is estimated that, in order to become very good at anything, one must practise
for 10,000 hours. In order to put in that number of hours on any one topic or activity, one must
really want to do something! If we want children to become good at mathematics, we need to
make the subject sufficiently interesting that children want to spend time doing it.
One aspect of human behaviour that always engenders excitement is story. As Trish’s account
(at the beginning of this chapter) of her difficulties with mathematics while at school points out,
it was Egan’s challenge that anything, even maths, can be taught through story. Simply say to a
group of adults (or children) that you are going to tell them a story, and they immediately relax
into comfortable listening mode. As Devlin (2000) points out:

1 The human mind loves story and can cope with complex and abstract ideas in stories, such as
soap operas, because the context is familiar.
2 Not only can we cope with these stories, but we love them so much that, overall, two-thirds of
all human interaction is made up of gossip, chat, narrative. If late for a meeting, we rarely just
apologise: we like to tell the story! ‘The dog ate my homework and then was sick on the baby!’
‘A hamster ran under the bus!’ ‘The road was flooded, the bus skidded, my bottle of water
poured into the man’s hat and the bus driver stopped for a pint at the pub!’
3 What real mathematicians do is to enter a world of mathematics – which, Devlin suggests,
‘requires considerable conscious effort to train the mind to follow the soap opera we call
mathematics’ (Devlin 2000: 257). He continues:

Mathematics becomes possible for the mathematician because she spends sufficient time
in the abstract world of mathematics for it to achieve a degree of reality for her. But
whereas the real world constantly reinforces the abstract world of the television soap
opera, the mathematician herself must provide that reinforcement for the mathematical
soap opera.

Developing whole-school approaches

Teaching mathematics creatively needs to be adopted throughout the school. Confining it to the
early years gives the message that playfulness and enjoyment are something to be grown out of;
confining it to the later years indicates that you must have a certain level of knowledge before
you can be creative. This has the disadvantage that children are likely to have been turned off
mathematics before ever finding out about any of its engaging features. Both are major
disadvantages in developing a culture of strong mathematical thinking and understanding.
 TEACHERS’ ENTHUSIASM AND EXCITEMENT
Five groups of teachers, on a training course, were set the problem of dividing irregularly
shaped islands equally into eight parts. The task was meant to be completed in 10 minutes.
Prior to the INSET, we had marked out the islands on the floor in masking tape, in an ad hoc
fashion. One group of teachers had metre sticks, unifix cubes and spare masking tape as the
tools they could use to make their calculations. What we hadn’t factored in was that the
island was drawn out on a parquet floor. The teachers ingeniously used this factor in their
calculations and began placing unifix cubes on every section of the flooring. They then began
counting the cubes to work out how many sections of wood there were, so that they could
divide these into eight equal parts. Once this was done, they started marking out accurately
on the floor the division between each of the sections, following along the lines of the
parquet pattern.
By this time, we had begun calling the groups back to report on their process. We realised
that this group’s members were reluctant to leave what they had started, and all of us
gathered around their island, where they explained their idea. The five teachers were so
engaged in their task, that they found it difficult to leave the work unfinished. How fantastic
it would be if, in our maths lessons, we were able to provoke such meticulous focus as this
one activity engendered during an early-morning INSET on the second day of January.

As Bruner’s theories (1986) demonstrate, enactive learning is the starting point for all new
learning, and, as Moyles’s play spiral (1989) underlines, new learning constantly occurs in
familiar contexts. Creative approaches to mathematics, involving narrative, music, drama,
physical action and dance, can be used effectively throughout the primary school and on into the
secondary school (see Schiro 2004). This view of learning is often linked to learning styles and
multiple-intelligence theories (Gardner 1999), but it is broader in concept. It will be explored
further throughout this book.
Exploratory play is readily identified as being connected to problem solving, but imaginative
play is all too rarely identified in schools as being part of that process. Longstanding research
(Sylva et al. 1976) and more recent research (Devlin 2000) have made important links between
children’s imaginative play and their ability to think conjecturally – an important aspect of
problem solving. This theme will be developed further, particularly in the next chapter.
A further aspect of whole-school development of creative approaches to the teaching and
learning of mathematics is the role of teachers in giving ‘permission’ for children to be creative.
They will best do this by being creative themselves. Cremin (2010: 4) describes creative teachers
as giving ‘high value to curiosity and risk taking, to ownership, autonomy and making
connections’ in their pupils. Moreover, they regard ‘the development of imaginative and unusual
ideas in both themselves and their students’ as being important. She goes on to suggest that,
‘whilst all good teachers reward originality, creative ones depend on it to enhance their own
well-being and that of the children’.
 Figure 2.2 Children attempt to share their island fairly

CONCLUSION
Boaler (2009) describes the high level of negative emotions about maths among adults and
children, and the poor standards achieved by so many, and argues that living and working in
today’s world requires much greater mathematical abilities. She also comments on the negative
view of mathematics that is so often depicted in popular media and contrasts this with the
obvious pleasure that so many people find in the logical and mathematical thinking involved in
sudokus, kakuros and so on. She continues:

There are two versions of maths in the lives of many people: the strange and boring subject
that they encountered in classrooms and an interesting set of ideas that is the maths of the
world, and is curiously different and surprisingly engaging.
(Boaler 2009: 7)

The focus of the chapters that follow is an attempt to draw those two worlds of mathematics
closer together – recognising the creative nature of the subject and teaching it through what
Boaler calls ‘a problem-solving approach’.
FURTHER READING
Devlin, K. (2000) The Maths Gene. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (see Chapter 3, ‘Everybody counts’).
Paley, V. G. (1981) Wally’s Stories. London: Harvard University Press.
Singh, S. (1997) Fermat’s Last Theorem. London: Fourth Estate.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Agard, J. (2003) Einstein: The girl who hated maths. London: Hodder Children’s Books.
Copyright prevents us quoting from this wonderful book. It’s full of great ideas about the world of mathematics. Buy it and recite
the poems – you won’t regret it!
 CHAPTER 3

MOTIVATING CHILDREN
Problem finding and problem solving

To suggest that problem solving lies at the heart of mathematics is often to produce a deep sigh
in many people. Adults’ memories of their schooling almost always include dealing with maths
problems that might have been purely computational – rows of fractions, for example, just
waiting to have the right answer attached, or written problems with a lot of text and the need to
identify the correct strategy or algorithm, previously taught by the teacher. Boaler (2009: 38)
challenges this approach to problem solving:

Children begin school as natural problem-solvers and many studies have shown that
students are better at solving problems before they attend maths classes. They think and
reason their way through problems, using methods in creative ways, but after a few
hundred hours of passive maths learning students have their problem solving abilities
knocked out of them.

The importance of creative approaches to mathematical problem finding and solving is

underlined by Minetola et al. (2014). They argue that it is vital that children maintain flexible
thinking if they are to be effective problem solvers, in order that they persevere when one
strategy or possible solution doesn’t work. Without this flexibility, they will give up or ask for
adult help. In addition to their exhibiting flexible thinking and perseverance, the problem itself
needs to engage children – make them want to find out. In a book aimed at adults, but with
some interesting starting points for children, Munroe (2014) attempts to find answers to
conjectural questions. One question concerns the number of Lego bricks that would be needed to
build a bridge from New York to London. There is no one right answer, and Munroe explores a
range of possible variables.
One of the reasons that complex problems are important to thinking and learning is that
instant answers ‘kill curiosity before it has a chance to take root’ (Leslie 2014: 90). Suggesting
that, ‘the harder things are to grasp or memorise, the more our brains rise to the challenge’
(Leslie 2014: 91), he argues that, if it is too easy or simple, new knowledge is less integrated in the
brain and therefore less readily transferable to other contexts, such as problem solving.
 Figure 3.1 Questions promote investigations

FIRST FIND THE PROBLEM!

Problem solving is natural to young children because the world is new to them, and they
exhibit curiosity, intelligence, and flexibility as they face new situations. The challenge at
this level is to build on children’s innate problem-solving inclinations and to preserve and
encourage a disposition that values problem-solving.
(NCTM 2000: item 116)

Mathematics is actually about raising questions as much as it is about solving them. The ability
to shape (or find) and to solve mathematical problems is the essence of constructing
mathematical meaning. Adults can help to pose problems that engage pupils and mean that they
have to find mathematical solutions, giving real understanding and purpose to a maths lesson.
However, problem finding helps children to become enthusiastic about problems. In this way,
they also develop the sound learning dispositions that will support problem solving throughout
life and across subjects. Just as, when babies are learning to talk, adults work from their
utterances (see, for example, Whitehead 2009), so, in mathematics, it appears to be beneficial to
work from children’s own problems (Pound 2006).
Counting on Frank (Clement 1995) epitomises the problem-seeking view of a curious 8-year-
old. The hero imagines how many of his dog Frank it would take to fill the house; he imagines
himself putting on all his clothes – starting with the smallest items and working through to the
bulkiest. He estimates that had he (accidentally?) knocked fifteen of the hated peas off his plate
every day throughout his life, they would now be level with the tabletop. This, he declares,
would have the added benefit of letting his mother know that he doesn’t like peas!
Humans are born problem seekers. Babies and toddlers will work tirelessly to solve problems
of their own choosing. Gopnik et al. (1999: 163), citing the seventeenth-century philosopher
Hobbes, describe our drive to seek and solve problems as ‘a lust of the mind’. They suggest that:

we look beyond the surfaces of the world and try to infer its deeper patterns. We look for
the underlying, hidden causes of events. We try to figure out the nature of things.
It’s not just that we humans can do this; we need to do it. … When we’re presented with
a puzzle, a mystery, a hint of a pattern, something that doesn’t quite make sense, we work
until we find a solution. In fact, we intentionally set ourselves such problems … like
crossword puzzles, video games or detective stories.
(Gopnik et al. 1999: 85)

AN ASIDE ABOUT HUMOUR AND MATHEMATICS

‘Mathematics is a joke.’ So begins Alex Bellos’s book entitled Alex Through the Looking-
Glass. He continues:

You need to ‘get’ a joke just like you need to ‘get’ maths … Jokes are stories with a set-
up and a punch line … A piece of maths is also a story with a set-up and a punch line …
[Both] present a new idea, a new perspective. With jokes you laugh. With maths you
gasp in awe. It was precisely this element of surprise that made me fall in love with
maths as a child. No other subject so consistently challenged my preconceptions.
(Bellos 2014: ix)

Not every child may yet be ready to gasp in awe, but we can begin with the laughter.
Children – in fact, adults too – learn through humour (Egan 1991; Meek 1992), and humour is
an important element of creative thinking. It is also an important aspect of problem solving –
thinking of every possible solution, including the apparently ridiculous ones. Yet we tend to
think that mathematics is not a laughing matter. Outmoded behaviourist thinking leads us to
worry that, if we stray from right answers into jokes, incorrect answers will somehow
become branded on to the brain, never to be eradicated. On the contrary, joking allows us to
explore uncertainties and establish the boundaries between reality and unreality, encouraging
us to engage in reflective thinking. At the risk of being thought to be ‘giving peas a chance’,
in addition to Counting on Frank, Eat Your Peas (Gray and Sharratt 2001) also deserves a
mention. It includes some straightforward counting, such as ten chocolate factories, but it
also offers some huge but imaginary quantities, such as a ‘gazillionpillionwillion’. Moreover,
it involves some interesting negotiation, as when Daisy offers, despite all the bribes offered
by mum, to eat her peas if her mother will eat her Brussels sprouts – mathematical thinking
(and joking) on every page!
 Papert, designer of Logo, is described on his own website (www.papert.org) as being the
‘world’s foremost expert on how technology can provide new ways to learn’ and as participating
in ‘developing the most influential cutting-edge opportunities for children to participate in the
digital world’. Steeped, as he has been over many decades, in the uses of technology in
education, he has not lost his interest in what makes children learners. He describes a
conversation between two young children being introduced to working in a computer room. One
is emerging from the experience, the other waiting his turn:

‘What was it like?’ The friend replied, ‘It was fun.’ Then paused and added: ‘It was really
hard.’ The relation between ‘fun’ and ‘hard’ may need some interpretation. Did this mean
‘it was fun in spite of being hard’ or ‘it was fun because it was hard’? The teacher who
heard the tone of the conversation and knew the children had no doubt. The child meant it
was ‘fun’ because it was ‘hard’. It was ‘hard’ and this made it all the more ‘fun’. Since then I
have listened to children with an ear sensitised by this experience and have come to know
that the concept of hard fun is widely present in children’s thinking.
(Papert 1996: 53)

Although he had worked with Piaget for some time, Papert was open to the idea that we
should not put a developmental ceiling on children’s understanding. Discussing Papert’s work,
Andrews and Trafton (2002) suggest that teachers often feel that ‘keeping it simple’ by limiting
the problems presented to children is most likely to be effective. They identify, however, a ‘shift
in our view of young children from fragile learners to robust thinkers’ (Andrews and Trafton
2002: 4), which should lead us to change both the pedagogy we employ and the learning
environment we create.
This idea of ‘hard fun’ is echoed in the words of older students and mathematicians too. An
adolescent evaluating a summer programme describes it as both harder and ‘funner’ (Boaler
2009: 1534) than his normal school work. He explains:

In our [regular] class they give us, like, easy problems and all that. And in this class you
give us hard problems to figure out. You have to figure out the pattern and all that … We
stay on it longer … so we can really get to know how to do pattern blocks and everything.

Boaler (2009: 25) also reports an interview with a professor of mathematics. A question about
what she found the most difficult aspect of her work was followed by one asking what was the
most fun. To both questions she replied, ‘Trying to prove theorems’. Katz, in her foreword to
Little Kids – Powerful problem-solvers (Andrews and Trafton 2002), highlights as important
aspects of being a problem solver the notions of:

hard fun, and

working within a community of learners.

She identifies what she believes to be important themes in maintaining and developing children’s
innate ability and interest in solving problems. She suggests that key to this process are:

believing in children’s competence;

supporting the development of learning dispositions such as curiosity and perseverance;
developing mathematical competences such as estimating, predicting, hypothesising and
analysing.

Some imposed mathematical problems do not engage children because they are not real. Other
problems do not engage learners because they are too simple. Even newborn babies can be
shown to be interested in complex problems, rather than those that are solved too easily (Bower
1977). Resnick (1988: 38) writes:

If we are to engage students in contextualised mathematics problem solving, we must find

ways to create in the classroom situations of sufficient complexity and engagement that
they become mathematically engaging contexts in their own right … They should also
permit students to develop questions, not only solve problems posed by others.

One of the important and interesting things about these problems is that they demonstrate
conjectural thinking. No one knows how tall the boy in Counting on Frank would be if he had
grown at the same rate as the tree in his garden – there is no right or wrong answer. Conjectural
thinking is an important element of creative thinking (Craft 2005) and it involves ‘what if’ or ‘as
if’ thinking. Boaler (2009) describes a summer project in which a boy called Alonzo was working
on a given problem. Using Multilink, children had been asked to build a staircase in order to
begin to predict how many cubes would be needed to build a staircase 10 cubes high or even 100
cubes high. She noticed that:

Alonzo seemed to be playing with the linking cubes and not working on the problem.
Drawing near, we saw that Alonzo had decided to modify his staircase so that it extended
in four directions. Thus a 1-block high staircase had a total of five blocks, a 2-block staircase
had a total of fourteen blocks and so on. What had looked like messing around was in fact
Alonzo’s creativity and curiosity conspiring to produce a problem that was more
diagrammatically and algebraically involved than the one that had been originally
presented to him.
(Boaler 2009: 160)

So impressed with Alonzo’s problem finding was she that the teacher phoned his home to report
his achievements. The mother reported that Alonzo had consistently failed his maths tests at
school, and that no one there had noticed his mathematical creativity. She went on to describe a
project he had undertaken at home – inventing a light switch that he could operate without
getting out of bed – involving just the right number of coins to operate the switch without
breaking the dental floss.
LOST IN MATHSLAND
Some of the written problems with which we were confronted at school purported to have a
story attached to them – perhaps men digging holes or pipes filling swimming pools. Boaler
(2009: 45) describes problems of this sort as taking you to Mathsland, where ‘you leave your
common sense at the door’ and:

People paint houses at identical speeds all day long. Water fills baths at the same rate each
minute, and people run around tracks at the same distance from the edge. To do well in
maths class, children know that they have to suspend reality and accept the ridiculous
problems they are given. They know that if they think about the problems and use what
they understand from life then they will fail.

Resnick (1988: 4) calls into question the idea behind such problems, which is that mathematics is
a ‘well-structured discipline’. She writes that:

Mathematics is regarded as a field in which statements have unambiguous meanings, there

is a clear hierarchy of knowledge, and the range of possible actions in response to any
problem is both restricted and well defined in advance … Educators typically treat
mathematics as a field with no open questions and no arguments, at least none that young
students or those not particularly talented in mathematics can appreciate … Even when we
teach problem solving, we often present stereotyped problems and look for rules that
students can use to decide what the right interpretation of the problem is – so that they can
find the single appropriate answer.

She argues for the need to present mathematics as ‘an ill-structured discipline’, with no single
answer or interpretation. This, she suggests, is what real mathematicians do, and she suggests,
further, that, in order to develop mathematical thinking in children, teachers should be aiming to
‘develop both capability and disposition for finding relationships among mathematical entities
and between mathematical statements and situations involving quantities, relationships and
patterns’ (Resnick 1988: 5–6).
One step towards a more ‘ill-structured’ approach is to introduce problem solving earlier.
There is a widespread tendency to believe that it is better to tackle complex problems later (see,
for example, Ofsted 2012, quoted in Chapter 1). Fuson (2004) argues that, all too often,
computation involving whole numbers is taught first, and then some applications (or problems)
are presented. This, she suggests, can mean that less able (or less motivated) children never have
the opportunity to apply their learning to any real-life (or even Mathsland) situations. Moreover,
canny children may notice that the problems they are given are related to the sums they have
just been doing and therefore may not even bother to read the problem. This results in the all-
too-familiar situation of children asking questions at a later stage such as, ‘is this an add or a
take-away?’ In other words – ‘don’t bother me with having to think, just tell me how to get it
right’. Fuson (2004: 116–17) cites research which indicates that:
 Beginning with problem situations yields higher problem-solving competence and equal or
better computational competence. Children who start with problem situations directly
model solutions to these problems. They later move on to more advanced mathematical
approaches as they move through levels of solutions and of problem difficulty. Thus, the
development of computational fluency and problem-solving is intertwined when both are
co-developing with understanding.

STORY MATHS
The phrase ‘story maths’ is widely used but frequently does not involve a real story. What
constitutes a real story will be considered in Chapter 6 more fully, but, at this stage, suffice to say
that three sweets shared by four children is not a story (nor much of a sweet). In this section, we
simply consider the role of stories in developing the conjectural abilities that underpin problem
solving. Alonzo’s conjectural thinking described earlier in this chapter is precisely the kind of
thinking creative teachers want and, mathematicians would argue, ought to develop in children.
Mr Archimedes’ Bath (Allen 1994), like other books by the same author (see, for example, Who
Sank the Boat?), is a story of problem solving. The case study shown here involved children in a
Reception class who had enormous fun displacing the soft-play balls in a baby bath. Their
mathematical focus was perhaps on counting – although their broader focus was certainly
around scientific knowledge and understanding (DfES 2007). This highlights some important
aspects of problem solving and finding – first, that they are generic skills. Although there may be
some aspects that are specific to mathematics, there are many others that may be learned in a
number of contexts. Second, problem solving requires rich experience. All of us solve problems
by drawing on what we learned in different, but similar, situations. Most children will be
familiar with the water in the bath rising – play contexts enable them to begin to generalise and
abstract, to discuss and reflect, to rehearse and test ideas.
The second example, Centipede’s 100 Shoes, was developed with a Year 2 class but, in fact, has
plenty of potential for work with older children. A small amount of research reveals that no
centipede has an even number of pairs of legs, so fifty pairs, and therefore 100 legs, are an
impossibility. However, the centipede in Tony Ross’s story has forty-two legs, that is, twenty-one
pairs. Apparently, centipedes may have fewer than 20 or more than 300 pairs of legs! Just
imagine the problem-solving or investigative possibilities those numbers open up.
Table 3.1 highlights some other stories that present problem-solving opportunities (full details
of books may be found at the end of this chapter). Story lines can be developed without reference
to a particular book – the published book can simply be regarded as a starting point. Moon Jump:
A countdown (Brown 1993), sadly out of print, provides a good example as just such a starting
point. It essentially asks, ‘How did the cow (in Hey Diddle Diddle) jump over the moon?’ In the
book, ten cows variously try a trapeze, a pogo stick, a diving board and so on. Actually,
children’s (and adults’) own creative responses are at least as good as those provided by the
author. The starting point is the question, which does not, and cannot, have a right answer.
STRATEGIES
Although we are born problem finders, our inclination and ability to seek and solve problems are
dependent on the experiences we have and the strategies we develop. The apparently endless
play, exploration and rehearsal that young children engage in are their way of reflecting on and
storing information about their experiences (Eliot 1999). Strategies are based on previous
experience – both successful and unsuccessful – in solving the problems that engage us. There
are a number of significant features in the development of problem-solving strategies:

MATHS FOCUS MR ARCHIMEDES’ BATH

Problem solving
Measures
Looking for patterns and explanations

Scenario
Archimedes shares his bath with a kangaroo, a wombat and a goat, but he realises that,
whenever they have a bath, there is water left on the floor afterwards. He decides to find out
who the culprit is. Using a stick to measure the changes in water level, Archimedes and the
animals take turns getting in and out of the bath, to begin to discover their answer.

Exploration
1 Using coloured water, children explored how high the water level rose when they placed
differently sized and weighted objects in it. They discussed which object pushed the water
level up the furthest.
2 A baby bath filled with soft balls was used to examine how many balls came out when
children and adults of different sizes sat in the bath. They explored whether the number of
balls that came out would be greater or smaller, depending on the size of the person sitting
down.

Outcomes
The children greatly enjoyed the realisation that more balls were pushed out of the bath
when an adult sat inside than when one of their peers sat down.

Quote from evaluation

 The children enjoyed exploring this maths topic in such a fun way. At the beginning of
the lesson they expected the results to be the opposite to what they were, heavier people
pushing out fewer balls. The value for them of having a chance to test their theories
really embedded the learning.
(Reception class teacher)

Further information
Although MakeBelieve Arts’ work with this book was with children of Reception age, using
water, weights and ball pools to explore the subsequent maths topics that this story opens up
has the potential to span a much larger age group.

References
Allen, P. (1994) Mr Archimedes’ Bath. London: Picture Puffins.
www.colmanweb.co.uk/Assets/SWF/Archimedes.swf
In this online program, you can watch a bath filling and see how much difference is made when Archimedes jumps
in. The programme includes a graph that is created online to measure water height versus time, depending on the
tap being turned on or off and the plug being in or out.

MATHS FOCUS CENTIPEDE’S 100 SHOES

Problem solving
Multiplication
Division
Addition
Subtraction
Directional and positional language
Pattern

Scenario
A centipede falls over and hurts himself; to stop this happening again, he buys 100 shoes to
protect his feet. Once he tries them on, he discovers that he has far too many shoes left over
– the centipede only had forty-two legs. Next, he realises that the shoes rub and make his
feet sore, and so he asks his aunties to knit him forty-two socks. Finally, frustrated at the
length of time it takes to put on the forty-two pairs of shoes and socks each day, he decides
to distribute them between all his other insect friends. He has to work out how many legs
they each have and makes sure they all get something to keep them warm.
Exploration
1 Twenty-one children were invited to wear forty-two large adult socks over their shoes to
form a giant centipede that marched around the classroom. Instructions were called out to
remind the centipede which foot it should be using first. Other directional and positional
language was incorporated – number of paces forward, backwards, to the sides etc. Other
children in the class took turns to instruct the centipede, as well as swapping in so that
they all could experience what it was like to co-ordinate such a long body.
2 Cut-out socks and shoes were given to the children to divide between a range of cut-out
spiders, ants, woodlice and bees. The instructions were that every insect needed something
to keep it warm, but that there was no right or wrong way to do this. Some children
worked with a large collection of plastic spiders, ladybirds, worms etc. to determine how
the socks could be shared out.
3 Groups of children sitting back to back explored how many of the group needed to hold
out a leg or an arm to make up the correct number of legs for various insects.

Outcomes
The maths exercise had an additional, unexpected outcome in that it resulted in the class
having to find a way to work together as a team, in order to co-ordinate the process of
walking as a giant centipede.
This teamwork carried on into the group work, where the children had to support each
other to make sure they held out the correct number of legs and arms to make the insects.

Quote from evaluation

The extent of the maths and cross curricular work we covered in this programme was
greater than we originally anticipated. The children became fascinated with the patterns
they could create distributing socks and shoes to the various insects. Knowing there was
no right or wrong answer in this exercise felt really liberating for the group.
(MakeBelieve Arts workshop leader)

Further information
The work arising from this story was developed by MakeBelieve Arts for a Year 2 class, but it
has the potential for work with both older and younger children.

Reference
 Ross, T. (2002) Centipede’s 100 Shoes. London: Andersen Press.

Play: Play and exploration are vital elements. One of the striking features of the description of
Alonzo’s investigation is the teacher’s use of the phrase ‘messing about’. Exploration often
looks like messing about but seems to be an important factor – examining the limits between
reality and non-reality, taking risks without serious consequences.
Reasoning: This is generally thought of as involving logic, but, as will become clear as you read
this book, mathematics is not all about logic. Reasoning will almost certainly involve pattern
identification, as mathematics is the science of pattern, and humans are born pattern seekers.
Reasoning may also be described in terms of the identification of relationships, sequences,
discussion and representations (National Strategies 2006).
Representing: Thinking and explaining mathematically generally lead us to represent our ideas
in some way. This may be no more than counting on our fingers or describing our idea, but it
may involve complex arrays of figures, scribbled diagrams, graphs or models. Representing
ideas visually and orally (or even aurally) gives opportunities to explore, refine and modify
ideas. Boaler (2009) suggests that the biggest difference in problem solving between high-and
low-achieving pupils lies in the way they record (or represent) what they are doing. She gives
the example of students finding out how many squares there are on a chessboard. All
recognised the nature of the problem, but those who failed failed because they were not
systematic. Practice in representing ideas clearly and accessibly will be time well spent, a
lesson that might be usefully learned from Singapore maths (see, for example,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2bPwW4wc2E).
Discussion and collaboration: These are particularly effective aspects of representation. Resnick
(1988) suggests that conflicting views represented in discussion lead the learner to modify or
construct their views or ideas. In addition, other minds model different approaches. This is in
line with the seminal views of Vygotsky (1978), in which thinking is aligned to conversation.
Studies of young children go further, suggesting that thinking and communication are one
and the same thing (Goldschmied and Selleck 1996). This aspect of mathematics and problem
solving will be explored further in the next chapter.
 Figure 3.2 Problem finding and solving arising from One is a Snail

Worthington and Carruthers (2006) describe some interesting problem-solving activities in

which representation and discussion can be seen to have had an important influence. One
involves a class of 7- and 8-year-olds going on a picnic. They needed nectarines, which were sold
in packs of three, for twenty-six children. One child wrote a sum, 3 × 9 = 27, and recognised that
one would be left over. A second child simply counted in threes: 3, 6, 9, 12 etc., and a third listed
the same numbers, writing alongside each multiple of three the number of packs:

3 1
6 2
9 3
12 4 etc.

One initially wrote 3 × 26, but then switched to using an empty number line, with more success.
Another child drew nine sets of three children with one child crossed out in the final set – a box
was added with the figure 1 written in it.

Table 3.1 Stories with problem-solving opportunities

Title of book Synopsis Possibilities

Snail can never keep up with his friends, so he Either children could work from a finished
wants a car. For his birthday, each of his present to determine what components could
Snail’s Birthday Wish (Rempt and Smit friends presents him with a mysterious object be presented, or groups of children could be
2006) or set of objects. At the end, his friends solve
 the mystery by building a car from the given sets of components and asked to produce
materials they have given him a present

This is the starting point for mathematics at

many levels: simple counting, odds and evens,
multiplication, division. Children may work
Although this is essentially just a counting
with toy dogs, snails etc. or develop other
book, it is one that could be used by any class
One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab (Sayre and symbols to represent the creatures in the book.
in the primary school. In fact, one school used
Sayre 2006) Endless questions, such as, ‘how many
it as a whole-school topic. It is subtitled ‘a
different ways can you represent fifty or
counting by feet book’
sixty?’, are possible. It might also awaken other
interests: for example, one is a monocycle, two
is a bike, three is a trike, and so on
Mouse finds an apple too big to fit into his
A joy with young children – try acting it out
house. While searching for a bigger house, he
with them wearing a rucksack stuffed full.
A New House for Mouse (Horacek 2004) begins to eat the apple and eventually returns
Gradually removing items means that they can
to his own house into which the apple will now
fit into smaller and smaller spaces
fit easily
A hedgehog gets an apple stuck on his prickles.
This presents many opportunities for
The strategies he tries to remove the apple only
discussing problem-solving strategies. What
Ouch! (Scamell and Terry 2006) mean that he ends up with more and more
else could hedgehog try to do in order to get rid
things stuck to his back, until a goat comes
of the items on his prickles?
along and eats the items stuck on his back
A variety of odd, and in some cases damaged,
pets are on sale at knock-down prices. The hero
This book offers a great number of problem-
works out that for £1 he can buy everything in
solving scenarios. Setting up a pet shop would
the shop. The creative twist in the tale is that it
The Great Pet Sale (Inkpen 1998) provide a useful starting point, but some
is all too easy to jump to the conclusion that
children would simply enjoy working out what
the author has got his sums wrong. Look
they could buy for different amounts of money
carefully to find the trap in both this and in
Centipede’s 100 Shoes!

A group of younger children, who had been out on a train, worked from one child’s statement
– ‘I bet there’s a million seats in the train!’ Although only 4–6 years of age, the children had lots
of ideas about how they could find out. At a child’s suggestion, Aaron, from whom the initial
idea had come, telephoned the station staff and discovered that each carriage had seventy-five
seats, and that there had been seven carriages. What is particularly interesting about
Worthington and Carruthers’ commentary is their interest in all the strategies used – every one
gives insight into children’s thinking. Of course, many of the strategies were incomplete, as one
would expect because of the age of the children involved. Several children drew carriages and
then attempted to represent large numbers of people or seats within them. Worthington and
Carruthers then give a detailed description of a little girl’s interesting strategies. After several
graphic attempts at finding a solution, she draws seventy-five squares in a large rectangle and
photocopies this, so that she has represented the seven carriages. Although they do not come up
with a ‘right’ final answer, the children show immense understanding of the problem. Their
engagement stems from their own interest – probably not something the teacher had planned.
These young children demonstrate many of the strategies identified by Polya (cited by Boaler
2009). They worked to understand the problem and they made plans. Some made charts of
numbers; some drew their plans. Of particular interest is the planning strategy termed ‘trying a
smaller case’. Two little girls are described as using ten shells as carriages, with two beads in
each. Their strategy does not involve the right numbers – they are dealing with what are, for
them, very big numbers. They are, however, exploring a useful strategy. Boaler (2009) makes a
very important point about this strategy of trying a smaller case. She suggests that low-achieving
students find this difficult to do because it clashes with the ladder of rules, which governs so
much teaching of mathematics. As progress in mathematics is so often seen as being about
dealing with bigger and bigger numbers, choosing to deal with small numbers is regarded as
failure.

PUZZLES, GAMES AND INVESTIGATIONS

Boaler (2009) attributes her own love of mathematics and that of many other mathematicians to
their early experiences – not doing sums and conventional homework but engaging in puzzles
and investigations. She quotes from Sarah Flannery’s autobiographical book entitled In Code: A
mathematical journey (2002). Flannery was a European Young Scientist Award winner and she
writes:

Strictly speaking it is not true to say that I or my brothers don’t get help with maths. We’re
not forced to take extra classes, or endure gruelling sessions at the kitchen table but almost
without our knowing we’ve been getting help since we were very young – out-of-the-
ordinary help of a subtle and playful kind which I think has made us self-confident in
problem-solving. Ever since I can remember, my father has given us little problems and
puzzles.
(Boaler 2009: 173, citing Flannery)

Many games, such as draughts and chess, involve strategic thinking – a reflective session can
enable children to explore winning strategies, as well as less successful ones. Bearing in mind the
importance of learner-initiated problem finding and problem solving, the role of the teacher
should always be to get children interested in finding out – remembering that humans have
puzzling minds (Tizard and Hughes 1986). There are any number of books of mathematical
puzzles, one or two of which are suggested below. However, better than simply giving a child the
book to work through is to share some activities, which will make the investigations more
informal, playful and collaborative. The case study below provides an example.
Some problems and investigations begin with puzzling out big numbers. How Big Is a Million?
(Milbourne and Riglietti 2007) is a good story, aimed at young children, but the poster it contains
showing a million stars holds a great sense of wonder even for adults. Some great investigations
could begin with that poster. How Much Is a Million? (Schwartz 1985) is not a story but a
fascinating collection of possible facts about millions, billions and trillions. It might be wise to
explore this book with the help of Marcus du Sautoy’s guide to big numbers (du Sautoy 2009).
Starting From Big Numbers (Croydon Beam Group 2004) is quite simply a mathematics book but
does have lots of ideas for developing children’s interest in big numbers.
Quests are the archetypal problem-solving activity. Ronan (2007) describes the quest
undertaken by real mathematicians to discover and classify all the building blocks of symmetry.
His account, which he describes as a story involving monsters and moonshine, lies beyond the
scope of this book, but what it does portray are the excitement and suspense that
mathematicians take from finding and solving problems. It should be the aim of teaching
mathematics creatively to generate this sense of excitement in the children we teach.

Figure 3.3 Inspired by Maths Curse, children identify a range of potential problems or
investigations

MATHS FOCUS MATHS CURSE

Problem finding/problem-solving
Various maths areas as required

Scenario
When a teacher tells her class that they can think of almost everything as a maths problem,
one child begins to find maths problems everywhere she looks.

Exploration
1 The children were invited to think of all the maths problems they could find that could
only be answered by being in the room. Ideas included finding out how many windows
there are, or how many wooden pieces on the parquet floor. When pushed to think further,
the children’s questions grew more interesting and conjectural. How many cows would fit
in this room? Or how much jelly would we need to make to fill the room completely?
2 In small groups, children were given a range of objects to explore. They were tasked with
coming up with problems that could only be solved using the items in their hands. The
objects included a giant net, a set of superhero toys, a large jar of sweets etc. Questions
included: How many centimetres of sweets will I have if I line up all the sweets in this jar
in a row? Or, if I stood at one end of the hall and threw all the superhero toys across the
room, which toy would travel the furthest?
3 Children looked at the problems they had created and decided which one was the most
exciting for them to work on. In this way, they set the challenge that they wanted to
explore.

Outcomes
The children became very engaged in finding problems that they wanted to solve. They
felt very excited about how they could tackle these problems and which type of maths
they need to engage in to find the answer.
One boy became so engaged in finding out how many centimetres his line of sweets was
that he couldn’t stop working on it, even though it was break time. He worked out how
many 30-cm rulers he needed and then had to add these together to get his answer. Once
he finally got the correct answer, he cheered loudly and then went back to the sum to
check it twice. This was a boy who was deemed to be struggling to engage with
mathematics.

Quote from evaluation

MakeBelieve Arts brought maths to life. … The children were fully engaged and
absorbed in the workshops that had been arranged. It got children thinking about
problem-solving and how they could apply the skills they learn in maths to real-life
situations.
(Assistant Headteacher)

Further information
The work arising from this story was developed by MakeBelieve Arts for a whole-school
maths day on problem finding and problem solving. Work of this nature has the potential to
excite children from as young as 3 years of age right through to adults on CPD training
 courses.

Reference
Scieszka, J. (1995) Maths Curse. London: Penguin.

STARTING WITH THE CHILD?

Eleanor Duckworth (1996) suggests that intellectual development rests on ‘having wonderful
ideas’. Fisher (2005) has suggested that, in order to have wonderful ideas, you must first have
many ideas. Duckworth argues that understanding comes about, not by being told, but by having
ideas challenged – through talk and action (Duckworth 2001). This means that puzzles and
teacher-led investigations will be most effective if children see them as a starting point for their
own wonderful ideas. Boaler (2009: 172–3) concludes that:

All children start their lives motivated to come up with their own ideas … and one of the
most important things a parent [authors’ note: or teacher] can do is to nurture this
motivation. This may take extra work in a subject like mathematics, in which children are
wrongly led to believe that all of the ideas have been ‘had’ and their job is simply to receive
them, but this makes the task even more important.

CONCLUSION
Problem solving is at the heart of mathematics and at the heart of human creativity. In fact,
effective problem solving is most likely to occur when it is linked to problem finding. Effective
problem finding and solving often involve humour (see, for example, Munroe 2014). The problem
may be based on real situations or imagined or conjectural situations. It should not simply be
based around particular approaches to computation, as most problems can be solved in a vast
array of different ways. Above all, the problem must be sufficiently challenging to maintain
interest. Too simple, and children, even very young children, will not want to engage. Problem
finding and solving should be built into mathematics from the beginning, as they are what
humans do well. Playful experience, rich discussion and opportunities to represent ideas in
different ways and through a range of media will help to make children expert problem finders
and solvers.

FURTHER READING
Andrews, A. and Trafton, P. (2002) Little Kids – Powerful Problem Solvers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Duckworth, E. (1996) ‘The Having of Wonderful Ideas’ and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning. New York: Teachers’ College
Press.
Munroe, R. (2014) What If? Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions. London: John Murray.
Rosen, M. (2014) Good Ideas. London: John Murray.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Allen, P. (1988) Who Sank the Boat? London: Puffin.
Allen, P. (1994) Mr Archimedes’ Bath. London: Picture Puffins.
Brown, P. (1993) Moon Jump: A countdown. London: Penguin.
Clement, R. (1995) Counting on Frank. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Gray, K. and Sharratt, N. (2001) Eat Your Peas. London: Red Fox.
Horacek, P. (2004) A New House for Mouse. London: Walker.
Inkpen, M. (1998) The Great Pet Sale. London: Hodder Children’s Books.
Milbourne A. and Riglietti, S. (2007) How Big is a Million? London: Usborne.
Rempt, F. and Smit, N. (2006) Snail’s Birthday Wish. London: Boxer.
Ross, T. (2002) Centipede’s 100 Shoes. London: Andersen Press.
Sayre, A. and Sayre, J. (2006) One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Scamell, R. and Terry, M. (2006) Ouch! London: Little Tiger Press.
Schwartz, D. (1985) How Much is a Million? New York: Harper Trophy.

PUZZLES AND INVESTIGATIONS

Munroe, R. (2014) What If? Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions. London: John Murray.
Pappas, T. (1997) The Adventures of Penrose the Mathematical Cat. San Carlos, CA: Wide World.
Scieszka, J. and Smith, L. (1995) Math Curse. London: Penguin.
 CHAPTER 4

DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING
Talking and thinking about mathematics

The universe cannot be read until we have learned the language and become familiar with
the characters in which it is written. It is written in mathematical language, and the letters
are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures without which it is humanly impossible
to comprehend a single word.
(Galileo (1623) cited by Hilliam 2004: 171)

Mathematicians and educators alike are agreed that mathematics both is and has a language of
its own (Mercer and Littleton 2007; du Sautoy 2008b; Boaler 2009; Alexander 2010). Marcus du
Sautoy (2008b: 4) describes going with his father to buy some books recommended by his
teacher. He writes:

When I got home I started looking at the books we’d bought. The Language of Mathematics
particularly intrigued me … I’d never thought of mathematics as a language. At school it
seemed to be just numbers that you could multiply or divide, add or subtract, with varying
degrees of difficulty. But as I looked through this book I could see why my teacher had told
me to ‘find out what maths is really about’.

In a chapter entitled ‘What’s going wrong in classrooms?’, Boaler (2009) highlights a number
of factors. She suggests that there are two main problems. As suggested in Chapter 1, tests and
targets are part of the problem. The absence of reality is identified as the other major problem.
Both learning without thought and learning without talking are questioned. Learning without
thought arises for Boaler when children are simply told what to do, without their fully
understanding why. She quotes a girl seen to be doing very well at school as saying that she can
get right answers but, as she doesn’t understand why particular rules give you a right answer,
the process has no meaning or satisfaction. In short, it is not creative. Boaler writes, ‘it is ironic
that maths, a subject that should be all about inquiring, thinking and reasoning is one that
students have come to believe requires no thought’ (2009: 37).
The other major aspect of what Boaler calls passive maths is the lack of dialogue, or learning
without talking. She highlights the immense difference between listening and talking. The words
of Sarah Flannery are quoted:
 The first thing I realized about learning mathematics was that there is a hell of a difference
between, on the one hand, listening to maths being talked about by someone else and
thinking that you are understanding, and, on the other, thinking about maths and
understanding it yourself and talking about it to someone else.
(Boaler 2009: 41, citing Flannery)

This highlights the other theoretical strand that underpins this chapter, namely the link
between thinking and communication. Goldschmied and Selleck (1996), in writing about babies,
go so far as to suggest that communication (including non-verbal communication, gesture and
facial expression) is thinking. Siegel (1999) supports this view by writing about the impact of
attachment between adults and babies on cognition. In his view (and that of many subsequent
writers), the bond that forms between the child and his or her principal caregiver enables the
infant to become aware of another mind at work. The link between talk and thought is further
underlined by Vygotsky (1986), who writes of speech as the outward form of thought that, over
time, gradually becomes internalised. Even as adults, we have an intuitive view that talking
things through helps us to understand what we think. It is also true that speaking our thoughts
out loud often changes and reshapes them.

MATHEMATICAL THINKING AND TALKING

There is widespread agreement that too much of mathematics lesson time, even in primary
schools (Boaler 2009), is spent in silence. Resnick (1988), in proposing an approach to
mathematics education that involves an emphasis on the ill-structured aspects of mathematics,
on problem solving and on what she terms ‘sense-making’ activities, highlights the role of
discussion. For her, it is only through talk that children can come to understand and thus develop
an ability to think about mathematics. She compares the small amount of discussion about
mathematics with the significantly greater amount of time that is spent in discussion in English,
social studies and even science. This, as we saw in the previous chapter, is because ‘Educators
typically treat mathematics as a field with no open questions and no arguments, at least none
that young students or those not particularly talented in mathematics can appreciate’ (Resnick
1988: 4).
This lack of talk about mathematics is linked to a lack of practice or rehearsal of ideas and
therefore an absence of relevant vocabulary. This in turn means that children have difficulty in
talking about mathematics and, if we agree that talk and thought are inextricably linked,
inevitably means that children will have difficulty in thinking about mathematics. Whether you
take a Piagetian line, that action shapes thinking and that this precedes the related language, or
the Vygotskian line that talk shapes thinking and that understanding is linked to both (Keenan
and Evans 2009), the gap between the mathematics that we ask children to do and the language
they have to describe it presents a problem. This is further compounded when we acknowledge
that much of the mathematics with which we present children is written. The symbols and signs
that are used are in themselves a third language.
The Rose Review (Rose 2009) suggests that mathematical understanding is supported by
communication. The report highlights the importance of discussion and of learning
mathematical language. Children should have opportunities to reflect on and discuss
mathematical investigations, in order to strengthen their ability to represent their ideas or
thinking and to reason or argue them through with others. Rose also underlines the role that
drama can play in enabling children to explore language and ideas.
It was a belief in the potential of dramatic play to support children’s learning that inspired
MakeBelieve Arts to develop a programme of work entitled Dramatic Mathematics (Lee 2003).
Aimed at Key Stage 1, this resource (available from MakeBelieve Arts) includes five stories that
explore place value, subtraction, standard and non-standard measurement, positional language,
and division, bringing the subjects to life through drama. The impetus for this programme came
from a combination of Kieran Egan’s approach to Teaching as Story-telling, (Egan 1988; see
Chapter 6) and MakeBelieve Arts’ own commitment to kinaesthetic aspects of learning.

Talking about pattern

As described in Chapter 1, mathematicians agree that mathematics is the science of pattern (see,
for example, Devlin 2000 and du Sautoy 2008b), but, though integral to the subject, pattern has
long been given insufficient emphasis in school. Referring to numbers, Bellos (2014: 24) remarks
that numbers are all around us, on ‘clocks, phones, newspaper pages, computer screens, street
signs, price tags’ and so on. He argues that, ‘when we look right back at them, amazing patterns
come into view’. Talking about pattern will help children to see these numbers and marvel in the
way that Bellos does.
Current National Curriculum programmes of study (DfE 2013) have actually reduced the
number of explicit references to pattern. However, effective learning and teaching of
mathematics depend on understanding, and this will inevitably involve discussion, as pattern
helps to make what is invisible, visible. Upitis et al. (1997) refer to the process of exploring,
rehearsing and exchanging mathematical ideas as ‘mathematicking’. Pattern is an ideal subject
for mathematicking. Eileen, a class teacher, describes how pupils involved in a weaving project
learned to talk about pattern through presenting their work to others (Upitis et al. 1997: 43):

Pupils had to use estimation, prediction, trial and error, and planning strategies just to see if
their weaving patterns would work … The important thing was that each pupil experienced
success, each pupil communicated mathematically to the group, and each pupil used
mathematics to make something of personal value.

Pattern offers a good example of the way in which the gap between language and
understanding operates. The seminal work of the mathematician Hardy was among the first to
link pattern to mathematics, and yet today it is regularly identified as such. He wrote that, ‘A
mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more
permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas’ (Hardy [1941] 1992: 84).
When young children create a picture that is not representational, they will often describe it as
a pattern. The commonest adult response is to admire the pattern, without offering any
vocabulary that could help the child to think about pattern. Symmetry is a term that regularly
comes up when children are engaging with materials such as pattern blocks or when specific
work on symmetry is planned. However, adults rarely apply it to other aspects of learning or to
everyday lives. However, patterns do not have to be symmetrical. They may be cyclical,
repeating, growing, decreasing and so on.
 Figure 4.1 Dialogue promotes mathematical thinking

Even adults have some difficulty in defining pattern, but there is general consensus that it
involves order, regularity, logic and structure (see, for example, Resnik 1999; Devlin 2000).
However, it also involves some subjective thinking. Devlin (2000: 72, citing Sawyer) refers to
regularities ‘that can be recognised by the mind’. Thus, a pattern might be about numbers, but it
might also be about nature or human behaviour. Look closely at the pattern of a tiger’s stripes,
for example, and you will see that they are not regular. However, you (or, in Devlin’s terms, your
mind) will have no difficulty in recognising the pattern as belonging to a tiger. These ideas are
complex for children to take on, but, through discussion, children can learn to think about
difficult concepts. The discussion with others promotes collaborative thinking.

Talking mathematically
Learning to talk mathematically has been likened to learning a foreign language (Worthington
and Carruthers 2006). Lee (2006: 2) confirms this analogy:

For many pupils learning to use language to express mathematical ideas will be similar to
learning a foreign language … Unless the pupils know about the way that language is used
in mathematics they may think that they do not understand a certain concept when what
they cannot do is express the idea in language. Conversely, being able to express their
mathematical ideas clearly enables pupils to know that they understand and can use
mathematical ideas. Teachers will extend their pupils’ ability to learn mathematics by
helping them to express their ideas using appropriate language and by recognising that they
need to use language in a way that is different from their everyday use.

SOME CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO ENCOURAGE THE

DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
Children can begin to engage in talking in mathematical language through simple activities.
Place two children back to back and place a white board and pen in the hands of one of them
and, in the other’s, a shape or picture or pattern. The child with the picture has to describe to
their partner the image they are holding, so that their partner can reproduce an accurate
representation of it on the white board. The description should include where the object is
placed on the page and the length of each line or curve. Children have been observed
measuring with their fingers the distance from the top of the page to the start of the image
and describing this to their partner. Once the activity is completed, let the pupils have time to
talk together about what instructions would have helped to make the reproduction more
accurate. The more often activities such as this are repeated, the more accurate the
mathematical language used in the description becomes.
Another approach to engaging children in developing the language of mathematical
description is to give children in pairs a small object that one of them has to hide, while their
partner is blindfolded. The pupil who has hidden the object then has to describe to their
partner the exact location, using directional and positional language, including how many
 paces forward and so on. This type of activity can be extended by the creation of masking-
tape roads on the floor, where pupils have to guide their blindfolded partners, ensuring they
don’t walk off the path. The activity can be made more challenging by allowing children to
offer only a certain number of instructions to their partner in order to help them reach the
other end.

Devlin (2002: 338) maintains that learning to use the language of mathematics enables us to
see worlds beyond imagination. By learning to talk about mathematics, we represent and come
to understand it better. He writes that, ‘mathematics is the science of patterns, in the physical
universe, in the living world, or even in our own minds … mathematics serves us by making the
invisible visible’ (Devlin 2002: 338). He gives examples of the ways in which this occurs – in the
past, long before the advent of spacecraft or powerful telescopes, mathematicians were able to
show that planets, including the Earth, were round. Similarly, probability studies and statistics
enable us to predict, seeing into the future.

TALKING TO THINK CREATIVELY

An important key to thinking creatively is talking. Meaningful talk takes time. Research over
many decades (Claxton 2008) has indicated that teachers consistently give children too little time
to respond thoughtfully. This is often because discussion is taking place in large groups, where
pace and control come to be seen as more important than thinking and learning. If we want
children to talk and think mathematically, children need time and opportunity. Pringle (2008: 47,
citing Prentice) underlines the parallels, claiming that experiential learning is vital to creativity,
and that the skills to be nurtured are ‘enquiry, reflection and criticism’. For both mathematical
understanding and creativity to be nurtured, children need exciting experiences to talk about and
opportunities to talk about them.
Using talk to promote creative thinking involves:

asking open-ended questions, such as, ‘What if …?’ and ‘How might you …?’, to help pupils see
things from different perspectives; teachers are used to asking questions in order to assess
learning, and these are often, almost by definition, closed questions; open-ended questions
have many possible answers and, as such, do not require children to guess what’s in the
teacher’s head but to think for themselves;
valuing and praising specific examples of what children do and say: praise needs to be specific
– in order to reproduce what they are being praised for, they need to know what was good
about it; so, rather than simply saying ‘brilliant’ or ‘well done’, adults need to get into the
habit of saying things such as, ‘I really liked the way you solved the problem. You were the
only one who had that particular idea’;
establishing an atmosphere in which children feel safe to take risks and respond creatively:
learning occurs when errors are made, and never taking risks is death to creativity; moreover,
from a teacher’s perspective, the errors that children make help to pinpoint their
 misconceptions, enabling more successful and individualised teaching;
creating an environment in which children can have fun and relax, while exploring new ideas,
as well as finding time and space for quiet reflection: both conditions are essential to thought,
imagination and creativity;
actively encouraging pupils to make new connections: promoting and rewarding imagination
and originality are not always convenient when dealing with large numbers of children, but
effective teachers find ways to balance demands for crowd control and genuine education.

THINKING THROUGH TALK

Charles Darwin is reported to have likened mathematicians to ‘a blind man in a dark room
looking for a black cat which isn’t there’. This statement in itself has the potential to trigger
thought. Philosophy is a discipline to develop critical, logical and reflective thinking. It
encourages analytical questioning, enabling us to unpick our thought processes and explore their
hidden depths. Piaget suggested that children are not capable of philosophical thought until they
reach the age of 11 or 12, but Matthews (1980) believes that Piaget simply failed to identify this
kind of thinking in the children he studied. Matthews provides examples of very young children
engaged in philosophical questioning. An enquiring 5-year-old, Jordon, asked:

If I go to bed at eight and get up at seven in the morning, how do I really know that the
little hand of the clock has gone around only once? Do I have to stay up all night to watch
it? If I look away even for a short time, maybe the small hand will go around twice.
(Matthews 1980: 3)

The relationship between philosophy and mathematics is far from new. Many classical
philosophers, such as Euclid and Archimedes, Pythagoras and Plato, were also mathematicians
(Berlinghoff and Gouvea 2004). Their interest grew out of an attempt to understand the roles of
these subjects in our lives, to explore the link between mathematics and nature. They were men
of sufficient means to spend their time thinking and talking – in short to explore some ‘slow
ways of knowing’ (Claxton 1997). It is, perhaps, paradoxical that mathematical enquiry, grown
out of human attempts throughout history to make sense of the world, has become what is seen
by so many to be a dry and irrelevant subject.

Philosophy for Children

Philosophy for Children (P4C) was first developed by Matthew Lipman, who, as a professor at
Columbia University in New York, became increasingly aware of the undeveloped reasoning
skills of many of his students (Lipman 2003). His determination to develop these skills through
the teaching of logic led him to develop a programme of work that would tap into what he
believed to be children’s natural ability to think in the abstract from an early age. He argued that
incorporating logical thinking skills into primary school children’s education would help them to
develop their abilities for critical thinking.
Lipman proposed that, rather than maintaining an education system that consisted of
knowledge being transferred from the teacher to the pupil, a reflective education system should
be based around a community of enquiry within the classroom. In Lipman’s ideal curriculum,
students are stirred to think about the world, and knowledge is revealed to them to be
‘ambiguous, equivocal and mysterious’ (Lipman 2003: 18). P4C works by presenting children
with a stimulus, which could be a reading, an object or perhaps a photograph. The children then
take time to formulate philosophical questions that have been stimulated by the source material.
This enables pupils to think creatively about their experience of human life. A good
philosophical question is one where there isn’t a fixed answer, where the solution doesn’t
immediately come to mind – in short, an open-ended question.

EVERYDAY MATHEMATICS
In order to counter any notion that mathematics is in any way simply the province of the
rich and privileged, we should look at some of the alternative early origins of mathematics. It
probably grew out of awareness of our bodies, the world around us and the symmetry that is
found in nature. We know that early methods of measuring were based on parts of the body.
The Egyptians, for example, used a cubit, which represents the distance from your elbow to
the tip of your middle finger, as a unit of measurement. There is an enthralling small book on
this very subject that children at Key Stage 2 in particular find absolutely fascinating.
Entitled About the Size of It (Cairns 2007), it examines the way in which humans are drawn
to measurements that make human sense to us. Whether we use imperial or metric
measurement, the favoured quantities in everyday use relate directly back to human history
and bodies.
Obviously, the flaws in using non-standard measurement are very apparent, but an
understanding that the study of mathematics grew out of human need and continuous
dialogue as to how best to respond to the challenges that we faced made its early conception
a very real subject. Mathematics was not created to keep children occupied at desks; it was
and still is a subject that has the potential to challenge us to think deeply and find
understanding in the universe around us (du Sautoy 2008b; Ronan 2007).

The class then begins the process of a community of enquiry; the resulting philosophical
dialogue is not a debate. Participants are not trying to persuade others of their point of view, but
rather to explore, as a group, the best possible answer to the question. P4C is based on the notion
that there is no right or wrong answer. As all the participants share their ideas, each individual
has the opportunity to reflect on the thoughts of their peers.
P4C has the potential to develop in children their ability to evaluate reasons and arguments. It
helps in enhancing pupils’ aptitude to make distinctions between differing viewpoints, as well as
to see the underlying connections between them. The discipline can support children in
formulating questions, clarifying their ideas, testing generalities and analysing concepts. These
analytical thinking skills will support children in mathematical problem finding and solving.
As we have examined in earlier chapters, one of the biggest challenges facing mathematics
today is that it is too often viewed as a subject with only one answer. Developing a community
of enquiry within our classrooms enables us to support children in developing their courage to
take risks and try different approaches as part of a process of discovery. The further we move
away from the fixed notion of mathematics as right or wrong, the more we can open our pupils’
eyes to the awe and wonder of the universe that has enabled us to develop mathematical systems
that are still being shaped today.

The role and impact of philosophy in primary mathematics

Marie France Daniel (1999: 6) draws attention to the gap between everyday and mathematical
thinking and language:

For instance, if they often talk about truth, they rarely question mathematical truth; if they
often ask for proof, they seldom ask for mathematical demonstration; if they often compare
the number of stars to the infinite, they rarely talk about infinite numbers … This is to say,
that mathematical language is formed of particular words whose meanings do not always
correspond to those in daily language.

Daniel’s suggested approach to introducing philosophical–mathematical dialogue into the

classroom is to create a community of enquiry where children are invited to clarify the meanings
of mathematical words and concepts that they are using frequently without question. Setting
these up as a dialogue for the class to explore together will ensure that all the children are
supporting each other in exploring these terms and trying to find meaning behind them:

The fostering of creative mathematical thinking may help children create new useful
concepts to better understand a theory; to discover a formerly unnoticed relation between
two elements; to construct useful ordering; to organize the parts of a whole in a different
fashion, and so on.
(Daniel 1999: 6)

In Daniel’s research into philosophy and mathematics, primary school pupils were involved in
developing questions prompted through the stimulus of a novel designed specifically for the
programme. The novel, written in French, is called Les aventures mathématiques de Mathilde et
David (Daniel et al. 1996) and asks questions such as:

Can a room be a cube, or does it only look like a cube?

Do teachers know everything about geometry?
What is a problem?
Can animals think mathematically?
Does zero equal nothing?
 What is mathematical truth?

The Philosophy Foundation (n.d.) has published a report entitled Maths as Enquiry: The maths
group as an enquiry problem solving team for KS2, in which it claims the following benefits for
children’s mathematical and problem-solving abilities:

greater independence of thought and value placed on independence;

children trying hard to explain why they have done what they have done, and critically
evaluating it, with some success;
more systematic ways of working: note-taking, eliminating disproved alternatives, moderating
strategies in the light of results;
children attempting to use existing knowledge to solve new problems and assessing the success
of this;
more success in translating verbal/practical questions into number problems;
children showing more pride in having worked at a problem, made progress and altered their
strategy – not only in getting the final answer;
lower-ability children experiencing the value of perseverance, and abler ones learning that
patience is more important than an instant fix.

THE IMPACT OF P4C

In the UK, research undertaken into the impact of P4C on pupils’ performance indicates that
regular involvement in philosophical dialogues has a direct impact on raising pupil attainment in
mathematics. An evaluation of work in seven Welsh schools (Newell-Jones 2012) suggests that,
even after only three or four sessions, there were evident changes in pupils’ critical thinking. In
Clackmannanshire in Scotland (Trickey 2007), for example, a research project published in 2007
demonstrated the following:

The whole population of children gained on average 6.5 standard points on a measure of
cognitive abilities after 16 months of weekly enquiry.
Pupils increased their level of participation in classroom discussion by half as much again
following 6 months of weekly enquiry.
Teachers doubled their use of open-ended questions over a 6-month period.
When pupils left primary school, they did not have any further enquiry opportunities, and yet
their improved cognitive abilities were sustained 2 years into secondary school.
Pupils and teachers perceived significant gains in communication, confidence, concentration,
participation and social behaviour following 6 months of enquiry.

STARTING POINTS FOR P4C DIALOGUES

In order for effective dialogues to take place, children need to be presented with a stimulus that
will inspire them to ask philosophical mathematical questions. The P4C Co-operative offers a
number of ideas and resources for supporting mathematical discussion (see
http://p4c.com/subjects/maths). Throughout this book, numerous suggestions of stories that
provoke mathematical enquiry are made. In the previous chapter, work focused around Mr
Archimedes’ Bath (Allen 1994) was described. Pamela Allen (1988) also wrote Who Sank the
Boat? This story raises questions around how something as small as a mouse can make such a
big difference, a theme also explored in the traditional story of The Enormous Turnip.
I’m Coming to Get You (Ross 2008) may influence a dialogue on size and shape or questions
around how big a monster is. The underlying question in this book relates, however, to fear and
relative power. 365 Penguins (Fromental and Jolivet 2006) is full of mathematical ideas, but there
are other underlying philosophical questions to do with conservation and responsibility.

COLLABORATION
All of this requires a very different environment to that in which mathematics is so often taught,
a topic to which we will return in Chapter 12. In underlining the importance of discussion in
mathematics education, Boaler (2009: 44) highlights the relationship between talking and
thinking. She writes:

MATHS FOCUS PHILOSOPHY AND MATHS

Probability: What are the chances of winning money in the National Lottery?
Mental maths and mathematical judgement: How quickly can you work out which is the
best choice from a series of ‘Would you rather’ questions?
Reasoning: Critical thinking around the choices we make under time pressure.
Analytical thinking: Talking about maths problems rather than worrying about getting
the right answer.

Scenario
Warm-up exercise: Would you rather:
– win £100?
– receive 1 pence on one day, 2 pence on the second day, 4 pence on the third day, with
this continuing to double every day for 1 month?
– win £1,800 that you had to split with twelve people?
– receive what was left from £5,000, where each day for a week it was reduced by 10 per
cent?
Dialogue stimulus – a Lottery ticket.
Exploration
1 Warm-up exercise – ‘Would you rather …?’ Pupils were given the above series of ‘Would
you rather?’ questions, which they were asked to choose between quickly, without having
time to work out the mathematical answer. They were then invited to discuss their choices
with the rest of the class.
2 Dialogue stimulus – a Lottery ticket: The group, who had previous experience of creating
philosophical dialogues, were invited to create philosophical questions around the stimulus
of a Lottery ticket. They then took part in a dialogue on the probability of gambling.

Outcomes
The question that was chosen for dialoguing was ‘Is the lottery a waste of £1 or are you
buying hope?’.
Other questions included, ‘Does gambling pay?’, ‘What is hope?’, ‘Is the Lottery a waste of
money?’, ‘Should gambling money be used to help poor people?’.
Pupils used mathematical language to talk about probability and the chances of winning
money on the Lottery.
The group of Year 6 pupils became very engrossed in the dialogue, which lasted for 45
minutes.

Quote from evaluation

I have realised through philosophy that I don’t always know the answer. But in maths
we are always supposed to know the answer. Today I just had more questions: is it
alright to waste money if it makes you happy?
(Year 6 pupil)

Further information
Although MakeBelieve Arts created this dialogue with Year 6 pupils, it is possible to engage
much younger children in philosophy and mathematics using some of the starting points
listed opposite.

When we verbalize mathematical thoughts we need to reconstruct them in our minds, and
when others react to them we reconstruct them again. This act of reconstruction deepens
understanding. When we work on mathematics in solitude there is only one opportunity to
understand the mathematics.
 Children learn, not only from the reconstruction in their own head, but from other people’s
reconstructions and explanations. This is similar to the creative act that involves review and
modification (NACCCE 1999) and to the translation from one medium to another that is basis of
education in the pre-schools of Reggio Emilia (Edwards et al. 1998). Vygotsky referred to this
process as transduction (Kress 1996) and regarded it as an important strand in promoting
understanding. In particular, the process of collaboration gives children access to a wider range
of problem-solving strategies (Mercer and Littleton 2007).
Being encouraged to discuss more within the primary classroom can have a massive effect on
how pupils work together. As one Year 6 pupil says:

It’s changed a lot – we used to have to sit down and just do it, now we can work with each
other. It’s more exciting and if you get stuck you can ask the other person and they can help
you. It’s like if you get stuck you know you have someone to catch you when you fall.

This view is echoed by Lee (2006), who suggests that characteristics of a discourse community, or
collaborative group, are trust and respect for others (having someone to catch you when you
fall), a sense of contributing (we work with each other) and an awareness of the identity of
others (you can ask, and they can help).

THE WRITTEN LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS

We don’t want to leave this chapter without reference to the written language of mathematics.
Worthington and Carruthers (2006) argue that children have to become biliterate in order to
become successful mathematical thinkers. This requires, they believe, opportunities in the early
years to develop an understanding of the ways in which graphical representations, including
drawings and numerals, promote understanding. The National Strategy in England also
highlights the important role of representation in thinking mathematically, advising teachers to
‘demonstrate the correct use of mathematical vocabulary, language and symbols, images,
diagrams and models as tools to support and extend thinking’ (National Strategies 2006: 6).
‘Demonstrate’ is perhaps a poor choice of word in this context, as it could indicate the passive
experience for children that Boaler (2009) insists we should be moving away from.
Representation is something that learners must engage in fully if they are to understand it – not
something they can simply be told about and shown.
In the next chapter, there will be some discussion about the use of manipulatives and
structured apparatus. These may act (and were devised) as a form of representation, but different
representations work differently for different learners. This means that children need to be able
to choose from a wide range of resources, and teachers need to be willing to tune into the way in
which children are thinking things through. This is true whether the answer at which children
arrive is right or wrong. Having to describe a successful strategy is as useful as having to explain
an unsuccessful one. Both give the teacher insight into children’s thinking, and both give the
learner insight into his or her own thinking.
CONCLUSION
Learning the language of mathematics has been likened to learning a foreign or additional
language, and this is true of both its written and spoken forms. However, like all languages, the
language of mathematics has the potential to shape thought and understanding. For too long,
mathematics has been presented as an area of the curriculum that does not require discussion or
collaboration. The need for more creative mathematical thinkers now underlines the importance
of the exploration and questioning that can arise in mathematical discussion.

FURTHER READING
Cockburn, A. (ed.) (2007) Mathematical Understanding 5–11: A practical guide to creative communication in maths. London:
SAGE.
Lee, C. (2006) Language for Learning Mathematics. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Mercer, N. and Littleton, K. (2007) Dialogue and the Development of Children’s Thinking. London: Routledge.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Allen, P. (1988) Who Sank the Boat? London: Penguin.
Fromental, J.-L. and Jolivet, J. (2006) 365 Penguins. New York: Abrams Books for Young Children.
Reynolds, P. (2007) So Few of Me. London: Walker.
This book explores the language of few, less and so on. It will strike a chord with every teacher. Leo, the hero, has so much to do.
He dreams of nine other Leos coming to help him, but the list of things to do just grows longer, until he realises that, ‘just
me, just one … with time to dream’ is enough.
Ross, T. (2008) I’m Coming To Get You. London: Andersen Press.
 CHAPTER 5

TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

Real maths!

Everyday things hold wonderful secrets for those who know how to observe and tell about
them.
(Rodari, cited by Castagnetti and Vecchi 1997: 12)

REAL BECAUSE IT IS CONNECTED TO OUR OWN

EXPERIENCE OF MATHEMATICS?
For many children and adults, mathematics is real when it conforms to established expectations
about what maths is. In school, it is often interpreted as learning to do everyday calculations that
could be applied to real life; the problem so often is that children fail to make the connections
that can seem very obvious to the adults involved. Drummond (2003) gives an example of a child
in Year 3 working through a test sheet. Many of the test items were rooted in everyday
experiences – comparing heights and money transactions, for example. And yet, whether
abstract sums or everyday problems were involved, the child’s response was an apparently
meaningless string of numbers. Drummond suggests that the teachers’ approaches have
conflicted with his right to learn. She continues:

We can also see how Jason has accepted his responsibilities as a pupil, including his
responsibility to comply with his teachers, who have treated his compliance as a pupil as if
it alone were a sufficient and satisfactory outcome of their teaching. They seem to have lost
sight of their responsibility to use their power in the interests of learning, rather than
simply as an instrument of social control. Jason’s quest for meaning emphasises his
teachers’ responsibility constantly to check whether the world they invite Jason to inhabit
as a pupil is one that makes sense to him as a child.
(Drummond 2003: 10)

It may be worth noting here that many teachers might describe Jason’s responses as wild or
random guesses. However, another way to look at this is to say, as Mary-Jane Drummond does,
that Jason is making heroic attempts to find out what his teachers want of him. His responses are
not guesses about the mathematics, but guesses about what is in the teacher’s head. Asking him
for a ‘guesstimate’ might free him up to use his everyday understanding rather than the muddled
version of what he thinks he has been taught.
Of course, teachers are not heartless or thoughtless: they act in this way because they feel
pressure from above – headteachers, parents, inspectors and even media. In addition, however,
perhaps the reason why so many adults focus on abstract calculations through sums (whether
written or oral) and worksheets is because they themselves lack confidence. It takes confidence
(and expertise) to explain to parents the mathematical learning that occurred in a drama session,
or to explain why playing in the shop is about more than getting the shopping sums right. It
takes confidence (and reflection) to explore what the differences might be between real and fake
mathematics (Boaler 2009).
Perhaps, above all, it takes confidence to deal with questions from children to which you do
not have a ready answer. Mathematics based on a worksheet or a section of a textbook has its
own answer sheet; a maths session based around composing a song or working through a
problem identified by a group of children has no prescribed answers and may involve many
unexpected questions. For the high proportion of people who lack confidence in their own
mathematical ability – which, inevitably, will statistically include some teachers and support
staff – this can be quite scary. However, the more adults recognise the importance of exploring
mathematics that does not always have right answers and easy solutions, the abler they will be
to accept the challenge.

MAKING IT REAL THROUGH THE USE OF STRUCTURED

MATERIALS
Many attempts to bridge the gap between concrete (or real-world) mathematics and the abstract
have focused on developing and using structured apparatus. It has been suggested that what
American writers term mathematical ‘manipulatives’, that is ‘physical objects specifically
designed to foster learning’ of mathematics (Zuckerman et al. 2005), stem from two main
sources. The first source is Froebel’s Gifts, which were developed during the first half of the
nineteenth century. The Gifts include a set of structured wooden shapes, beginning with a cube,
cylinder and sphere and working up to a collection of complex cubes, cuboids, triangles and
prisms, that together made up an 8-inch cube (Read 1992; Pound 2005) and are said to have led to
the development of familiar structured materials, such as wooden blocks, K’nex and Lego.
Zuckerman et al. (2005: 859) describe these as ‘design materials, fostering modeling on real-world
structures’.
The second source they identify is the work of another pioneer of early childhood education,
Maria Montessori, in the first half of the twentieth century. Her approach to mathematics
education was to use carefully structured and beautifully made materials. Bead frames (or
abacuses) and wooden hierarchical materials still form the basis of mathematics teaching and
can be found on Montessori websites (e.g. www.infomontessori.com). Zuckerman et al. (2005)
suggest that these materials have led to the development of materials such as Cuisenaire rods
and Colour Factor, both of which were very popular in the 1960s. The more recent development
of materials such as Numicon is also part of this legacy, which is described as fostering the
‘modelling of more abstract structures’.
The use and role of structured materials in teaching and learning mathematics are not without
debate. A study by Moyer (2001) considered teachers’ use of structured materials in the middle
years of schooling. She found that many teachers regarded them as little more than fun, or a
diversion from more traditional modes of teaching. She also found that, where teachers did not
have a strong grasp of the concepts they were attempting to teach, the use of materials made
little difference to children’s understanding and learning.
Figure 5.1 illustrates an approach used with children in Year 3 who had had difficulty in
understanding place value. One hundred mats were laid out, with numbers from 1 to 100 placed
on them. Small bags containing ten stones were used to represent tens, and single stones were
used to represent units. Illustrating numbers in this way offers a stepping stone for children
experiencing difficulties in understanding place value. It creates a mental image, so that children
can visualise the numbers they are working with. Structured materials are designed to do
something similar, but the everyday qualities of real stones appear to make the maths real for
children. The success of mathematics education in Singapore, much admired by policymakers in
both the UK and USA, depends in large measure on similar representations. In the early stages,
teachers work with two groups – one group undertaking physical actions while another group
illustrates what the first group is doing. For example, the first group of children might be asked
to stand in five groups of two, and the second group, or illustrators, would represent this
configuration. Only when the graphic representations are understood do children move on to the
more abstract use of number symbols (see, for example, www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-
QMZ_f9PUg and www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2bPwW4wc2E).
Some studies seem to indicate that computer images (Uttal et al. 1997; Clements 2000; Booth
and Siegler 2008) or ‘virtual manipulatives’ do have some positive impact on learning. Moyer et
al. differentiate these from static visual representations in that they are dynamic and allow
children to ‘slide, flip and turn … [the representation] as if it were a three-dimensional object’
(2002: 37). The authors (Moyer et al. 2002: 377) conclude that the uses of virtual manipulatives
‘are limited only by the creativity of the teachers and students who work with them’.
Clements (2000) raises an interesting debate about what is meant by concrete experience. He
doesn’t regard it as an opposite to abstract, but sees both concrete and abstract as part of a
cluster of ways of thinking about difficult concepts. He echoes the views of Moyer (2001) and
Moyer et al. (2002) that teachers’ skills and knowledge base determine the effectiveness of
structured materials, citing research that suggests that ‘Attitudes towards mathematics are
improved when students have instruction with concrete materials provided by teachers
knowledgeable about their use’ (Clements 2000: 46, citing Sowell).
Achievements and attitudes are not improved where the materials are not used in a way that
supports exploration, or where children do not make links between the two symbol systems
involved – structured materials and numerals. This is linked to a third barrier to linking concrete
and abstract thought: for manipulatives to be used successfully, teachers need to review the way
in which ideas are represented more generally. This is where creative arts can be seen to be of
great importance – an aspect of teaching and learning that will be explored more fully in
Chapter 8.
Clements (2000: 49) differentiates between sensory-concrete and integrated-concrete ideas. He
writes:

Sensory-concrete refers to knowledge that demands the support of concrete objects and
children’s knowledge of manipulating these objects. Integrated-concrete refers to concepts
that are ‘concrete’ at a higher level because they are connected to other knowledge, both
physical knowledge that has been abstracted and thus distanced from concrete objects and
abstract knowledge of a variety of types.
 Figure 5.1 Making numbers real through visualisation

He argues, citing the Piagetian theorist Kamii, not simply that children must be physically
active, but that, ‘good concrete activity is good mental activity’ (Clements 2000: 50). He further
suggests that the use of virtual manipulatives can work hand in hand with sensory- and
integrated-concrete experiences. He believes that this provides benefits for both teachers and
learners. One difficulty is often that teachers fail to make, and children fail to see, the
connections between the apparatus (virtual or otherwise) and the purpose of the abstract ideas
that the materials are supposed to be representing. On the other hand, some children become
engrossed in the patterns and come to enjoy the beauty of the mathematics revealed by the
structured apparatus itself.

REAL BECAUSE IT REFLECTS EVERYDAY LIFE?

Sometimes, when reference is made to real maths, the focus is on functional mathematics – the
kind of mathematics that we use in our everyday lives. This is generally seen as being about
everyday events, such as shopping, sharing out biscuits, working out mileage and so on. Creative
teachers will see the mathematical potential in creating real experiences, such as cooking, a
camping trip or end-of-term party. Events and activities such as these offer plenty of
mathematical learning opportunities.
The case study below is based on The Doorbell Rang (Hutchins 1989). Sharing cookies, the
topic of the book, is a familiar and real experience. Gifford (2005) describes a piece of research in
which young children’s approach to problem solving was explored. Children were asked to share
out fairly varying numbers of biscuits to different numbers of children. After several variations,
one enterprising child simply crumbled all the biscuits and doled out roughly equal amounts of
crumbs. To their credit, the researchers recorded this as a good problem-solving strategy.
Andrews and Trafton (2002) describe work based on this book. Unlike the children in
Hutchins’s book, these children were given different biscuits. Sharing of these highlights
children’s keen sense of fairness. The authors describe the children’s strategies and write:

The children assigned a value of 2 to the chocolate cookies and a value of 1 to the vanilla
cookies … What made the two groups of cookies ‘equal’ in the children’s minds was not the
number of cookies but the value of them … We are forced to rethink what is appropriate
mathematics for young children. Mathematical ideas are often withheld from children
because the work goes beyond the expectations of what young children should investigate.
(Andrews and Trafton 2002: 25)

MATHS FOCUS THE DOORBELL RANG

Estimation: How many biscuits do you estimate there are in a packet?
Problem solving: How should we share out the biscuits?
 Pattern: How many biscuits fit on different-size trays without overlapping? What patterns
can we make with our biscuits? The Doorbell Rang contains short, repetitive phrases that
set out the pattern of the story. Involve children in looking at patterns of stories and
creating stories with the pattern of a recurring phrase or event.
Computation: How many biscuits do we need for different numbers of children? How can
they be fairly shared?
Data gathering: What data can you gather on the unknown number of cookies Grandma
brings at the end and the number of children yet to arrive? Involve children in estimating
how many cookies might be on Grandma’s plate, and how many children it would feed.

Scenario
Two children attempt to share out twelve cookies equally between them. The cookies have
been made by their mother, and the children think that they look and smell as good, ‘but no-
one makes cookies like Grandma’. Just as the children divide the biscuits between them, the
doorbell rings, and two more children arrive. The children begin to share out the biscuits
four ways. Again, the doorbell rings, and now the biscuits need to be shared six ways. As
more and more children arrive, the shares in the biscuits get smaller, until each child is
entitled to one each. Then, the doorbell rings yet again. Luckily, this time it is Grandma, and
she has bought some more cookies.

Exploration
1 Before reading the book, children were asked how they could share a packet of biscuits
with the whole class. They were also asked whether they could estimate from the look of a
packet whether each child would be able to have one biscuit each, or if there would be
insufficient.
2 Next, we explored how we could share just three biscuits with the whole class, and finally
how we could share only one biscuit.
3 When we read the story, we involved children in physically acting it out, sharing their
feelings about the dwindling share of biscuits. We gave each child twelve biscuits and
increasing numbers of paper plates, so that, as we read through the story, they could
physically create the correct number of piles of biscuits on each plate, to correspond to the
number of children arriving in the house. We made our biscuits from cut-out circles of
cardboard, which we placed in a biscuit tin.
4 We then gave a group of pupils a preset number of biscuits for them to divide equally
between them. This was repeated so that we used the same number of biscuits, but
changed the number of pupils.

Outcomes
 As we read the story in one school, and the doorbell rang for the fifth time, a little boy
shouted out, ‘hide, and don’t open the door’.

Quotes from evaluations

One biscuit between all of us, we’d have to take just a tiny bit each.
(Year 1 pupil)

We’d all have to hold our mouths small like this [purses her lips].
(Year 1 pupil)

Further information
If you act out the story with children, you may wish to read the book twice, so that everyone
has an opportunity to be part of dividing the biscuits.
Having tangible materials is important in maths. These don’t need to be expensive, can be
made from cardboard or objects that you have around you and can be fun.
Lumps of play-dough can be made into one large biscuit by the children; as the second
child arrives, the biscuit is cut into half, and then into quarters. Children are then invited to
explore how to divide the biscuit equally in various ways, to make sure all the new guests
have a fair share.

Reference
Hutchins, P. (1989) The Doorbell Rang. London: Harper Trophy.

The mathematics that is real in many children’s lives is often a useful starting point – with
real educational value, as it links the worlds of home and school, enabling children to make the
connections that are the mark of real learning. The mathematical knowledge may be conscious,
such as comes from working knowledge of racing pigeons, an understanding of complex card
games, scoring darts or the child whose mother runs a slimming club (Gifford 2005). But there is
also practical and perhaps unconscious mathematical knowledge that comes from helping adults
to construct buildings or engage in DIY or from playing snooker. All of these are real and can be
used to extend mathematical thinking and learning.
Everyday mathematics can also be about allowing children to explore and make sense of the
numbers, patterns, shapes and measures they see in the world around them. Mathematics is
everywhere, from fantasy football leagues, to working out how long it will take you to get home
from the park. So many things we do in our everyday lives have a strong mathematical
connection, but this is often overlooked within the mathematics curriculum, and yet these offer
many creative starting points.

REAL MATHEMATICIANS
The apparent focus on real, everyday mathematics can lead to a situation where teachers
highlight what Boaler (2009) calls ‘fake maths’, while feeling as though they are highlighting
‘real maths’. Remember those problems you were presented with at secondary school about
swimming pools and men digging holes – it is highly unlikely that the way in which you were
taught to set about solving those problems has much in common with what real mathematicians
do.
Academic mathematicians have a different view of what constitutes real mathematics. In
Chapter 1, we outlined what, for mathematicians, counts as mathematics. For the real
mathematician, revelling in challenges or puzzles seems to be of prime importance (Ronan 2007;
du Sautoy 2008b). In fact, as discussed in Chapter 3, problem finding is at least as important as
problem solving, as it arises primarily from interest. What is perhaps an apocryphal story about
Richard Feynes, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, suggests that he found the problem he
subsequently worked on, which led to his award, while spinning paper plates in the cafeteria. As
discussed in Chapter 1, the solution is often a guess, estimate or approximation. This, in turn,
gives the mathematician a working hypothesis; proving or disproving the hypothesis is likely to
involve the hard work stereotypically associated with real mathematicians. At this point, logic,
reasoning, measurement and comparison are involved, but so are symbolic representation,
visualisation and generalisations.
Mathematics is the science of pattern (see Chapter 1). Both Ronan (2007) and du Sautoy
(2008b) describe the sensitivity to patterns that mathematicians have. Humans, including
mathematicians, are often described as pattern seekers (see, for example, Lucas 2001). The 6-
year-old playing with pattern blocks is behaving mathematically – seeing a pattern and
generalising it – when she:

notices that a hexagon can be made in a number of different ways;

can cope with changing the way in which some of her hexagons are made; and thus
accommodates a troublesome lack of tiles of the right shape.

Our brains look for patterns and try to identify patterns, even where none is readily apparent.
It is this that has driven the mathematical search for prime numbers, triangular and perfect
numbers and so on – but it is also this that motivates us to do sudokus, kakuros and so on.
Pattern seeking requires a vocabulary to support mathematical thinking and it requires an ability
to analyse and generalise from data. National Strategy documents (see, for example, DfES 2006)
describe these qualities as key skills in mathematics for children, but they are also essentially
what real mathematicians have to do.
Perhaps more surprising to the layperson is the apparent importance of estimation, guesswork
or intuition. Closely linked to this is the need for the ability to represent ideas symbolically and
to imagine, visualise and generalise abstract ideas. Devlin (2000) suggests that mathematics is the
most abstract subject, and that abstract thinking requires imagination. Imagination is a key
aspect of creativity, and a number of writers underline the creative nature of mathematics (see,
for example, Mazur 2003; du Sautoy 2008b). Again, National Strategy documents (DfES 2006)
highlight the creative nature of mathematics and suggest that conjectural questions such as
‘what if?’ lead to important ideas and mathematical thinking – ‘questioning assumptions and
conclusions’.
Real mathematicians have, in the past, often regarded pure mathematics as the only real
mathematics. Indeed, Hardy’s seminal work ([1941] 1992) stated the primacy of mathematics that
was not applied to everyday life and expressed the view that pure mathematics was not simply,
but ought to be, useless. This has changed, as more and more uses of apparently useless
challenges have been found. The sixteenth-century Italian mathematician Cardano developed the
idea of cubic equations, which, in the nineteenth century, supported the use of alternating
electrical current and, in turn, the invention of the electric chair. Einstein used geometry
developed by Ancient Greek philosophers as the basis of his work on relativity, which has
subsequently been applied in work on global navigation and space travel.

REAL FOR CHILDREN

Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, it is the abstract nature of mathematics that has led teachers of
mathematics to search out approaches and strategies that emphasise real and concrete
experiences. The thinking has been that, as mathematics is so abstract, children need everyday
experiences on which to base their ideas. And this is clearly true. Hughes (1986: 47–8), for
example, gives an account of a conversation with 4-year-old Patrick. He asks Patrick, ‘How
many is two and one more?’. Patrick answers that it is four. Asked, in turn, how many lollipops,
elephants or giraffes would two and one more make, he correctly replies three in each case.
Hughes returns to the abstract sum – to which Patrick gives the answer six.
Nunes et al.’s (1993) account of their work with Brazilian street children demonstrates the
ways in which mathematics with a real or embedded (Donaldson 1976) context makes human
sense to children. It is this knowledge that has led teachers to develop the kind of work that is
based on real experiences, such as those described above – shopping trips, planning playgrounds
or events and so on.
However, this does not seem to be enough. As discussed in Chapter 2, what is real for children
does not always conform to what is real for adults. For the 5- and 6-year-olds described, in Italy
and in the USA, rulers were insufficiently real to be trusted.
Paley (1981), a highly creative teacher, returns from vacation to find a large bag of sand in the
classroom. She asks the children to think about how they could move it. Their discussion focuses
on some magical solutions, including the appearance of Superman. Paley grows excited as the
children’s ongoing discussion leads them to visualise something rather like a pulley. With the
help of the science teacher and a pulley, they successfully move the sand. A week later, Paley sets
the children a problem – how could they move her without touching her? One child’s instant
response is ‘Why?’ – a question to which Paley is not unsympathetic. Nonetheless, she persists
and is surprised that the children rehearse a similar sequence of thinking to that which had
emerged before they had been introduced to the pulley. This time, a lever seems to offer a
solution. She takes them to a local science museum, where levers, pulleys, wheels and ramps are
demonstrated. Returning to school, Paley tells a story about a caveman moving a rock. This time,
the children’s solutions again do not include machines, but:
digging a hole under the rock"> brains look for patterns and try to identify patterns, even where
none is readily apparent. It is this that has driven the mathematical search for prime numbers,
triangular and perfect numbers and so on – but it is also this that motivates us to do sudokus,
kakuros and so on. Pattern seeking requires a vocabulary to support mathematical thinking
and it requires an ability to analyse and generalise from data. National Strategy documents
(see, for example, DfES 2006) describe these qualities as key skills in mathematics for children,
but they are also essentially what real mathematicians have to do.
Perhaps more surprising to the layperson is the apparent importance of estimation, guesswork
or intuition. Closely linked to this is the need for the ability to represent ideas symbolically and
to imagine, visualise and generalise abstract ideas. Devlin (2000) suggests that mathematics is the
most abstract subject, and that abstract thinking requires imagination. Imagination is a key
aspect of creativity, and a number of writers underline the creative nature of mathematics (see,
for example, Mazur 2003; du Sautoy 2008b). Again, National Strategy documents (DfES 2006)
highlight the creative nature of mathematics and suggest that conjectural questions such as
‘what if?’ lead to important ideas and mathematical thinking – ‘questioning assumptions and
conclusions’.
Real mathematicians have, in the past, often regarded pure mathematics as the only real
mathematics. Indeed, Hardy’s seminal work ([1941] 1992) stated the primacy of mathematics that
was not applied to everyday life and expressed the view that pure mathematics was not simply,
but ought to be, useless. This has changed, as more and more uses of apparently useless
challenges have been found. The sixteenth-century Italian mathematician Cardano developed the
idea of cubic equations, which, in the nineteenth century, supported the use of alternating
electrical current and, in turn, the invention of the electric chair. Einstein used geometry
developed by Ancient Greek philosophers as the basis of his work on relativity, which has
subsequently been applied in work on global navigation and space travel.

REAL FOR CHILDREN

Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, it is the abstract nature of mathematics that has led teachers of
mathematics to search out approaches and strategies that emphasise real and concrete
experiences. The thinking has been that, as mathematics is so abstract, children need everyday
experiences on which to base their ideas. And this is clearly true. Hughes (1986: 47–8), for
example, gives an account of a conversation with 4-year-old Patrick. He asks Patrick, ‘How
many is two and one more?’. Patrick answers that it is four. Asked, in turn, how many lollipops,
elephants or giraffes would two and one more make, he correctly replies three in each case.
Hughes returns to the abstract sum – to which Patrick gives the answer six.
 Nunes et al.’s (1993) account of their work with Brazilian street children demonstrates the
ways in which mathematics with a real or embedded (Donaldson 1976) context makes human
sense to children. It is this knowledge that has led teachers to develop the kind of work that is
based on real experiences, such as those described above – shopping trips, planning playgrounds
or events and so on.
However, this does not seem to be enough. As discussed in Chapter 2, what is real for children
does not always conform to what is real for adults. For the 5- and 6-year-olds described, in Italy
and in the USA, rulers were insufficiently real to be trusted.
Paley (1981), a highly creative teacher, returns from vacation to find a large bag of sand in the
classroom. She asks the children to think about how they could move it. Their discussion focuses
on some magical solutions, including the appearance of Superman. Paley grows excited as the
children’s ongoing discussion leads them to visualise something rather like a pulley. With the
help of the science teacher and a pulley, they successfully move the sand. A week later, Paley sets
the children a problem – how could they move her without touching her? One child’s instant
response is ‘Why?’ – a question to which Paley is not unsympathetic. Nonetheless, she persists
and is surprised that the children rehearse a similar sequence of thinking to that which had
emerged before they had been introduced to the pulley. This time, a lever seems to offer a
solution. She takes them to a local science museum, where levers, pulleys, wheels and ramps are
demonstrated. Returning to school, Paley tells a story about a caveman moving a rock. This time,
the children’s solutions again do not include machines, but:

digging a hole under the rock;

getting people and dinosaurs to push;
breaking the rock with a hammer;
finding another cave.

Paley concludes: ‘The adult should not underestimate the young child’s tendency to revert to
earlier thinking; new concepts have not been “learned” but are only in temporary custody. They
are glimpsed and tried out but are not permanent possessions’ (Paley 1981: 101).
It is possible to replicate this in the classroom by filling a 20-litre water container and leaving
it in the middle of the room for the children to explore. The level of problem solving and
mathematical discussion that this activity can initiate, even in very young children, is incredible.
They may initially spend time trying to work out how many of them are needed to carry it. If
they do manage to move the water container, how far has it travelled? If it has an emptying tap,
the potential to fill up other containers of various sizes is added, enabling children to work out
strategies for emptying and for monitoring when the 20-litre container is light enough to move.

Sums are rarely real!

Eight-year-old Jeremy is being told that John has eight bricks and that Mary has three times as
many. Silence ensues – eventually the teacher asks him what three times eight is. He at first
replies twenty-three, but then corrects that to twenty-four. He is asked a similar question about
Andrew having four times as many bricks – with similar results. Questioning reveals that Jeremy
believed he should add the numbers given and that he therefore had no idea why the teacher
was satisfied with the answer arrived at by multiplication (Hughes 1986, citing Shuard).
The main thrust of Hughes’s work is that, ‘children’s observed difficulties can be described as
a failure to link the understandings they already have with the symbols and rules they are
expected to learn’ (1986: 175, citing Hiebert). He continues: ‘We have on our side, however, a
strength which is often underestimated: the immense capacity of young children to grasp
difficult ideas if they are presented in ways which interest them and make sense to them’
(Hughes 1986: 184).

Making it real through drama and role-play

Drama and role-play make things very real for children. They enable children to explore the
feelings and emotions that underpin learning, including the mathematical learning itself. They
support children in exploring difficult concepts in non-threatening surroundings. They make it
possible for children to weave stories around the understandings they are developing, and they
give vital opportunities for the discussion and collaboration that shape learning.
Teachers often associate such opportunities with young children. In Let’s Pretend Maths
(Williams 2006), for example, the author makes a number of suggestions about dramatic play
opportunities. Although the book is focused on the early years, it is easy to see that a shoe shop,
a drama centred around pirates, a vet’s surgery or a baby clinic, or a travel agency presents a
wealth of mathematical learning opportunities for older as well as younger children. The next
case study demonstrates the real impact that such opportunities can have for real, rather than
fake, mathematical learning – in this case with a Year 6 class.

Making it real through the use of the imagination

In considering what makes things real for humans, we ought not to overlook the power of the
imagination. Symbolising ideas and concepts through story, drama, mark-making, music or
construction aids thinking, but it is imagination that enables us to visualise – a vital aspect of
mathematical abstract thinking. Clements (2004: 42–3) suggests that all children, beginning
before kindergarten, should be encouraged to:

create a mental image of geometric objects, ‘examine’ it mentally to answer questions about
it, and transform it … slide, turn and flip shapes mentally … All children should work on
developing their ability to create, maintain, and represent mental images of geometric
shapes and of the environments in which they live.

The widespread use of empty number lines in primary schools (Anghileri 2001) is also a
recognition of the role of imagination in learning to think in the abstract. Visualising things that
are not present to the senses is part of this process (Devlin 2000). However, as with the use of
structured apparatus, it appears that this approach is only as good as the teacher using it.
Heuvel-Panhuizen (2008) argues that, unless the empty number line is used flexibly as a tool for
children, it can undermine their mathematical thinking. He concludes that teachers should listen
more to children and take their views more seriously – recognising their competence and
diagnosing their misconceptions more accurately.
We cannot leave the topic of making things real through the use of the imagination without
mentioning Einstein. He famously developed ‘thought experiments’ to develop his thinking, from
his adolescence. Isaacson (2007: 3) describes Einstein’s work thus: ‘Imagine being in an enclosed
elevator accelerating up through space, he conjectured in one of them. The effects you’d feel
would be indistinguishable from the experience of gravity.’
Einstein’s use of his imagination included creating pictures in his mind, but, more unusually:

such things as lightning strikes and moving trains, accelerating elevators and falling
painters, two dimensional blind beetles crawling on curved branches as well as a variety of
contraptions designed to pinpoint at least in theory the location and velocity of speeding
electrons.
(Isaacson 2007: 27)

MATHS FOCUS RUBBISH MATHS

Percentages, decimals and fractions: all the offers to take rubbish away are made in a
mixture of percentages, decimals or fractions
Problem solving: working together as a team to solve problems
Dealing with money: keeping a check on the money they are spending and the money
they are earning; working out the best deals

Scenario
In role as council officers, the workshop leaders stand before the class and pour several bags
of rubbish all over the carpet area. The class is told that the local authority has run out of
space for the rubbish, so any empty areas are being used for storage: its carpet has been
selected as a dump. The children begin to complain and are offered money for their
inconvenience. The council officer gives each of the four groups £100 and then leaves. The
children are invited to sort the rubbish into types so that they can think about what can be
done with it. The group collecting plastic has more than the group collecting glass. Similarly,
there is more cardboard than tins. The workshop leader then goes into role as a police officer,
and the class is fined £100 for not getting rid of the rubbish. They have to work out how to
pay this fairly. Should the group with the most rubbish pay the most?

Exploration
1 Children are given cards that tell them about various people who are willing to buy
rubbish or to take some of it away. They have to work out who will give them the best
deal. Should they go with an artist who pays good money for specific pieces of rubbish,
but only wants a few items, or a dealer who won’t pay much but will get rid of it all? Or
should they give 20 per cent of their rubbish to the local nursery and receive no money at
all?
2 Their decisions about who to go with are made quickly, under the threat that the police
will return and fine them for whatever rubbish they have remaining.
3 At the end of an hour of selling, giving away and fining, we find out which group has the
most money left.

Outcomes
Pupils engaged strongly in the activity; the sense of both competition and teamwork between
them was immense.

Quote from evaluation

At first I thought having lots of plastics was brilliant. We had so much more rubbish on
our table than anyone else. Then the police came and fined us and suddenly we had the
least amount of money.
(Year 6 child)

Further information
When setting up teacher in role work, it is important to remember you are not trying to
make the pupils believe you are the character. If you do adopt this approach, you may find
they will continually try to prove that you are not. We always have a small piece of costume
for any ‘in-role character’: a hat, scarf, orange safety bib etc. We show the costume to the
pupils and announce, ‘When I put this hat on, I will no longer be your teacher, but I will
become the character of a police officer’.

Reference
Rubbish Maths is a programme developed and delivered by MakeBelieve Arts (www.makebelievearts.co.uk).

CONCLUSION
Making mathematics real involves much more than just focusing on the mathematics we use in
our everyday lives. It involves encouraging the use of the imagination and of a host of
opportunities for symbolic representation – everything from music and dance, through mark-
making and modelling and including the empty number line. Of course, not every child you
teach will prove to be an Einstein, but, given the right creative environment, some might become
those makers of new mathematical meanings that will be increasingly needed in our society.

FURTHER READING
Moyer, P., Bolyard, J. and Spikell, M. (2002) ‘What are virtual manipulatives?’, Teaching Children Mathematics, 8(6): 372–7.
Williams, H. (2006) Let’s Pretend Maths. London: BEAM Publications.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Crowther, R. (2002) Shapes. London: Walker.
Although this is a very simple book with flaps and tabs, it is one of the few books that highlight the notion of shape as a
construct, rather than a fixed characteristic. Crowther identifies, for example, a bunch of grapes and a hairbrush as having
an oval shape – food for thought and discussion.
Hutchins, P. (1989) The Doorbell Rang. London: Harper Trophy.
 CHAPTER 6

TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

Using story to teach maths

The teaching and learning of mathematics in today’s schools will change dramatically if we
view mathematics as a tool for telling stories. Learners will see mathematics as a
consequence of social interaction; they will recognise it as a tool for telling and
remembering, not reciting and memorising.
(Whitin and Wilde 1995: xii)

What better way to begin this chapter than with a story?

Doris used to follow her mathematics textbook. She would present her fourth graders the
lesson in their textbook, give them practice problems, and then assign homework.
Homework was checked at the beginning of every math lesson, and a test was given at the
end of each week.
About 1990, after teaching this way for 10 years, Doris decided to reinvent the way she
taught in order to make teaching more enriching for both her students and herself. First,
Doris started using manipulatives. She used base ten blocks, geoboards, pattern blocks, and
fraction bars to help give meaning to her lessons. Later she discovered math games: social
games with names like addition war, division bingo, and multiplication dominoes. Doris
created twenty to thirty math games that reinforced and extended the ideas presented in
each chapter of her textbook using materials such as egg cartons, poster board, tongue
depressors, and wood cubes.
By 1992 Doris discovered children’s literature and began using mathematical stories with
her class. She felt, however, that few children’s storybooks developed the mathematical
skills that she wanted her children to learn and that when she read a book to her students
they were outsiders looking in on the world of others. She wanted to get her class more
fully involved in mathematical stories – involved in ways that deeply stimulated their
fantasies and more fully developed the mathematical skills that she wanted them to learn.
(Schiro 2004: 3)

This story, like many others, resonates with the experiences of many of us. In attempting to
make mathematics more real and accessible, many different approaches have been developed. In
England, despite numerous changes to the National Curriculum, involving both helpful and,
some would argue, unhelpful approaches, the outcome remains similar – mathematics education
is not working in its current form. Creative solutions are needed.

MAKEBELIEVE ARTS’ STORY

This story takes a different path to that explored by Doris. Spurred on by the work of Egan
(1988), MakeBelieve Arts began by creating strong stories to be told and performed in
classrooms. Over time, as we attempted to introduce these ideas to teachers in CPD sessions,
three things became apparent:

1 Full involvement in mathematical stories should mean that teachers could develop their own
stories to tie into children’s current interests and enthusiasms.
2 Most teachers, like Doris, found it difficult to spare the time or felt that they lacked the
aptitude to develop stories of their own.
3 Most primary teachers, perhaps unlike Doris, have a wealth of knowledge about children’s
books. It may also be that more suitable books are more available in this country or at this
time.

WHY STORY IS IMPORTANT

Through centuries of exposure to story form, our brains have become hardwired to respond to
stories. If someone begins to recite a story, they have the power to make a room fall silent: people
can’t help but be drawn in. As we hear the first few sentences, the neurons in our brain begin to
fire, we begin to anticipate what might happen, we make assumptions as to what will come next,
and we sift through our knowledge of this type of story and begin to build up expectations of the
likely outcome. When we listen to stories, we focus on key characters and fill in the gaps about
them, based on our own experiences and knowledge. We understand their motivations and
drives without needing lengthy descriptions of these. The way the brain works to decipher story
is highly sophisticated, and yet there is much evidence to prove that we are able to engage in this
process from a very young age.
Paley (1997) labels story making as an original learning tool that humans have used
throughout history and that children continue to use in order to understand and make sense of
the world. Children at play will try things out, refine them, come back to them, look at them
from another angle, bring in other children to support the idea they are exploring, change roles
and find reasons and solutions to problems that seem insurmountable. These are the same kinds
of engagement that we want our children to have in relation to mathematical enquiry and
understanding.
Paley suggests that current marginalisation of play and narrative in the teaching and learning
process is akin to discovering a way to integrate all the teachings that were required to become a
doctor, but deciding to revert to the old ways of treating patients:
 Is this not, in effect, what happens to our children when they enter school? For five years,
an intuitive program called play has worked so well that the children learn the language,
mannerisms, and meaning of all the people with whom they live. They know what every
look means, every tone of voice, who their family is, where they come from, what makes
them happy or sad, what place they occupy in the world. Then the children enter school
and find, strangely enough, that this natural theater they have been performing, this
playfully deep fantasy approach to life is no longer acceptable, is no longer valid. Suddenly
they begin to hear … ‘Do that playing outside, after your work’.
(Paley 1997)

Research and writings from a wide variety of disciplines show that, as humans, we have not
just a predisposition but a need for story (see, for example, Bruner 1986; Paley 1990; Devlin 2000;
Pinker 2000; Haven 2007). Haven (2007) explores the vital role that story plays in our lives and
the potential it has to engage us in learning. He cites both Bruner and Pinker in his argument for
the true power behind story: ‘Humans have an inherent readiness or predisposition to organize
experience into story form: into viewpoints, characters, intentions, sequential plot structures, and
the rest’ (Haven n.d.: 20, citing Bruner), and ‘100,000 years of evolutionary preference for, and
reliance on, STORY has built into the human genetic code instructions to wire the brain to think
in story terms by birth’ (Haven n.d.: 20, citing Pinker).
Haven (2007: 27) identities three key truths that have emerged from recent neurological
research:

1 One hundred thousand years of human reliance on story has evolutionarily rewired the
human brain to be predisposed to think in story terms and to use story structure to create
meaning and make sense of events and others’ actions.
2 Cells that fire together wire together. The more a child (or adult) engages their story neural
net to interpret incoming sensory input, the more likely they are to do it in the future.
3 The evolutionary predisposition is reinforced by the dominant use of story throughout
childhood. Children hear stories, see stories, have stories read to them and read stories
themselves. This dominance of story exposure through the key years of brain plasticity
results in adults irrevocably hard-wired to think in story terms.

The vivid visual imagery that good stories create in our minds stimulates our emotions,
engages our interest and creates an environment in the brain that is conducive to learning.

TEACHING AS STORY-TELLING
Egan’s study of story-based learning led him to the discovery that children can readily
understand abstract concepts when organised into story form. He writes about how, from an
early age, children are engaged in constructing and understanding metaphors and forming
images from spoken words. In his book Teaching as Story-telling (1988), he encourages us to see
the curriculum as a great story that we need to tell, rather than a series of learning objectives
that we need to attain. Oral cultures use story, rhythm and rhyme to help them to remember a
range of possibilities, as they have no recourse to other methods of recording their words.
Story-telling is a fantastic tool for us to use to engage children, particularly when we are
basing our work around a strong theme such as giants. A headteacher reported that she believed
learning should be about creating a series of memorable experiences. What better way to create
memorable experiences than through the method adopted by oral cultures throughout history,
with its proven ability to enable us to retain information and pass it on to others? If we look back
at our own schooling – perhaps particularly our mathematics education – what were the
memorable lessons?
Story-telling has recognised potential to create memorable experiences, but what is less
recognised is the benefit of sharing stories with children in their early years for the development
of mathematical ability. Canadian researchers have discovered that, ‘time spent on stories
(telling, reading and listening to stories) during preschool years improves maths skills upon
entering school … developing logical and analytical thinking as well as language literacy’ (Haven
2007: 4, citing O’Neill et al.).

MATHEMATICAL IDEAS IN STORY FORM

However, story-telling activities are not something simply to be left behind in early childhood.
Trisha’s personal engagement with mathematics was described, in Chapter 2, as being linked to
her discovery of Teaching as Story-telling (Egan 1988). She was curious to test out Egan’s
assertion that you can teach anything, even mathematics, through story. Mathematics developed
out of human experience (Cairns 2007), and stories developed out of the quest to learn more
about mathematics (Berlinghoff and Gouvea 2004). Hughes (1986) reminds us of the way in
which, in some languages, counting words themselves may tell a story – one as the moon, two as
the eyes, seven for the apertures in the head and so on.
As soon as a mathematical concept is put into story form, it comes alive. Egan (1988) argues
for seeking out the powerful stories behind every aspect of the curriculum, as these will give
purpose and meaning. The Canadian-based Imaginative Education Research Group
(www.ierg.ca) describes the use of story in engaging children. By accepting one penny for a
chore on one day, doubling this fee on the second day and continuing to double the fee on each
subsequent day, children could quickly come into a serious sum of money – a story with great
interest for them.
Kieran Egan (1988) has developed a framework for creating powerful stories. Key to what he
believes a powerful story to be is the inclusion of what he terms ‘binary opposites’. Traditional
stories often include archetypal binary opposites, such as good and evil, wealth and poverty.
Table 6.1 is based on Egan’s explanation of the ways in which the strong stories needed to fully
engage the learner are best constructed.
The questions raised may be seen as fundamental to the education of children. Egan asks,
‘Why should this topic be interesting for children?’ This is an interesting question to ask, and
one rarely asked in education. However, having worked with teachers on exploring this model as
a way of developing their approach to creative mathematics, we have realised that, given the
structured nature of the current curriculum, it is a question that many find hard to answer.
Often, their initial answer is simply, ‘because they have to know it’. It takes a great deal of
digging sometimes to find out what is fundamentally interesting about some of the things that
we require children to learn.
The case study below is taken from Egan’s work (1988). It explores place value and was
adapted by MakeBelieve Arts during our first exploration of story as a way of teaching
mathematical concepts.

Table 6.1 Kieran Egan’s story model form

1 Identifying importance

What is most important about this topic? Which aspect(s) of this topic could make it interesting to children?

Why should it matter to children? What is it about the topic/subject that could make it matter to children?
What emotions or feelings might it be used to arouse in children e.g. sadness, envy, happiness,
What is affectively engaging about it?
hopes, fears etc.?

2 Finding binary opposites

Children’s learning is based on extremes e.g. hot and cold. Exploring these extremes enables
What powerful binary opposites best
them to develop understanding of the variations in-between, e.g. warm. For this reason, we
catch the importance of the topic?
support learning by identifying the opposites relevant to this topic.

3 Organising content into story form

What content most dramatically

The opposites identified should be used to create or identify a story that can illustrate them
embodies the binary opposites, in order
most effectively – taking the topic and opposites into account.
to provide access to the topic?
What content best articulates the topic
into a developing story form?

4 Conclusion

What is the best way of resolving the

Like all good stories, this one needs a satisfactory/satisfying conclusion. The focus on opposites
dramatic conflict inherent in the binary
means that there will have to be some resolution (or mediation) between them.
opposites?
What degree of mediation of those
opposites is it appropriate to seek?

5 Evaluation
How can one know whether the topic
has been understood, its importance How will we know that the children have increased their understanding of the chosen topic?
grasped, and the content learned?

MATHS FOCUS A LITTLE OR A LOT, BOOK 1, DRAMATIC

MATHEMATICS
Place value
 Binary opposites: clarity/confusion, big/small

Scenario
The King of Sunobia boasts that his army is the largest. The King of Narcissus disagrees, and
so the two armies gather on a large hill to find out who is right. However, both armies look
enormous. The kings try different ways of counting the armies, but they keep forgetting
where they are. The numbers are just too large.
Finally, a wise woman instructs three of the king’s councillors to collect ten pebbles and a
wooden bowl. The soldiers then walk through a gap in a rock, and, as each soldier walks
past, the first councillor places a pebble in his bowl. When the first councillor has run out of
his ten pebbles, he empties his bowl, turns to the councillor on his left and says: ‘I have no
pebbles left. Can you put one pebble in your bowl to remind me what I have counted?’
The second councillor puts a pebble in his bowl, and the number ten is established: one
pebble in the tens bowl and no pebbles in the units bowl. The first councillor begins again,
filling up his bowl and emptying it each time he has counted ten soldiers.
When the second councillor has filled up his bowl, he turns to the third councillor on his
left and says: ‘I have no pebbles left. Can you put one pebble in your bowl to remind me
what I have counted?’
The third councillor puts one pebble in his bowl, the second councillor’s bowl is empty, the
first councillor’s bowl is empty, and the number 100 is created.
In this way, all the soldiers are counted, and, at the end, the third bowl has nine pebbles,
the second bowl has seven pebbles, and the third bowl has four pebbles. The king knows that
his army consists of 974 soldiers.

Exploration
1 Children were given plates of uncooked rice to illustrate the difficulties counting large
numbers. Each child was invited to count how much rice they had. At first, the children
began diligently trying to count the grains. Before long, the enormity of the task
overwhelmed the majority of them. ‘It’s too big’, announced one boy, looking frustrated.
The class was delighted to realise that it was OK that the task had beaten them.
2 Next, they were given a second type of rice on another plate and left to explore how they
could find out which pile of rice was the largest. Some of the children began pairing the
rice in neat patterns. Some piled it up and tried to work out which pile was the largest. The
enormity of the task again overwhelmed them.
3 Finally, using the same approach as the councillors, the children used pebbles and wooden
bowls in tens and units to find out how many children there were in their class.

Outcomes
 One school had groups of three children outside the hall at assembly time, counting in the
pupils as they went through the door. The children counted as the councillors had done,
using wooden bowls and pebbles. There were 327 pupils in school that day. One of the
groups had a different number, and they were able to identify where they had got confused.

Quote from evaluation

We learned counting and difficult numbers … You can count people when they go by
one by one and put one pebble in the basket. At the end you can see how many there
were by the pebbles, and you might only use a few pebbles to show a big number.
(Year 2 pupil)

Further information
Using the pebbles, through this approach we were able to assess children’s understanding of
place value. We called out numbers that they had to make using their own set of pots and
pebbles, e.g. nineteen was formed by placing one pebble in the tens pot and nine pebbles in
the units pot.
The use of tactile objects such as pebbles and wooden bowls was something the children
really enjoyed, as it tapped, not only into their logical brain, but also into naturalistic
intelligence. Children commented on the differing shapes, sizes and colours of the stones and
enjoyed holding them and handling them.

Reference
Lee, T. (2003) A Little or a Lot, Book 1, Dramatic Mathematics Series. MakeBelieve Arts publication. Available from
www.makebelievearts.co.uk

Developing a story programme for children in the foundation stage to explore numbers was a
challenge that resulted in us spending a long time trying to decipher what was fundamentally
interesting about numbers. We kept coming back to the fact that counting and number are
fundamental parts of what we need to be able to do. In order to begin to create a story using
number, we needed to find the excitement, the thing that would make it interesting to children,
and not just something we as adults said that they should learn. It was only when we turned the
question on its head and began to explore what a world would be like without numbers that we
began to realise the full potential of the subject. The following case study is the result of our
explorations.
MATHS FOCUS KING AND QUEEN OF NUMBER
Counting: counting forwards and backwards while marching around a room
Number recognition: identifying which number is missing in a line of numbers, and
sorting numbers
Emergent writing of numbers: needing to write all the numbers on big pieces of paper to
make sure we never lose the numbers again
Problem solving: thinking up solutions for how the world will cope without numbers
Binary opposites: clarity/confusion, lost/found

Scenario
In the Kingdom of Number, the children are each born as numbers between one and nine. As
soon as they are old enough, they are sent to the palace of the King and Queen and drilled in
lining up in numerical order and then in reverse order.
Once they are experts, they fly out of their kingdom and into the world of the people,
where they stay, helping us with our counting, until one day, a mysterious storm arrives, and
the numbers are blown away. The people in the town don’t know what to do without the
numbers. They try to invent different ways of finding out how many there are of various
objects by using sounds and physical shapes, but none of these methods is as good as the
numbers they have lost.
Eventually, the numbers fly back, and the people fill the walls of the town hall with
written numbers so that, if the numbers blow away again, they will never forget them.

Exploration
1 Children interacted with the story, inventing sounds and physical movements for each of
the numbers. As this is a difficult concept, they have as much fun in getting it wrong as
they do in getting it right.
2 They played at shop, using sounds and actions to ask for the number of pencils or candles
they needed for a friend’s birthday party.
3 They supported each other’s learning by playing at being the numbers whispering answers
to other children.
4 They helped to sort the numbers into groups when the wind brought them back in a
jumble.
5 They wrote numbers down on big sheets of paper to represent the walls of the town hall.

Outcomes
 Children as young as 3 got very excited writing numbers on the town-hall wall so that they
would never be forgotten again. Even though some of the children were not confident in the
shapes of the numbers they were writing, they demonstrated emergent writing, saying the
name of the number they were making in a bid to pin them down in case they got blown
away again.

Quote from evaluation

I was amazed to see how excited the children were about writing numbers at the end of
the session. They enjoyed the story notion that they needed to pin the numbers down in
case they vanished again. I have witnessed boys who shy away from any written
activity impatient to get a place at the lining paper wall in order to have their turn to
make their mark.
(Nursery teacher)

Reference
King and Queen of Number is a programme developed and delivered by MakeBelieve Arts (www.makebelievearts.co.uk).

The King and Queen of Number for older age groups

It would be easy to think of the King and Queen of Number story as one that is suitable only for
a younger age group. However, the idea of the Land of Number can be adapted for all ages and
can be particularly beneficial to children in older year groups who are struggling to engage with
mathematics.
Two groups of fifteen children used this topic, one group from Year 3 and the second from
Year 4. Both groups were made up of children labelled as seriously underachieving. The children
quickly engaged with the Land of Number and maintained this enthusiasm throughout the
programme. In the beginning, many of the younger children had difficulty recognising two-digit
numbers over twenty. Through a range of kinaesthetic, visual and narrative approaches, the
children grew in confidence and began to recognise and use larger two- and three-digit numbers
with ease by the time we’d finished the programme.
 Figure 6.1 Representations of numbers arising from A Little or a Lot

One of the approaches used in the early days was to invite the children to take part in the
King and Queen’s game show, Point and Name. This programme quickly became a favourite.
The King would point to a number, and the contestant had to name it, to rapturous applause
from the audience. Children who weren’t sure of the number could phone a friend, ask the
audience or hear two numbers and guess 50/50 on which was the correct reply. By adding a
simple framework around an activity of reading numbers out loud, the process became playful,
and the children supported each other and grew in confidence.
In another session, children had the opportunity to play on the 100-square patio that stood in
the garden of the King and Queen’s estate. This patio was created using round table mats laid
out in a 10 × 10 grid. Each mat was labelled in sequence, 1–100. On some days, when the
children came to use it, there were numbers missing, and they needed to fill in the gaps. On
other days, they needed to do addition or subtraction to solve problems for the King. Always,
when they got to the last number in the line, they imagined falling off the end of a cliff and
circling around till they got to the next number in the sequence, at the start of the next line
down.
For a session on place value, the 100-square patio was used again, and this time the children
helped to lay out a single glass bead for every single-digit number, and a muslin bag filled with
ten glass beads for every two-digit number. For the number 38, the table mat contained three
muslin bags of ten glass beads and eight loose glass beads. The children grew excited about this
way of representing numbers and began to make the connection between numbers and place
value.
On the day a burglar broke into the palace, the children went on treasure hunts dressed as
undercover detectives to find out where all the numbers had gone. When they found the
numbers, they were asked to categorise them as odd or even. They also helped the King and
Queen to sort out the numbers on the doors of the houses in town, when a trickster muddled
them up. They worked out if a number was closer to the beginning of the street or the end, and
answered questions about whether the number in their hand fitted between two other door
numbers.
On several days, the Queen would read a story from her library, and the class would have the
opportunity to bring to life and play with the ideas in the book. This allowed the children to look
at other areas of mathematics but stay within the holding form of the Land of Number story.
When the Queen read One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab (see figure 12.2 on page 160), the children
became engaged for weeks after, exploring how snail is an odd number and all the other
creatures are even. Using this concept, they made pictures of the creatures to work out number
bonds and engage with addition and subtraction.
By incorporating a programme of maths work around the story of the Land of Number, we
found that the children were able to engage with the characters and the narrative in a way that
freed them from their anxieties about mathematics. The topic was broad enough for us to be able
to hang any aspect of the number curriculum on to it, but also strong enough to develop a clear
storyline that supported children’s understanding of the topic and emotionally engaged them
with its purpose.

EXAMPLES OF STORIES CREATED BY TEACHERS

One Year 1 teacher that we worked with went in early one morning and created a mess in his
classroom to make it look as though it had been burgled. He then took some number cards and
removed all the odd numbers. He then sprinkled the even numbers throughout the classroom,
throwing them on the floor, on the desks and throughout the room.
When he collected his children at the start of the day, he walked into the room and allowed
the pupils to discuss what had happened. They discovered the number cards and tried to work
out what might be going on. Suddenly, one of them discovered a letter hidden on their chair. The
letter was from Even Man, the great superhero and fighter for justice among all numbers. Even
Man had been tracking Odd Man for several days now. Odd Man was trying to remove all the
odd numbers from the world, and the battle had now reached these pupils’ classroom.
Throughout the coming days, pupils had to work with Even Man through a series of clues and
adventures to find the odd numbers and protect them from being whisked away again.
When we met up with the teacher after this work had taken place, he was invigorated by the
responses of his class to this activity. The excitement in this class around odd and even numbers
had engaged all of the children, and everyone understood the differences between the two, even
taking time to hide all the reclaimed odd numbers at the end of each day, and packing them up
to send them on a holiday after their ordeal was over. Apparently, the number 9 had a great time
in the Caribbean!
Other teachers used shoes and a story about making a bed to fit a princess to explore standard
and non-standard measurements, and another group created a person made out of shapes who
wanted to discover the shape of the world.
Some of the stories worked better than others, and the exercise was not easy. However, the
premise of using story to explore mathematics is an instant hit when it comes to engaging
children. As a Year 4 pupil in the evaluation of a term-long story mathematics programme at her
school reported:

It’s a really good way to educate children. I don’t like maths; making maths into a story was
great. I felt as though I wanted to do it … Maths is not popular and no way would I
normally want to do it, but if I wanted to do it as a story then it must make it easier to learn
for all children.

USING STORIES TO TAKE ON ABSTRACT IDEAS

Stories make things memorable, giving coherence to what may seem to be an unrelated set of
ideas. This may be particularly true for abstract ideas, as we do not have automatic mental
images to support memory:

The major processes of memory are the creation, indexing, storage, and retrieval of stories
… We have great difficulty remembering abstract concepts and data. However, we can
easily remember a good story … stories provide tools, context, relevance, and elements
readers need in order to understand, remember and index the beliefs, concepts and
information in the story.
(Haven 2007: 71, citing Schank)

Algebra stories
Another way that story can be used is to create algebraic formulas. Some children from Years 5
and 6 found this an exciting way into thinking about algebra. They were asked to do the
following:

Look at the following equations and see if you can make sense of them:

a 1C + 1FG > 1SM + 2US

b 1P + 5WM = transportation
c 1HP + 1GS + 1C = H ∞ A

If I tell you it is the story of Cinderella, does this help?

a 1 Cinderella and 1 Fairy Godmother are greater than 1 Stepmother and 2 Ugly Sisters
b 1 pumpkin and 5 white mice equals transportation
c 1 Handsome Prince and 1 Golden Slipper plus 1 Cinderella equals Happy infinity After.

The symbol for infinity might be more advanced symbolism than you would plan to explore
with primary children, but, when a group of children were involved in creating their own
algebra equations for known stories, a Year 5 boy asked if there was a symbol to represent
forever. The teacher and children together searched on the Internet and then realised that the
infinity symbol was perfect. It soon appeared in many of the pupils’ story formulas. Both
children and adults alike engage with this way of recording either an aspect or the whole of a
story using symbols. As a fun device, after reading a short story or a chapter from a book, one
class we worked with created algebra equations that contained the main aspects of the plot.

Stories for memorising facts

Another use that story can be put to is for memorising numbers and formulas. Engage pupils in
trying to create stories that will help them to remember the difference between mean, median
and mode for example.
We have worked with several Year 5 and 6 pupils on creating stories to remember number
properties. The first eight prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19) were remembered by one
group through the following story:

There were 2 elephants, who ate 3 buns and went to sleep for 5 hours. 7 dwarves arrived
with 11 monkeys. They pelted the unlucky elephants with 13 bananas for 17 long minutes.
19 minutes later the dwarves and the monkeys were gone and the elephants were eating
bananas.

It might not be the greatest story in the world, but, because of the way our brains are hardwired
to seek out narrative, it works. We can imagine the annoying monkeys pelting the sleeping
elephants with bananas and we fill in the gap between 17 minutes and 19 minutes, where we
assume something sinister has happened to the monkeys.
The story here is used to create a way of making sense of what is otherwise potentially a
meaningless string of numbers. It is much easier to remember the story. Children added
suggestions for ways to help reinforce their memory of the numbers. Thirteen unlucky bananas
was the addition of one girl, who was struggling to remember the number, but who knew the
superstitious myths surrounding 13. Another child commented that how he remembered the 19
was by filling in the gap: he thought it was funny that the monkeys and the dwarves pelted the
bananas for 17 minutes, and then 2 minutes later they were all gone. We had great imaginative
conversations about what happened to them in those 2 minutes. What the children above
demonstrate in this process is how the brain is able to connect with story, and how narrative
images expand in the brain, not only clarifying the gaps, but committing the information to
memory.

CHILDREN’S STORIES
We should not overlook children’s own stories, which are part of the process described in the last
chapter of making it real for children. Below, some work undertaken by children in a Year 2 class
is described by the school’s headteacher, Jeannie Hughes:

This learning came from the children’s interest in football and the adult’s observations of
the children’s play. The teacher followed the children’s lead and used the context of football
to teach a variety of skills in all areas of the curriculum, including a number of
mathematical opportunities.
During the term the children were observed bringing football cards into school and
spending a lot of time swapping cards, comparing scores, calculating points and discussing
team places. The teacher wisely decided to extend this interest and use them as a starting
point for learning in mathematics.
The teacher dedicated a display board in the classroom for the children to bring in photos
and pictures of their favourite football teams, information about players, team places in
different leagues and much more. On a Monday morning the children’s favourite teams’
results from matches at the weekend were calculated and discussed, with the teacher
drawing on the mathematical learning possibilities. This scaffolding of the learning
developed skills in mathematical vocabulary helping the children to see a purpose and
meaning for learning and using mathematical language in context. The children’s skills in
calculating were developed through work on team points and points needed to improve
league positions. Later in the term the children also developed their own teams and own
football leagues, extending the learning further.
The football cards interest was developed and extended and the children made their own
cards, developing complex scoring systems which were discussed and explored with the
adults. There were opportunities to count, share and use probability. The teacher took the
mathematical learning objectives for the half term and personalised the learning for those
children who were particularly interested in this context, which were both boys and girls.
The learning was very motivating and relevant for the children and helped develop our
school’s focus on cross-curricular learning and developing personalised learning
opportunities.
 This interest also influenced the parallel Year 2 class who were exploring an imaginary
character called ‘Bob’ created by the children. Bob took over the whole curriculum. This
class created the West Bobbers football team, and the teacher abandoned the learning
journey planned and developed the mathematical learning around this interest. Part of this
included a ‘Bob’s bowling alley’ invented by the children which the teacher used as a
starting point for practical experiences of counting, scoring and calculation.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS FOR TEACHING (AND LEARNING)

MATHEMATICS
In Chapter 8, we outline a teacher’s story entitled Farming for Fractions. A children’s book on a
similar theme, but which raises some alternative and challenging ideas, is Anno’s Magic Seeds
(Anno 1999). A book that, like the teacher’s story, explores fractions, is described by Whitin and
Wilde (1995: xii). Sadly, the book itself, Tom Fox and the Apple Pie, is out of print, but a child’s
comment on the power of the book, with its binary theme of fairness and unfairness, is
interesting:

I wish my teachers had read math books to me. That’s the first time I’ve ever really
understood why the smaller bottom number is worth more (why ½ of a pie is larger than ⅛
of a pie, even though 8 is greater than 2 in whole numbers). Are there any more books that
teach that math? I learn better that way.

In Chapter 7, we will explore the topic of giants, about which any number of gripping stories
have been written – encompassing, as giants do, binary opposites of huge and tiny, powerful and
powerless. Two Ways to Count to Ten (Dee 1990) is a traditional Liberian story that, like many
traditional stories, has its own power. Six Dinner Sid (Moore 2000) is a story that appeals to
young children, but has endless mathematical potential. A good rule of thumb is probably that, if
it doesn’t grip you, it won’t engage children.

Books about mathematics

In contrast to stories that happen to address mathematics as part of our world, there is a plethora
of books that set out to teach about mathematics. Here, we have selected a few that are
interesting for a variety of reasons. There are many more that we have rejected for inclusion –
sometimes because they are poor stories, sometimes because we don’t happen to like them, and
sometimes because, in our experience, children haven’t liked them very much. As we said in the
introduction to this book, this is not a recipe – it is an invitation to take some risks, explore, push
the boundaries and teach more creatively.
Here, then, are a few of our suggestions:

The Number Devil (Enzensberger 2008) is what children often call a chapter book. The hero is
 12, so that suggests that it is aimed at older children, but some children still at primary school
will be entranced by this ‘mathematical adventure’.
Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar (Anno and Anno 1999) has charming pictures and difficult
ideas, but is highly stimulating. The book involves one island, two countries, six mountains,
twenty-four walled kingdoms, 120 villages, 720 houses and so on.
The Real Princess – A mathemagical tale (Williams and Fatus 2008) gives a great mathematical
twist to the story of the princess and the pea. Lovely illustrations and humour make it almost
fit into the previous category of books – those with a story in their own right.
One Hundred Hungry Ants (Pinczes 1993) is a short story that explores the different ways in
which 100 ants can line up as they march towards a picnic. By the time they get there, all the
food has gone!
Spinderella (Donaldson and Pichon 2002) is about football-playing spiders. Although published
as part of the Banana reading scheme, the highly acclaimed author Julia Donaldson has
injected interest and humour into the story. It includes a maths game and some mathematical
facts and ends with the cheer ‘up with numbers!’.

Figure 6.2 Counting grains of rice encourages children to understand the value of a system of
counting that makes use of tens and units (unlike the Romans’ system)

CONCLUSION
Narrative is of immense value in human learning and understanding. In all aspects of life, we use
story to help us make sense of our world. Just as researchers, politicians and artists weave stories
to make what they want to communicate coherent and comprehensible, so creative teachers can
use them. Story can help children to make sense of the world of mathematics. The stories may be
drawn from books or from the oral tradition. Teachers may make up their own stories, whereas
building on children’s stories can give insight into their understanding.
 Many books for children have mathematical potential. However, care must be taken when
selecting storybooks (such as those identified on page 83) that are specifically written as books
about mathematics. A strong and compelling storyline remains important.

FURTHER READING
Brandon, K., Hall, N. and Taylor, D. (1993) Math Through Children’s Literature. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Haven, K. (2007) Story Proof: The science behind the startling power of story. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Schiro, M. (2004) Oral Story-telling and Teaching Mathematics. London: SAGE.
Whitin, D. and Wilde, S. (1995) It’s the Story that Counts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Anno, M. (1999) Anno’s Magic Seeds. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers.
Anno, M. and Anno, M. (1999) Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar. New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers.
Dee, R. (1990) Two Ways to Count to Ten. New York: Henry Holt.
Donaldson, J. and Pichon, L. (2002) Spinderella. London: Egmont.
Enzensberger, H. (2008) The Number Devil. London: Granta.
Moore, I. (2000) Six Dinner Sid. London: Hodder Children’s Books.
Pinczes, J. (1993) One Hundred Hungry Ants. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
Williams, B. and Fatus, S. (2008) The Real Princess. Bath, UK: Barefoot Books.
 CHAPTER 7

TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

Giant maths

The world of giants and their interaction with humans is an incredibly strong premise on which
to base, not just one, but a series of maths lessons. The topic is so rich that it could be the subject
of a whole-term enquiry, bringing with it, not only mathematics, but also a range of cross-
curricular approaches, stimulating learning by involving children in a project with enormous
possibilities. Children are fascinated by giants – but so are adults. Myths, legends and folk tales
are littered with extremes – giants and little people (see, for example, Allan 2009). These stories
rest on binary opposites of huge and tiny, power and powerlessness, or perhaps guile and force.
If you spend any time crouched down or walking around on your knees, at the same height as
most of your pupils, you may get an understanding as to why. Everything that children look up
at is gigantic compared with them. Adults and buildings tower above them. The idea of giants,
taller than all they can see, is fascinating and immediately engaging.
Begin to create in a child’s mind something as simple as a visual image of a giant’s hand and
immediately you enter into the world of mathematic possibilities. How much wider is the hand
compared with one of our hands? How long are the giant’s fingers?
Source material for this work can be found in numerous children’s stories. The simple story
contained in the book The Giant Jam Sandwich (Vernon Lloyd 1988) has the potential to act as a
springboard into a world of exploration around many aspects of mathematics. The illustrations
and rhyming text tell the story of a village plagued with wasps. To solve the problem of the
wasps, the townspeople decide to trap the creatures in a giant jam sandwich, working together in
a strange and imaginative way. The book can engage a class in a range of cross-curricular
activities, including cooking and exploration of quantities, size and scale, giving clear
mathematical directions on how to make a sandwich, or the possibilities of a science lesson on
exploring the anatomy of a wasp. Just how much dough would be needed to bake a loaf of the
size used by the villagers? How much would the ingredients cost?
Another great giant book that we have based a large proportion of our work on is the story of
Gulliver’s Travels, particularly focusing on Gulliver’s adventures in Lilliput. This story is rich
with mathematical possibilities. In the original version, Gulliver himself comments about the
mathematical abilities of the Lilliputians, their capacity to build machines and use pulleys and
ropes to haul him up off the beach, and their creative ability to solve problems using
mathematical concepts:

The emperor himself gave orders to have a bed prepared for me. Six hundred beds were
brought in carriages. One hundred and fifty of their beds sewn together made up the
breadth and length and these were four doubled …
An imperial commission was issued out, obliging all the villages nine hundred yards
round the city to deliver in every morning six beeves, forty sheep, and other victuals
towards my subsistence, together with a proportional quantity of bread and wine … An
establishement was also made of six hundred persons to be my domestics, who had board-
wages allowed for their maintenance, and tents built for them very conveniently on each
side of my door. It was likewise ordered that three hundred tailors should make me a suit of
clothes after the fashion of the country.
(Swift 1993: 21–3)

Suddenly, from a reading of the above, the mathematical possibilities that surround caring for a
giant, with all its intricacies, open up a whole range of work for the adventurous and creative
teacher. How much taller than us is the giant? How much food do we need to feed him or her? If
our giant got stuck down a well, how much rope would we need to pull him out?
The last question might sound slightly surreal, but, in one mathematics programme, children
were asked to imagine that the army had locked a giant down in a well to prevent him from
leaving them. The townspeople, realising this was unfair, decided to set him free. They
discovered that, when the giant jumped, his hand was just 1 metre away from the top of the
well, but how high could he jump? There was only one way to find out. The children jumped
against a wall covered in lining paper, and a mark was made to show how high their hand could
reach while they were jumping, and another to show how tall they were when their hand was
stretched up in the air.
When all the class had jumped and been marked on the wall, they created a graph of
measurements showing the range for the class of how high a jump could be. An average was
taken, and this was used to estimate how high a giant, who was six times as big as them, could
probably jump. Add this to the metre remaining at the top of the well, and they had a close
approximation of how deep the well was. Next, in threes, they plaited a rope long enough and
strong enough to free the giant. Weaving and plaiting in threes involved following a simple
pattern of ducking and stepping over each other’s pieces of string, working out the best way to
move together to strengthen the rope.
The amount of mathematical knowledge needed to solve this problem was greater than the
assumed ability of this Year 4 age group, but the interest and motivation, the fact that they found
out which child could jump the highest and what the average jump was for the majority of the
class made the learning enjoyable and relevant. The need to solve the problem in order to right
the injustice that had been wielded on the poor forsaken giant spurred the class on to finding
solutions. Their engagement was evident throughout the session.
With older pupils, we have engaged them in making three-dimensional props for a film about
giants, organising themselves into a film company and creating short scripts that involve the use
of at least one giant object discovered by a group of humans. Pupils were then tasked with
making this prop, exploring scale and size and linking the work with design and technology to
build an exact replica of the smaller human version. Once these were completed, pupils had the
chance to act out their stories. Using the MoE drama technique (see the box above), the pupils
were put in role as expert archaeologists and mathematicians and set the task of discovering the
mathematical properties of the objects that had been made by other groups.

MANTLE OF THE EXPERT

The Mantle of the Expert (MoE) is a drama technique that was developed and refined by
Dorothy Heathcote. It is based on the belief that children learn best if they have a
relationship to the subject matter being covered that is more akin to that of an expert than a
pupil. Heathcote believes that engagement in classroom drama is an essential part of
children’s learning and is vital if we are to enhance pupils’ ability to connect with the
curriculum.
In her book Drama for Learning (1996), which she co-wrote with Gavin Bolton, Heathcote
analyses her work with a variety of age groups and discusses how the MoE approach
empowers children through purposeful activities. The benefits of MoE are that it gives pupils
the opportunity to work together to find solutions to problems, discussing how they will
proceed, what is the best thing to do next and generally creating their own pathway through
the learning.
As experts, children take on the role of someone who has a degree of knowledge and
understanding in an area, but who needs to work on the problem with their peers to develop,
through practice, the additional skills they require to solve this particular problem. Heathcote
developed this methodology through a realisation that this is how adults learn in their lives:
through gaining knowledge in real situations through day-today experiences and the
demands that responding to these needs puts upon them.
Heathcote and Bolton believed that the:

Mantle of the Expert provides a centre for all knowledge: it is always experienced by the
students in terms of the responsible human being … an active, urgent, purposeful view of
learning, in which knowledge is to be operated on, not merely taken in.
(1996: 32)

During MoE, pupils take on many roles; for example, they might, as in this giant example,
be an archaeologist or a mathematician. The relationship of the pupils to the very real jobs
that they take on engages them in finding solutions from their own skill base. The cross-
curricular potential and the ability of this work to touch on very real mathematical ideas are
great. For more examples of lesson plans for MoE work, visit www.mantleoftheexpert.com

CROSS-PHASE GIANT PROGRAMMES

The topic of giants does not have to be restricted to any one age range. We have worked with
this theme with pupils from nursery through to pupils in Year 7. The case study below identifies
learning opportunities developed in a primary school.

MATHS FOCUS A GIANT’S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Size
Shape
Proportion
Scale
Pattern
Circumference
Planning/handling data

Scenario
Long ago, the townspeople of Deptford adopted a giant from the Ministry of Giants. His
name was Bigfoot and he helped around the town, cleaning the windows in the tall
buildings, fetching footballs that had got trapped on the school roof and rescuing kittens that
had climbed up trees. The townspeople loved having Bigfoot living with them.
Then, one day, Bigfoot disappeared. Everyone searched for him, and eventually he was
found, hiding in his cave, having pulled an enormous rock across the entrance. The
townspeople tried to reach him, but he would not let them in. They tried to persuade him to
leave the cave, but he would not come out. So they wrote to the Ministry of Giants to find
out what they could do.
An enormous letter arrived telling them they had been neglecting their giant. Did they
know it was Bigfoot’s 100th birthday? Had they ever given him his own plate and knife and
fork to eat with? Did they ever let him have giant friends to visit from the neighbouring
towns?
The townspeople felt very guilty and realised they had done nothing to thank Bigfoot for
all his work. They decided to throw a Giant Birthday Party for him.

Exploration
1 This programme of work took place over a school day in a two-form entry school and
involved all the children from Nursery to Year 4.
2 The children were invited to put themselves in role as townspeople and imagine that they
had adopted the giant Bigfoot and they now needed to prepare for a giant party.
3 Nursery and Reception were tasked with making giant food, papier-mâché sausages,
pingpong ball peas and extra-long string spaghetti – mathematics involved size, shape,
 proportion.
4 Year 1 was invited to make giant party hats for the five giants – mathematics involved
scale, size.
5 Year 2 was responsible for designing the tablecloth – mathematics involved pattern and
scaling up.
6 Year 3 created the plates and cutlery for the giants – mathematics involved circumference,
scale.
7 Year 4 was responsible for running the event, timetabling when everyone would place
their contribution in the hall, and for making a giant birthday cake – mathematics
involved timetables, using maths in planning and organisation, scale and size.
8 Towards the end of the day, pupils took turns to bring their class’s contributions to the hall
and lay them out. Once everything was set for a giant celebration, each class visited the
hall to explore the story, by viewing the finished product and enjoying the work of their
peers.

Outcomes
Pupils across all age groups readily engaged with the programme and talked about the
giant’s party for many weeks afterwards. MakeBelieve Arts still bumps into pupils two
years later who remind us that they were involved in the project.
Discussions could be heard in each classroom about how tall the giant Bigfoot must be,
making comparisons with other tall objects, using a giant shoe and golden mean to
estimate his height and using the language of maths to enable them to fulfil their role in
the story.
Many pupils, particularly from Years 3 and 4, asked if the giant was really coming, despite
the fact that we had made it very clear at the beginning of each project that this was a
story.
Teachers were impressed with how engaged their pupils were in the activity and how the
maths that they were involved in suddenly had a purpose.
The teachers from one school spent time after the children had left making the hall look as
if five giants hadn’t cleared up after a party. The children were very excited about this
when they came in the next day.

Further information
When using story in this way, we are not trying to make the children believe the story is
true. We are asking them to engage with the play of the story. When we work with children,
we are very clearly inviting them to pretend that they are the townspeople and this is their
giant.
 Reference
A Giant’s Birthday Party is a programme developed and delivered by MakeBelieve Arts
(www.makebelievearts.co.uk).

Is it real?
When children ask if a situation or scenario is real, we often ask them what they think. If they
are not sure, we explore the idea of story. If we try to convince children it is real, then our focus
shifts from the play potential of a good story to a debate about what is real. This does not mean
we cannot fully throw ourselves into the play, like the teacher who created the morning after the
giants’ party. If you watch children at play, their play is very real, but it is real within the safe
world of pretend. In the case study above, we have described the questioning by children from
Years 3 and 4. One child in particular, from Year 4, quickly approached a member of the team
and said scornfully, ‘Giants are not real you know!’. At the end of the day, doubt had crept in,
and the very same boy approached to ask if giants were really coming!
One teacher, who had not realised the importance of pretend and that children buy into a
story within safe parameters, made the mistake of exploring the folk tale Chicken Licken, which
tells the tale of the sky falling down. She set up a drama activity where half the class reported to
the other children that the sky was falling down, but she forgot to let them know beforehand
that they were playing the story. With children in tears and frightened to go outside, she quickly
realised her error.
 Figure 7.1 The children received a letter from the giant

Figure 7.2 The giant’s shoe is used to encourage children to guesstimate the size of the giant

From an early age, children learn to both give and read play signals – facial expressions that
are shared and that signify a play situation (see, for example, Carson et al. 1993; Smolucha and
Smolucha 1998). Perhaps difficulties arise when children are unused to seeing particular adults,
such as those in school, in a playful or imaginary role. This may occur when schools begin to
introduce playful or dramatic scenarios. Children are skilled at reading play signals, both among
peers and in their play with adults. If these are being misread or missed, adults probably need to
examine their own behaviour and approach.

RELATIVE SIZE
In exploring the relative size of a giant, children began to explore the relationships between
different parts of the body. Children (and adults) can become fascinated by the relationships that
emerge:

One’s arm span is equivalent to one’s height. Children can test this out among themselves by
stretching out their arms and getting two people to stand at their fingertips, thus marking the
distance of the full span. If the first child then lies down in the space between the two others,
they will discover that they fit well into the space marked out in this way.
A piece of string can be used to measure the breadth of the shoulders. This will prove to be
roughly a quarter of the child’s height. As one child said: ‘The string on the shoulders … I
 thought it was amazing. I never knew my shoulder was a quarter of my body, I kept the piece
of string – it’s on my bedroom wall and I showed all my friends.’
Roughly six times the length of a person’s foot makes up the length of their body.
An adult’s hand is the size of their face (although we discovered that this is not true for young
children, whose heads are proportionally larger than those of adults).
The size of a foot is equivalent to the distance between wrist and elbow – a fact that staggers
many adults, who cannot believe that their feet are that big.

There are countless other examples of how parts of our body divide equally into other parts, and,
when they work, they feel like a piece of magic being revealed to us. There is also a fascination
in all age groups that these rules remain generally true, whatever your size.

The golden mean or ratio

The famous image created by Leonardo da Vinci of Vitruvian Man (see, for example, O’Malley
2007) highlights many of these relationships. (If you are unfamiliar with this image or want to
know more about it, see http://ed.ted.com/lessons/da-vinci-s-vitruvian-man-of-math-james-earle
or www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/gallery/vitruvian.shtml) There is believed to be a link
between da Vinci’s work and that of Fibonacci. The Number Devil (Enzensberger 2008) includes
an explanation. The Rabbit Problem (Gravett 2009) is based on Fibonacci’s theory.
Another interesting relationship to the golden mean, also drawn from Ancient Greek thinking,
is the claim that the human body is based around the number 5. It is widely suggested that five
has particular importance because:

we have five appendages to our torso: arms, legs, head;

each of these contains five appendages: fingers, toes, openings on the face (if you don’t count
the ears);
we have five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell; however, this alleged ‘fact’ is said to have
emanated from Aristotle (or possibly Plato, who taught Aristotle but wrote nothing down);
since that time, a range of additional senses such as echolocation and proprioception have
been identified.

Using the golden mean with giants

Using the properties they have discovered from their explorations allows children to begin to
work out how tall a giant is just from having access to his footprint, or a hand print, or a piece of
string showing the length of his shoulders. Add an in-role character to this scenario of an
anxious tailor who has been given the task of measuring the giant for a suit. She manages to take
a measurement of the shoulders, but then the giant begins to get fidgety, and she gets scared, and
now she has to make a suit for the giant by nightfall and all she has is the one measurement.
Immediately, we can have an exploration of fractions, scale and measurements, using what we
know about our own bodies to discover and mark out the proportions of the giant.

CONJECTURAL THINKING
In Chapter 1, we talked about how children need to be ‘seekers and solvers of problems’
(Claxton, cited in Alexander 2010), and how mathematics does not always need to have one clear
right or wrong answer. As giants are probably not real, they provide excellent material for
‘thinking outside the box’! When trying to find out the height of a giant, a class of children from
Years 5 and 6 were placed into groups. Each group was given a metre-long giant toothbrush and
a normal-size toothbrush. The children were asked to find as many ways as they could to
discover the height of the giant and to mark out a masking-tape line from one end of the hall for
each way they discovered. The children used a variety of approaches:

measuring the normal-size toothbrush with their hand and discovering it was roughly the same
size, so then measuring how many times their hand went into the giant toothbrush and
working out that the giant was six times bigger than them;
measuring the brush section of the normal toothbrush, finding out how many times the
normal-size brush went into the giant-size brush, which was roughly eight times, and
working out that the giant must be eight times bigger than one of them.

These two different answers are both logical and both involve reasoning, and yet one giant
taped out on the floor was much taller than the other. The children got very excited when they
realised that neither answer was wrong or right, and that both were good approaches to take, but
they struggled with the very obvious difference between the two lines. This opens up discussions
about the facts we are given and how much is based on assumption. Two normal-size
toothbrushes can vary immensely in shape and size, and yet we assumed that the giant
toothbrush and the normal-size (child’s) toothbrush that we used were comparable. By
challenging the assumption that mathematics must involve right or wrong answers, we make it a
more creative and interesting subject.

Changing scale – changing perspective

The potential of giant mathematics is truly gigantic. Within stories, giants can do anything at all.
As we have seen, there are endless possibilities. However, it is also interesting to imagine that we
are the giants and to consider the scale of those who believe us to be giants. Suddenly, rather
than working with objects six times larger than themselves, pupils can begin to think about
objects six times smaller, or about the size of a shoe. If the giant is a child giant, then the children
can use their own feet as the example of scale. The questions that now begin to open up are, if
the people are as tall as our feet, how big are the plates or the cups that they use, and what
would it be like for us to have to eat or drink from these?
ACTIVITIES AND LEARNING
The topic of giants is one of many subjects that actively engage children. Is this because they
embody the binary opposites that Egan (1988) tells us are necessary for a good story? Is it
because, being not real, they allow for conjecture and narrative? Or are they, in children’s terms,
so real that they have irresistible interest? Whatever the reason, in the course of exploration of
this topic with children, real tasks have led to engrossed interest and heightened learning.
Excitement is essential to learning – it makes things memorable and changes the chemistry of
the brain, to make learning more effective (Eliot 1999).
Children readily remember making giant plates and food. They remember having to write in
giant letters and make a giant envelope, so that the letter would be large enough for a giant to
read. They remember receiving a letter so tiny that they had difficulty reading it. When they
were exploring the role of the Lilliputians (Swift 1993), actually collecting enough litres of water
for a day’s supply for a giant proved a challenging and memorable task. Giants are not the only
things that excite and motivate children. Creative teaching demands that we go on finding the
other interests and enthusiasms that can stimulate learning in the same way.

CONCLUSION
In this chapter, a variety of references have been made to stories and mathematical approaches
that the topic of giants offers to the creative teacher. Big and little are the first comparisons made
by young children (followed by male and female) and continue to be of interest throughout
childhood. Thus, as seen in this chapter, giants make a perfect focus for cross-phase, cross-
curricular and mixed-ability work, bringing into play a combination of knowledge and
experience, such as considering the ratios on which comparative size rests. Moreover, both
pattern and problem solving, key elements of mathematics, feature strongly in the work
described here.

FURTHER READING
Allan, T. (2009) Myths of the World. London: Duncan Baird.
Heathcote, D. and Bolton, G. (1996) Drama for Learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert approach to education.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
O’Malley, C. (2007) Leonardo da Vinci on the Human Body. London: Crown.
Wyse, D. and Dowson, P. (2009) The Really Useful Creativity Book. London: Routledge (see Chapter 6 on the Mantle of the
Expert).

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Briggs, R. (1973) Jim and the Beanstalk. London: Picture Puffins.
There is plenty of potential for mathematical activities – measuring for glasses, false teeth and a wig. There are links with
communication issues – tiny books for which he needs glasses, the large note from the giant.
Dahl, R. and Blake, Q. (2001) The BFG. Harmondsworth: Puffin.
Perennial favourite, with a focus on the feelings evoked by giants.
Donaldson, J. and Scheffler, A. (2002) The Smartest Giant in Town. London: Macmillan.
Again, there is plenty of potential for estimation, conjecture and measurement. How big would the sock need to be to
make a sleeping bag for a fox, for example? How long would a tie need to be in order to serve as a scarf for a giraffe?
Dunbar, J. and Dunbar, P. (2005) Shoe Baby. London: Walker.
This is about a giant baby who uses his giant father’s shoe as a boat, a car and a plane. It has good potential for talking
about sizes and links well with drama stories based around the giant shoe.
Farley, J. (1997) Giant Hiccups. London: Tamarind.
A giantess lives peaceably until she gets hiccups, which sound ‘like a hundred dinosaurs falling out of bed’. What might
that sound like? Finally, the children decide that she must be hungry and make her a vegetable stew. How many
vegetables would they need? How big would the pot be?
Herrmann, F. and Him, G. (1986) All about the Giant Alexander. London: Piccolo.
An old text that is wordier than the average picture book and therefore probably better for Key Stage 2 than Key Stage 1.
It has good pictures that highlight aspects of size.
Hughes, T. (1994) The Iron Woman. London: Faber Children’s Books.
Hughes, T. (2005) The Iron Man. London: Faber Children’s Books.
Ross, T. (2008) I’m Coming to Get You. Lonson: Picture Puffins.
The story focuses on the little boy’s fear of a monster. Only in the final illustration does the reader find out that the
monster is tiny. It offers excellent opportunities to discuss comparative sizes.
Swift, J. (1993) Gulliver’s Travels. Bath: Parragon Book Service.
Swift, J. (1994) Gulliver’s Travels. London: Penguin Popular Classics.
Vernon Lloyd, J. (1988) The Giant Jam Sandwich. London: Piper Picture Books.
Walker, R. and Sharkey, N. (1999) Jack and the Beanstalk. Bath: Barefoot Books.
Wilde, O. (1982) The Selfish Giant. London: Picture Puffin.
 CHAPTER 8

CROSS-CURRICULAR TEACHING
Mathematics at the heart of the curriculum?

An approach to primary education that involves cross-curricular study has been regarded by
some people as a matter of fashion. The introduction of the National Curriculum led many
schools to focus on single-subject teaching, but, as both the Rose Review (Rose 2009) and the
Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander 2010) affirm, curriculum areas or subjects need not shape
the way in which teaching is organised. Both reviews maintain mathematics as an identified
subject area or domain, but highlight the importance of cross-curricular studies. As Rose (2009:
25) suggests:

There are times when it is right to marshal content from different subjects into well-
planned, cross-curricular studies. This is not only because it helps children to better
understand ideas about such important matters as citizenship, sustainable development,
financial capability and health and wellbeing, but also because it provides opportunities
across the curriculum for them to use and apply what they have learned from the discrete
teaching of subjects.

Rose adds that: ‘This approach respects the integrity of subjects but lessens the rigidity of their
boundaries. Among other things it encourages children and teachers to think creatively “outside
subject boxes”’ (Rose 2009: 28).
We would go further. Children learn mathematical (and other) skills best at the time when
they need to use them in meaningful, relevant and real contexts. Mathematics teaching and
learning being based on cross-curricular activity creates opportunities to set mathematical ideas
and concepts in an environment where they have real purpose, relevance and meaning. If
mathematics is placed in the context of other areas of learning, children’s understanding is
enriched, challenged and affirmed. Just as talking about mathematics is more challenging than
just hearing about it (see Chapter 4), so applying mathematics in a variety of contexts ensures
that understanding is heightened and knowledge is made more secure.
In order to leave Mathsland behind (see Chapter 3), teachers must address what Rose terms
those ‘important matters’ and allow mathematics education to become part of the real world.
This can best be done by exploring with children what the applications of mathematics are in
their everyday lives. If mathematics is to become a more creative subject, it must break through
those ‘subject boxes’. All too often, teachers are happy to integrate the teaching of history and
art, for example, but lack the confidence to break free from what Boaler (2009) terms the ladder
of rules, which rule mathematics. Of course, there must be room for both discrete and integrated
teaching, but, at the moment, the pedagogy for mathematics is somewhat skewed in favour of
the former.
In this chapter, we will consider, broadly in line with the recommendations of the Rose Review
(2009), five areas of the curriculum (omitting, for obvious reasons, mathematics). This will
include consideration of the role of ICT in supporting children’s mathematical understanding
across the curriculum. We think there is much merit in Alexander’s (2010) suggestion that ICT
should be seen as part of communication. However, in this chapter, it is largely considered, in
line with Rose (2009), as part of scientific and technological understanding. Although neither
document has informed the latest National Curriculum in England, the approach they suggest
continues to have merit for approaching mathematics creatively.

UNDERSTANDING COMMUNICATION
The Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander 2010) refers to this domain as ‘language, oracy and
literacy’ and suggests, as indicated above, that ICT should, in the main, be linked to
communication. Under what Rose (2009: 76) terms ‘essentials for learning and life’, he lists four
areas of mathematical understanding. Of these, three are directly about communication:

1 Represent and model situations in mathematics, using a range of tools and applying logic and
reasoning in order to predict, plan and try out options.
2 Interpret and interrogate mathematical data in graphs, spreadsheets and diagrams, in order to
draw inferences, recognise patterns and trends, and assess likelihood and risk.
3 Use mathematics to justify and support decisions and proposals, communicating accurately
with mathematical language and conventions, symbols and diagrams.

Ideas such as representing, interpreting and interrogating, justifying and communicating are
clearly important elements in this domain, and ICT has an important role to play in this respect.
The role of oracy, including drama, in supporting and developing mathematical understanding is
a key strand of this book. Language was explored specifically in Chapter 4, and the role of story
and dramatic play was considered in Chapter 6.
It has become popular to think of literacy in much broader terms than merely being able to
read and write (Kress 2003; Bearne and Wolstencraft 2007; Marsh and Hallet 2008). Kress (2003: 1)
suggests that current changes in the literacy needed by today’s children will have ‘political,
economic, social, cultural, conceptual/cognitive and epistemological consequences’. He is not
alone in this view. Bearne and Wolstencraft (2007: 2) argue that conventional approaches to
literacy are not sufficient for the needs of tomorrow’s citizens:

Texts that children are familiar with – including computer games and hypertext – often
follow a different structure from sequential narrative, instruction and explanation.
 Presentational software and websites extend possibilities for hypertextual composition, and
digital technology, with its facility for importing pictures and manipulating text, means that
presentation of writing can be more varied, involving design features that paper-based
writing does not allow.

Talk of visual literacy or computer literacy is commonplace. Emotional literacy has become a
household term, and, in Chapter 1, we cited the OECD’s use of the term ‘mathematical literacy’.
This argues for an approach to mathematics that goes way beyond structured, desk- (or carpet-)
bound activities. It requires a full understanding of and engagement in mathematics, and this
will undoubtedly require integration into other subject areas or domains.

Data handling as communication

Clements (2004: 56) highlights data handling as a means of communication – finding ways to
communicate what the data mean. He writes that, ‘Data analysis contains one big idea:
classifying, organising, representing and using information to ask and answer questions.’ He
continues by suggesting that:

After gathering data to answer questions, children’s initial representations often do not use
categories. Their interest in data is in the particulars … For example, they might simply list
each child in their class and each child’s response to a question. They then learn to classify
these responses and represent data according to category.

By these means, they develop ways of getting data to ‘speak’ to them. A simple example of this
might be a survey about children’s means of getting to school. In the early stages, children will
simply list names and write or draw beside them ‘bus’, ‘car’, ‘walking’ etc. Over time, they learn
to cluster the names under a picture of a bus, for example. Gradually, the children can be
represented by a block or plastic cube – the representation gradually being made more abstract,
using picture graphs or bar graphs. This process involves written, spoken, graphic and digital
representation, which in turn communicates in a range of ways. There are also many new and
exciting approaches to the presentation of statistical and mathematical data that may inspire
children (see, for example, McCandless 2012, 2014).

The role of drama

Kress (2003) compares a print-bound world with the world of today, in which, he believes,
images hold sway. He terms these ‘world-told’ and ‘world-shown’ perspectives. However, drama
(which is inextricably linked to narrative) has a particular role to play. Rose (2009: 27) identifies
drama as ‘a powerful arts subject which also enhances children’s language development … [and]
enrich[es], say, historical and religious studies as well as personal development by exploring
concepts such as empathy’.
 Although this is undoubtedly true, such a view limits unnecessarily the impact that drama can
and does have. It fails to take account of the powerful role that drama has in bringing together
the ‘world-told’ and ‘world-shown’. Acting out a story both tells and shows, but it does more
than that. It gives insight into what might be, by drawing on imagination. In so doing, it
promotes the conjectural thinking essential to creativity and problem solving, including
mathematical problem solving. Listening to a story, with or without images or props, requires
imagination – as does drama. The actor has to imagine that he or she is someone else,
somewhere else, in another time, in different circumstances. The audience must imagine that a
white umbrella is a swan, that someone wearing roller skates is a train, or that a crate with a
cloth thrown over it is a house, a cave or a palace.
As we saw in Chapter 1, imagination is part of the mathematical process. It is the bedrock of
the abstract thought that is essential to mathematical understanding. It is also where creativity
enters the world of literacy (and literature) and, with cross-curricular studies, can also inform
and enter the world of mathematics. In the case study that follows, the teacher of a Year 4 class
that had had difficulty tuning into fractions created a story, which they acted out.

MATHS FOCUS FARMING FOR FRACTIONS

Problem solving
Fractions
Division

Scenario
A wise old farmer decides he is going to take a long holiday and gives responsibility for
managing the farm (consisting of one fruit field and one vegetable field) to his two sons. The
brothers decided to take a field each and to grow two crops in each field.
A seed seller arrives and tells the brothers that, if they buy seeds from her, they will grow
twice as many crops. A week later, she returns with new seeds that will help the brothers
grow twice as many crops again. The brothers are now growing eight different crops each.
Getting fed up with his field, the older brother asks his sibling if he can have a quarter of the
fruit crops, in return for one-eighth of his vegetables. The younger brother agrees, and they
rebuild the fences between the farm.
The younger brother is happy until he realises that he has fewer crops. They agree to swap
again: half of the younger brother’s field for two-eighths in return. As soon as the fields are
divided, they begin arguing again. When their father returns, he is angry that his sons have
not been able to manage the farm without arguing. As a final test, he gives the brothers
twenty-four animals to divide fairly: twelve cows, six pigs, three horses and three sheep. But
what is the best way to do it?
Exploration
1 The children are invited to act the story out, marking the fields and the dividing fences
with masking tape, string or playground chalk (if working outdoors).
2 As the fences between the fields change, marker pens, coloured string or coloured chalk
are introduced to differentiate the new boundaries.

Outcomes
Bringing fractions to life on a large scale can really help to engage children in exploring
mathematical ideas. No longer does maths need to be an activity where children sit at
their desks dividing circles with pencil lines.
Although working with smaller numbers sometimes helps children to understand or solve
number problems in particular (see Chapter 3), many problems can best be understood by
working on this larger scale. This gives children more scope for physical action and
alternative ‘ways of knowing’.

Quote from evaluations

I was so inspired by the INSET and the idea of teaching maths through story-telling that
I was determined to create a story to help my Year 4 class who were struggling with
fractions. Once I got the idea it didn’t take me that long to work into a lesson plan, but I
have never had so much fun in a maths lesson. The children really enjoyed it too and
they really got it. This is a powerful approach that I will definitely use in the future. I
just need to think of a story to explain multiplication next.
(Year 4 teacher who created Farming for Fractions)

Further information
We have found that, by bringing fractions to life in this way, we are able to engage children
in more complicated mathematics than the curriculum would dictate for their age group.
Year 2 pupils working on a similar division exercise were engaged in dividing up an island
equally between everyone who staked a claim in it. These young children were able to
consider how they might have one-thirty-second of the island. All of this took place on a
large piece of lino shaped like an island and involved lots of discussion on how to divide
equally.
 Figure 8.1 Children attempt to divide fields accurately and fairly as part of their work on
Farming for Fractions

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING

In general, it is clear that science and design and technology are the application of mathematics.
The data that are collected from a scientific investigation often involve numbers. Their analysis
may require pattern identification, and the results will need to be presented in a way that is
meaningful to an audience. Making something often involves accurate measurement, as well as
problem-identification and problem-solving strategies. The draft programme of learning (Rose
2009: 175) for scientific and technological understanding states that this area of learning:

provides purposeful contexts for children to develop and apply mathematical skills, in
particular number, measurement, graphing, data handling, interpolation and extrapolation
and costing their own products. Children can develop their ICT skills by using ICT for
capturing, organising and analysing data and presenting results; and for sequencing
instructions to control events and products.

The exciting thing about the cross-curricular studies that are proposed here is that the
integrity of the mathematics and the other subjects involved is maintained. In order to do real
science, you have to use real mathematics. In order to design and make something real and
worthwhile, functional and aesthetic, you have to use real mathematics. Construction will be
explored further in Chapter 10, but it is an important aspect of cross-curricular activity, with a
great deal to contribute to mathematical understanding.
A Sussex school undertook a food technology exercise. Children sought out recipes and
cooked and sold cakes and biscuits. This involved:

sourcing recipes that would not be too expensive;

increasing recipes to make sufficient for sale;
shopping for ingredients;
counting, calculating, weighing and measuring to make the items;
estimating a price that would be acceptable to the buyers but would still provide some profit.

Over time and through discussion and investigation, they modified their approach. They decided
to sell some fruit and vegetables, as a healthy option, and they undertook surveys to determine
what kinds of cake and biscuit were most popular. Most of this work relied on mathematical
understanding, but, when they were carrying it out, mathematical understanding was enhanced
because there was a context. The work was real, with tangible outcomes and benefits.
Similarly, work in Years 5 and 6 on scientific enquiry requires mathematical understanding
and application. Planning the enquiry involves problem-finding as well as problem-solving
strategies. Gathering data, explaining results and considering evidence all involve mathematics.
This is, by its nature, a cross-curricular area of study.

ICT
It is beyond doubt that mathematics and ICT have many close links. Programmable toys such as
Bee-Bot, Roamers and Pixies offer mathematical opportunities at different stages of development
and expertise. Multimodal work, based around sound, images and robotics, is both supported by
and supports a great deal of mathematical thinking and understanding – time, planning,
sequencing and so on.
With the development of new technologies, such as augmented-reality programs, the full
potential to link ICT and mathematics has perhaps yet to be realised. Holding a card with a
picture of a car on it in front of a computer fitted with augmented-reality programming will
result in an image of yourself holding the paper, with a three-dimensional car in your hand.
Touch a green box on the paper you are holding, and the car changes colour. Touch another box,
and the car spins around. Another box activates the seat storage, and immediately you can see
how much storage room there is in the car you are thinking of purchasing. (To view videos of
augmented reality on your computer, visit http://demos.t-immersion.com)
Although the technology is in its relative infancy, augmented-reality software that explores
geometry and allows pupils to examine three-dimensional images, from pieces of paper
containing an outline of a shape, is already in existence, and this technology’s capacity to create
incredible new uses for ICT in the future promises to get greater. The reality of this is summed
up in the powerful video short Did You Know? ‘We are living in exponential times’ (see
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUMf7FWGdCw). The video suggests that technology is
enabling us to become more global and states that, ‘We are currently preparing students for jobs
that don’t yet exist, using technologies that haven’t been invented yet, in order to solve problems
we don’t even know are problems yet’.
 The programmes of study for computing in the National Curriculum (DfE 2013: 118) suggest
that the aim of the subject should be to ensure that pupils:

can understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science,
including abstraction, logic, algorithms and data representation;
can analyse problems in computational terms, and have repeated practical experience of writing
computer programs in order to solve such problems;
can evaluate and apply information technology, including new or unfamiliar technologies,
analytically to solve problems;
are responsible, competent, confident and creative users of information and communication
technology.

Problem solving and creativity are mentioned, but missing from this description is mention of
‘modeling, visualization and real life experiences’, which were felt, at the time of the Rose
Review (2009), to be an important element of ICT. On a positive note, perhaps renewed emphasis
on writing and debugging programs will reawaken interest in the work of Seymour Papert. Kafai
and Burke (2014) highlight Papert’s work and argue that programming computers enables
children to learn to think mathematically, as well as giving them insight into their own learning.
They add that this process may be aided by computerless approaches in which children learn
about computing through games and puzzles involving card, string, pens and running around!
This underlines the importance of a variety of modes of representation in all learning – perhaps
particularly in relation to mathematics, as it is such an abstract subject.
Although what children should learn has generally been uncontentious, the emphasis on
programming is not without critics (Reilly 2013). The how has been more contentious. Alexander
(2010: 269) challenges Rose’s view (2009) that ICT should be seen as a ‘skill for learning and life’
and suggests that ICT is in danger of becoming ‘a tool without apparent substance or challenge
other than the technical’. He continues by arguing that ICT should be seen primarily as an aspect
of communication. This, he suggests, would ‘enable … schools to balance and explore
relationships between new and established forms of communication, and to ensure that the
developmental and educational primacy of talk, which is now exceptionally well supported by
research and evidence, is always maintained’ (Alexander 2010: 270).
Alexander (2010) is by no means alone in urging caution. There is such a ground-swell of
popular support for more time and resources to be spent on technology that it may require some
creative or ‘out of the box’ thinking to consider some alternative points of view.
Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield (2004, 2011) urges caution. Her evidence to the Cambridge
Primary Review team is cited by Alexander (2010: 270). She warns that:

The mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention
span, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity … If the young
brain is exposed from the outset to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant new screen
images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might accustom the brain
to operate over such timescales … Real conversation in real time may eventually give way
to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues … It is hard to see how living this way on a
 daily basis will not result in brains, or rather minds, different from other generations.

More than a decade ago, Healy (1999) was voicing similar concerns about children’s use of
ICT. She argued that children need kinaesthetic activity and real-world experience. Over-reliance
on technology will not build ‘intelligent muscles’. It is all too easy to develop (and to choose or
purchase) software that produces convergent rather than divergent thinking. This is particularly
true in mathematics, where, as we have seen, there is already an over-dependence on the one-
right-answer approach. Although some children may gain from some practice sessions with lists
of sums, this can and should never replace practical experience and opportunities to discuss and
justify answers, both to complex problems and to simple computations. The excitement of
appearing to hold an apparently three-dimensional augmented-reality car (which moves and
changes colour, as if by magic) in the palm of our hand should not persuade us that concrete
practical experience is no longer necessary.
A third major area of concern, of which teachers concerned to address the need for a
curriculum for the twenty-first century should be aware, is commercialism. Much software (and
indeed hardware) relies on heavy and highly influential marketing. Twenty-first-century
teaching should be alerting children to this manipulation of choice and decision-making. Blind
and uncritical use of technological resources that involve such influences should be used with
great caution. Although it may have many other applications, augmented-reality software, for
example, is being developed for marketing purposes. When using ICT, we need to ensure that
children have the critical powers to deal with market influences. Creative approaches to
mathematics can give children the skills they need to identify problems, to categorise and to
analyse.

HISTORICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL AND SOCIAL

UNDERSTANDING
Alexander (2010) proposes some parallel but different domains of learning from those suggested
by Rose (2009). These include citizenship and ethics, faith and belief, as well as place and time.
Devlin has suggested that mathematics might be taught more successfully as an aspect of human
culture – in which case, much of it could be subsumed into this domain of learning! (See Chapter
10 for more information on this topic.) Rose (2009: 167) suggests that cross-curricular studies
involving both mathematics and this area of understanding might involve ‘creating timelines,
using plans and maps and using data to analyse a real problem in the community’. The case
study below develops mathematical understanding through the device of a Tudor market.
In Chapter 7, we considered the drama technique known as the Mantle of the Expert, which
has enormous mathematical potential. As highlighted earlier in this chapter, Rose suggests that
drama is helpful in developing historical understanding. In one history topic, pupils were put in
MoE roles as placement checkers responsible for Second World War evacuation procedures from
London to Essex. The pupils were involved in map-making of the village of Little Heddington,
recreating the map in three-dimensional form from the information they had about the village.
They also needed to create criteria for checking the people who had agreed to take evacuees, sort
out which children should go to which houses and whether boys or girls would be more suitable
for one house than another, and make sure that all the children had somewhere to go. Alongside
this, pupils were engaged in a range of other activities, making decisions about people’s
suitability to have an evacuee, writing their memories of the trip for a national newspaper and
deciding on their values as a team with the responsible role of rehousing children.
Although this was essentially a history topic, through dramatic engagement, the pupils
became involved in large amounts of mathematical thinking – including gathering and
presenting data and problem solving. The process of turning language-based information into a
three-dimensional image also has mathematical implications to do with distance, space, ratio and
area.

UNDERSTANDING PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH AND

WELL-BEING
There are any number of mathematical applications arising from physical and fitness activities,
either in competition with others or in improving personal performance. Similarly, a developing
sense of well-being can be enhanced through the way in which mathematics is taught. A
conjectural, problem-solving approach, collaboration and discussion can all help to enhance a
child’s sense of self.
An understanding of the role of physical action in mathematical development is rarely
considered, and yet brain studies show an increasing awareness of the interdependence between
brain and body (Blakeslee and Blakeslee 2007). Dramatic mathematics, acting out mathematical
scenarios and stories with a mathematical focus, can give children a different perspective. It
offers an alternative ‘way of knowing’ (Claxton 1997). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences
(1999) emphasises the interrelatedness of different intelligences. There is long-standing evidence
of the impact of spatial awareness on mathematical understanding (Clements 2004) – the
numerical aspects, as well as those more expected elements concerning shape, space and
measures.

MATHS FOCUS TUDOR MARKET

Fractions and percentages: all the special-offer labels require groups to work out the new
price of the goods they are purchasing and selling
Problem solving and strategic thinking: creating a scenario where there is no right or
wrong approach, and where pupils need to think about how cheaply to sell their goods to
encourage buyers, but also consider how not to make a loss

Scenario
The Lord of the Manor is holding a competition to find the most enterprising stall owners in
the land and he invites the children to set up their stalls, create a name for their shop and
price their goods so as to attract the most buyers. He announces that there will be a prize for
the person who earns the most money.

Exploration
1 The children are divided into groups and given an area of the room in which to set up
their market stall. Each stall sells exactly the same products as the other.
2 The products are the types of thing you would see in Tudor times: a pig’s head, a cup and
ball etc. All the prices the children are given to sell the goods at are in Tudor crowns, and
they are exactly the same price for each group.
3 Each group is then given the same number of special-offer labels, which enable them to
reduce the price of some of their goods. The labels can state that this item is half-price, or
has a 20 per cent discount etc.
4 The groups have to decide in secret which items to apply the discounts to. Do they place it
on the item that is the most expensive, or will that mean that they will lose potential
income on a sale? When they have decided, they place their discount cards and reveal
their stall to the rest of the room.
5 Each group is given a shopping list of items it must purchase from other stalls and has
time to wander around to find the best deals. Lists are kept of who purchases what from
whom, and, at the end of the first round, the amount of money made by each stall holder
is noted.
6 The pupils then have time to discuss if they need to change which items they discount for
the second round.

Outcomes
Often, pupils try to sell the most expensive items without a discount, but the group that first
takes the risk of lowering the price of this item soon discovers that more people want to shop
from them.

Quote from evaluations

The children really enjoyed this sophisticated version of playing shop, and began to get
more and more tactical with each round.
(Year 5 teacher)

Further information
 This idea can be adapted to fit any period in history. A Roman market would have the added
benefit of providing a context for learning about Roman numerals, as required at Key Stage
2. It is also possible to extend the approach to explore enterprise education in a modern-day
context.

Figure 8.2 Children explore mathematics in a Roman market, examining coins and
merchandise
Kinaesthetic mathematics
Mathematical ideas can be explored kinaesthetically as part of a more physical approach to the
subject. Simple techniques of throwing balls around the class to get answers to different mental-
maths problems can generate urgency and speed that add a dimension of fun. Standing all the
children in two lines and getting them to pass a clap as fast as they can, from the front of the line
to the back, and then changing this to calling out the numbers of one of the times tables, one at a
time, from the front of the line to the back, can add a different dynamic that can put the fun back
into lessons for children who need a more physical approach. This team approach often results in
children supporting each other in remembering which answer they have to call out and, played
regularly, can help to remind children of their tables.
Table 8.1 is an example of a physical response to learning number properties that was
developed by MakeBelieve Arts as a revision exercise for Year 6 pupils. The chart was written on
the board, and various numbers were called out to the class. As soon as the pupils heard the
numbers, they needed to respond with all of the appropriate actions that the specific number
required.
For example, if the number 80 was called out, the class responded by rolling their hand,
raising their left arm and then raising their right arm and finally by standing up. On the other
hand, the number 29 would only get a clap and an oooh.
Inviting a class to create physical shapes for plus, minus, equal, division and multiplication
can be used to solve simple sums written on the board that are missing the signs necessary for
them to make sense. Thus, presenting children with three numbers, such as 3, 6 and 18, would
involve them in adding the movements for multiply and equals.
Another example of this type of work, developed by MakeBelieve Arts, was the creation of a
number property assault course (see Figure 8.3), where Venn and Carroll diagrams were used in a
relay race to engage children in answering sums, finding the answer in a Carroll diagram, where
numbers were sorted into odds and evens, under 20 and over 20, and then running with the
number to a Venn diagram taped out on the floor. On arriving at the Venn diagram, pupils had to
place the number in the correct circle according to whether it was a multiple of 10, 4, both or
neither.

Table 8.1 Example of a physical response to learning number properties

Even Roll your hand
Odd Clap
Multiple of 5 Raise left arm
Multiple of 8 Raise right arm
Multiple of 10 Stand up
Prime number Say oooh
 Figure 8.3 Number property assault course layout

The following comments are taken from students’ evaluations of their kinaesthetic work on
mathematics:

‘People think because it is maths you can just sit down and listen and we need it to be more
interactive. We learned so much more when we had the chance to get up and try things out’
 (Year 7 pupil, on a kinaesthetic maths lesson).
‘Most of the time maths is boring. I like moving and learning and we don’t do any of it, if we
could learn maths through PE lessons it would be much more fun’ (Year 6 pupil).
‘I still remember the (physical) sign we made up for divide. It was really cool. I learned which
way you do brackets and multiplication and I still remember it’ (Year 6 pupil).

These young people are clear about the benefits of physical action to their learning. However,
one of the difficulties that faces teachers is the perception of others. Sometimes, the children
themselves are resistant to change and, following some kind of practical maths session, will ask,
‘When are we going to do our maths?’. This may be because working with pencil and paper feels
safe and secure, but it may also be because children know that their parents recognise what they
are doing, as they are seated at a table, as mathematics. It may also be because they perceive the
ambivalent attitudes of teaching and support staff themselves.

UNDERSTANDING THE ARTS

There is often confusion between the creative arts and creativity. Central to this book, and to the
series, is the idea that the arts do not have a monopoly on creativity. However, the creative arts
do have a particular role to play in creative mathematics. The role of story and drama has
already been considered, but these and other forms of art all have a symbolic function. Pound
(2008, 82) writes:

Stories – whether published, told by children or created by adults – can be developed in a

number of ways. The telling and retelling of stories may involve dramatic play (both formal
and informal; large scale role-play or involving small world figures), music and dance,
paintings and drawings, models and sculptures. The process of translating ideas from one
creative medium to another supports children’s thinking.

As we have seen, mathematics is an abstract subject. This means that it requires symbolic
underpinning – a means by which we can think about it. This may be provided through
imagination – dramatic play and exploration of story, and these aspects are addressed in Chapter
6. It may come about through discussion and collaboration, as we saw in Chapter 4, but it is
essential if children are to fully understand mathematics, exploring ideas and concepts creatively
(Devlin 2000; du Sautoy 2004).
Music and mathematics are closely linked (du Sautoy 2004), and this will be explored more
fully in Chapter 11. Brandt (2009) describes music as time in the mind, and du Sautoy (2004)
suggests that music is internalised counting. Music – songs and rhymes – also creates
representations of numbers in counting games and songs, rendering the number names more
memorable. The government initiative Sing-up (www.singup.org) advocates singing as a fun way
to teach maths!
Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art activities develop children’s mathematical
understanding in many ways. Three-dimensional art will be explored further in Chapter 10.
Drawing and play with three-dimensional figures and models can ‘offer powerful tools for
expressing complex ideas’ (Anning and Ring 2004: 117). Anning and Ring (2004) go on to
emphasise the narrative thread that runs through both forms of play, as children explore and
seek to understand the world, including the mathematical world.
We cannot, however, leave this aspect of cross-curricular work without thinking about the
mathematics involved in Vasconcelos’s giant model, made from saucepans and lids, of Marilyn
Monroe’s shoes (see www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5289859). They
measure approximately 3 × 4 metres – and are stunning and exciting. There are many other
sculptures and models that offer similar mathematical stimulation, such as Italian artist Neri’s
10-metre-high table and chair. (For discussion of the world’s largest chair, see
www.roadsideamerica.com/set/CIVIchair.html)

The importance of mark-making

Worthington and Carruthers (2006) advocate an approach to young children’s mathematical
mark-making that they describe as ‘bi-numerate’. By this, they mean that children don’t just
have to learn to represent ideas in oral language, but have to develop an understanding of the
way in which mathematical ideas can be represented in secondary symbols. Teachers can
support this process by understanding ‘the importance … of translating from one language (or
creative medium) to another. Representing (or re-presenting) ideas verbally, graphically, in
imaginative play or block-building enables children to think and re-think their ideas’ (Pound
2008: 85).
The government document entitled Mark Making Matters (DCSF 2008) also focuses on the
importance of young children’s graphic representations, highlighting the importance of
encouraging

children’s mathematical mark-making (which) often arises spontaneously through a need to

communicate in a meaningful context. Through their marks, children’s thinking becomes
visible and practitioners then gain valuable insights into their developing understanding of
complex concepts. When children are asked to record, after they have finished a practical
mathematics activity, motivation and meaning are often lost. Recording may then lack in-
depth quality of thinking and is more like copying. Children’s mathematical graphics are
their own personal response to meaning making and involve deep levels of thinking. It is
important that children make links between the spoken and written representations.
(DCSF 2008: 42)

Hughes’s (1986) findings that many children at the end of primary school still did not know
how to use symbols mathematically lies behind this emphasis on mathematical mark-making.
The children had been taught to use symbols, but not to apply them to practical situations.
Although the programme of study (DfE 2013) for maths in Year 1 places greater emphasis on an
earlier introduction of numbers up to 100, this stage of experimentation with symbolic forms
should not be rushed, as it is where the foundation of understanding and using conventional
symbolic forms lies.
Matthews (2003: 1) underlines the way in which children use anything and everything to
symbolise their thinking:

Drawing especially helps the child’s understanding of symbols, and signs and
representation, understanding which will become crucial in her encounters with symbol
and sign systems in home and school, and in the expanded world of literacy she will enter
when she leaves school. This means that, in actions they can make with their own bodies,
and in actions they can perform upon objects and media, but perhaps especially with
drawing and painting media, children learn how to form representations, symbols and
signs. This forms the basis for all thinking. If you think this through, this means that, far
from being at the periphery of education … art has a central role to play in cognitive
development. To think otherwise is a ‘fundamental misconception’.

ICT, narrative and symbolism

‘Digital literacy’ (Marsh 2005) also involves children in symbolism and narrative. Smith (2005:
111) considers both ‘play at the computer’ and ‘the use of computers for play’. In the first, she
suggests, the development of play is similar to that with any other materials or equipment. She
also suggests that computer use supports what she terms ‘abstract transformation’ (citing
Vygotsky). Smith continues, ‘the ability to use and understand symbolic representations in one
context can then be transferred to another context’ (2005: 114).
In relation to the use of computers as props for office, space travel or home play, Smith cites
research (2005, citing Labbo et al.) that suggests that, ‘using the computer as a prop at play
centers [sic; meaning areas of provision rather than a setting] resulted in expanded symbol use,
keyboarding skills, understanding of computer processes, and increased vocabulary’ (Smith 2005:
111).
One important way of countering any harm that might come from the use of digital images is
the growing and exciting practice of enabling children to make their own videos. Software
currently available puts this well within the reach of children as young as 3 years of age. Nixon
and Comber (2005) describe video-making with young children using video footage of the
children themselves, but perhaps even more exciting is the production of animated sequences
using soft toys, plasticine figures or Lego constructions. These have the advantage of
demonstrating to young children how these visual representations are actually made. This, in
turn, gives a great sense of empowerment.
Upitis et al. (1997) describe a relatively low-tech version in which a group of 8- and 9-year-
olds create an animated film. The authors highlight the ‘visual, mathematical, and musical
potential’ of the activity, but indicate that of even more importance is the memorable experience
itself and the impact it will have on their mathematical experiences later. They write:

Where do ideas about rates of change, velocity, rotations, cycles and continuity (involved in
trigonometry and calculus) come from? … In this animation project, they have begun to
 grapple with a particularly fertile situation: one of a large number of ‘real-world’ situations
where these ideas are fundamental.
(Upitis et al. 1997: 77)

IS IT CROSS-CURRICULAR?
There have, in the past, been many criticisms of cross-curricular work. As Upitis et al. (1997)
remind us, it involves much more than doing sums on pumpkin-shaped paper because it’s
Halloween. Such an approach adds nothing, only detracts from mathematics, art and cultural
understanding. They suggest that a truly integrated curriculum involves fluid movement from
one area to another. Language, biology, ICT and mathematics were all involved in the animation
project – learning in all these areas was enhanced through integrated and creative teaching.

CONCLUSION
Cross-curricular work is often regarded as being less challenging or meaningful than
straightforward mathematics sessions. Although a possibility, this need not be the case, and
integrated studies can help understanding and challenge thinking by providing a context for
mathematical development. All areas of the curriculum are connected to mathematics, because
mathematics is one of the ways in which we make sense of our world.
However, it may be important to remind ourselves of the role that feelings and emotions play
in mathematical achievement (see Chapter 2) and to single out the following:

Communication: As we saw in Chapter 4, talking about mathematics is of vital importance in

developing understanding of mathematical concepts.
The arts: They provide mechanisms for representing mathematical ideas and thus promote
mathematical thinking.
Physical development: It is easy to forget what an important part physical action plays in
thinking. Mathematics is an abstract subject – the more ways that can be found to represent
it, the better. We should also remember that good spatial awareness supports both spatial and
numerical aspects of the subject.

FURTHER READING
Anning, A. and Ring, C. (2004) Making Sense of Children’s Drawings. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Sedgwick, F. (2002) Enabling Children’s Learning Through Drawing. London: David Fulton.
Upitis, R., Phillips, E. and Higginson, W. (1997) Creative Mathematics. London: Routledge (see Chapter 3).

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Fox, D. (1998) People at Work: Making a film. London: Evans.
Wenzel, A. (2010) 13 Sculptures Children Should Know. London: Prestel.
 CHAPTER 9

MATHEMATICS OUTDOORS
The world beyond the classroom

The outdoors provides us with the space and many opportunities to teach mathematics in
creative and enriching ways. By not only taking mathematics outside but also acknowledging
the wonderful world of mathematics to be found in nature and in constructed buildings and
artefacts, we encourage children to see mathematics as relevant to them and their world. The
context may be the outdoor classroom, the neighbouring streets, the garden or the seaside. The
development of forest schools and a flurry of writing about outdoor classrooms (see, for
example, www.outdoor-classroom.org.uk and www.ltl.org.uk; Harriman 2008) has heightened or,
perhaps more accurately, reflected a growing interest in the importance of outdoor provision
across the curriculum.
Outdoor provision is important for a host of reasons. In a Learning through Landscapes
publication entitled Mathematics in the School Grounds, Rhydderch-Evans (1993: 7) writes:

School grounds present opportunities for making children aware that mathematics is ‘real’.
Wonder a little about the number of leaves on a tree or bricks in a wall and before you
know it you’ll be comparing and finding difference, adding, subtracting, multiplying and
dividing. Plan to improve that space outside, perhaps by putting a few flower tubs here and
there, and you’ll soon be asking how much for this and that and the mathematics of
economics will be staring you in the face. Make careful records of all your transactions and
you will soon have more than enough data to work with.

The booklet offers some useful ideas for both Key Stages 1 and 2. It suggests that the aspects of
mathematics most readily addressed outdoors are problem solving, investigation, mathematical
discussion and communication, selecting appropriate mathematical tools or instruments for data
gathering or problem solving, and the consolidation of learning. It is suggested that this includes
estimation, measuring, calculating, collecting and representing data, and recognition of shapes
and patterns. Perhaps the most important thing that children learn is that mathematics is
actually part of the real world – not something to be done in school (or Mathsland).
A primary school in Deptford, south-east London, was funded by the local Heritage and
Environment Trust to enable it to work with a designer and consultant on a whole-school
approach to school-grounds development. The programme engaged pupils from Foundation
Stage to Key Stage 2 in planning, mapping and digging, to transform their school grounds from
an empty tarmac playground with a grass field at the back into a nature reserve, pond and
stimulating games areas, including sheltered cover and seating areas. The mathematics involved
in such a project was significant. Reception children needed to count how many sections of wall
there were in the divide between their playground and the older children’s section, so that they
could construct their own design for the walls. Classes in Key Stage 1 were involved in mapping
the tarmac playground and dividing it into sections, so they could decide which area of the
playground the boat they had designed should be placed in, and how this would fit alongside the
painted games boards they wanted marked out in various sections. Pupils at Key Stage 2
submitted drawings for the pond and walkways that formed part of the nature reserve,
measuring and calculating the desired size of each to ensure that all their needs were met.
Alongside this planning stage, children were involved in the painting, digging and, for some
children, brick laying that formed part of this incredible construction. Following on from this,
the school won £5,000 as a prize from Learning through Landscapes. Children from the school
council were then involved in working out the budget to enable future grounds development.

TEACHING MATHEMATICS OUTDOORS CREATIVELY

Table 9.1 highlights the importance of outdoor provision and links it to both mathematical
understanding and the development of creativity. The characteristics of outdoor play shown in
the left-hand column are drawn from a book about young children and outdoor provision. Sadly,
despite the Manifesto for Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC) (www.lotc.org.uk), most
writing about outdoor provision focuses on the early years. Although it is true that young
children need space for active play, it is also true that everyone benefits from being outdoors, in
terms of health, cognition and well-being (Louv 2006). In this chapter, we hope to demonstrate
that learning will not suffer but can become richer and more stimulating by being taken outside.
The outdoor classroom may be thought of in three distinct categories, namely the natural
world, the built environment and the potential of what is sometimes called the outdoor
classroom – the space available to the school. This may be its playground, playing field or
community space.

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS AND THE WONDERS OF NATURE

Weather and natural phenomena offer experiences with mathematical potential that can only be
accessed outdoors. Snow, rain, shadows all offer opportunities for exploration and investigation,
the data from which can be represented in a variety of forms. Natural places such as beaches and
forests, meadows, rivers and hills hold, not only mathematical potential, but also interest for
children. Simply being outdoors and away from the school environment is exciting, but to be
there as part of a community of learners is stimulating. To return to the same place as the
seasons change the environment gives not only an enhanced sense of wonder but also greater
insight into the nature of pattern and time.
 Table 9.1 The benefits of outdoor provision for the development of creative mathematics
The benefits of outdoor provision for the development of creative
The importance of the outdoors (Tovey 2007: 37–8)
mathematics

Spatial and temporal understanding are crucial mathematical

concepts, perhaps best understood in an outdoor context. A
psychological sense of space and time is provided by time spent
Space and time to try things out
outdoors. Citing Cobb (1977), Louv suggests that the ‘inventiveness
and imagination of nearly all of the creative people she studied was
rooted in their early experience in nature’ (Louv 2006: 93)
Transformation is important to the development of creative
thinking, including mathematical thinking. This ability to change
An environment that can be acted on, changed and transformed
the environment leads to the flexible thinking that underpins both
creativity and real mathematics
Exploration and curiosity drive the problem-solving approach to
A dynamic, ever-changing environment that invites exploration,
mathematics (Boaler 2009). Exploration, curiosity and wonder are
curiosity and wonder
the driving force behind creativity
Human learning incorporates many ‘ways of knowing’ (Claxton
1997), including the physical. Clements (cited by Pound 2008)
Whole-body, sensory experience underlines its value, writing that, ‘children’s ideas about shape do
not come from passive looking … they come as children’s bodies,
hands, eyes … and minds … engage in action’
The essence of creativity lies in making unusual connections.
Scope to combine materials in ways that are challenging Making unusual connections relies on an ability to think flexibly,
Opportunity to make connections in their learning which in turn comes from experience of putting unexpected things
or ideas together, either physically or mentally

Problem solving and creativity rely on a ‘what if’ mentality –

A rich context for curiosity, wonder, mystery and ‘what if’ thinking
conjectural thinking

Collaborative interaction and discussion are essential to good

Space to navigate and negotiate the social world of people and
problem solving. This means that children need to learn how to
friendships, to experience disagreement and resolve conflicts with
‘navigate the social world’, if they are to get the most from such
peers
opportunities
Excitement is difficult for teachers, as most classes involve large
numbers of children, but it is excitement that leads to effective
learning (see, for example, Eliot 1999). Enthusiasm and ‘ecstatic
responses’ (Egan 1991) are an easily recognised part of creative
Opportunity for giddy, gleeful, dizzy play
activity, but more difficult to reconcile with mathematics, as that is
so often taught in a passive, sedentary fashion, but creative
mathematics demands that we make space for excitement about
mathematics
The risk taking associated with outdoor provision normally involves
physical risk, whereas the risk taking generally associated with
Potential for mastery, a willingness to take risks and the skills to be creativity is more to do with psychological risk. This may not
safe involve physical injury, but it may reveal anxieties about getting
things wrong. An approach to mathematics that relies on problem
finding and problem solving requires learners to take risks
Marcus du Sautoy (2008b: 15) describes movements central to his
fascination with pattern: ‘I can’t ignore the strange pattern that
adorns my swimming trunks. Even footsteps in the sand get me
thinking about a problem that I can’t stop exploring once it’s
occurred to me. How many different ways can I mark out shapes in
the sand as I make my way along the beach? My simple footsteps
A wide range of movement opportunities that are central to learning are something called a glide reflection – each step is got by
reflecting the previous footstep then gliding it across the sand. Now
I hop along the beach kangaroo-fashion, and my two feet create a
pattern with simple reflection. When I spin in the air and land
facing the other way, I get a pattern with two lines of reflectional
symmetry. In all, I manage to make seven different symmetries in
the sand’

In the evening, on the same beach (see row above), du Sautoy

(2008b: 31) asks himself some questions: ‘What’s the strange mix of
physics and biology that gives me the sensation of seeing the
shimmer on the waves? … Why are there two high tides a day
Experience of the natural world and understanding of their own rather than just one? … Science progresses because of the questions
place within it we can’t answer. Without unsolved problems to work on,
mathematics would die’ Children’s questions may (or may not) be
less profound, but the sense of awe and wonder engendered by
nature can have an equally profound impact on learning and
creativity
Outdoor learning offers wide opportunities for cross-curricular
activity. Mathematics linked to science, games, design and
Opportunities for learning in all areas of the curriculum
technology and geography are but some of the more obvious
possibilities

Figure 9.1 Mathematical opportunities in the natural world of growth and living things
 Figure 9.2 Mathematics in the built environment. Logs are set at different heights, angles and
distances apart, developing in children physical memory of these mathematical
concepts
 Figure 9.3 Water play and exploration offer many mathematical opportunities, especially
outdoors, where there is space and potential for making a mess

Zac, a Year 2 pupil, attends a small school. The school has an allotment that pupils tend and,
in it, something that is called the secret garden. In addition, the whole school goes out on a
seasonal walk through local woodland and common ground at fixed points in the year. Zac’s
family has a garden where it too grows vegetables. The family walks regularly, rain or shine, in
the surrounding countryside. So, the experiences that the school offers are not new, but they are
important to Zac – they are seen as if they were new because he goes in the company of
different adults and different children. This sense of seeing things through new eyes is an
important aspect of creativity – even, as can be seen from Marcus du Sautoy’s description (see
above) of his time on the beach, in relation to mathematics. It may be that this new perspective is
particularly important in mathematics education – a subject that, for so many, has lacked any
context or sense of wonder – a subject only to be found in Mathsland, not in the real world.

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM MANIFESTO

‘We believe that every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an
essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or
circumstances’ (LOTC 2006).
Launched in 2006, the LOTC Manifesto developed through advice and input from many
experts with experience in this field (www.lotc.org.uk). The document is based on an
understanding that learning outside the classroom is a vehicle for developing children’s and
young people’s capacity to learn. It stresses the importance of focusing on how and where
children and young people learn, rather than primarily on what they learn. ‘Experiential’ or
‘authentic’ learning through experience has the potential to re-engage children with learning,
making it relevant to them in their lives. Having the opportunity to explore their
environment taps into the natural curiosity of children and young people to understand the
world and their place within it. The potential to engage with learning, to collaborate with
others and to make new discoveries that learning outside the classroom creates are all
highlighted in the manifesto as the reasons it needs to play a role in children’s education.
The document highlights learning opportunities: ‘The potential for learning is maximised
if we use the powerful combination of physical, visual and naturalistic ways of learning as
well as our linguistic and mathematical intelligence’ (LOTC 2006).
It also identifies five areas where this type of learning can take place:

school grounds;
immediately outside the school;
local, but needs transport;
day visit with transport;
overnight stays.

The growing interest in learning outside the classroom and the fact that the manifesto was
created in partnership with experts, deliverers and the DfES are clear indicators of how
seriously this approach to learning is being taken, and how important and beneficial this type
of learning can be for children. The urgent need to improve the teaching and learning of
mathematics (Boaler 2009) means that innovative and exciting opportunities for exploring
mathematical ideas are worth examining.

The natural world of animals and plants also offers mathematical opportunities for creative
learners and teachers. Sampling numbers of buttercups and daisies on a field of grass, in order to
estimate total numbers or average per square metre, is a great experience for a sunny afternoon.
Identifying and describing the patterns to be found in leaves and flowers offer opportunity for
mathematical discussion. The habits and habitats of animals provide any number of
mathematical opportunities, from devising humane fox or squirrel deterrents to collecting and
presenting data on the bird population of a particular environment.
 Figure 9.4 Outdoor experiences offer a world of mathematical exploration. Children here
explore and compare measures

There is a wonderful book entitled Actual Size (Jenkins 2006). It contains beautiful, life-size
drawings of a range of animals (or parts of animals, depending on their size). On the first page,
for example, there is a picture of an atlas moth, at 30 centimetres ‘so large that it is often
mistaken for a bird’. Comparisons between this and the native butterflies of this country have
enormous mathematical potential. So too does the fish on the same page, a dwarf goby, at just 9
millimetres, and the giant Gippsland earthworm at 90 centimetres. The eye of the giant squid is
also 30 centimetres. A wonderful activity can arise from this: marking out the size of the giant
squid, whose body and tentacles are 18 metres long. This book provides the kind of information
that children of primary school age find so riveting in the Guinness Book of Records. Such
wonders intrigue children and can be the starting point for many mathematical questions and
investigations.
The work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy makes use of natural materials – stone, wood, ice,
leaves, thorns and petals. The images he creates are full of mathematics. A French book, Artistes
de nature (Pouyet 2006), is of great interest to children, portraying as it does natural materials
used to create interesting images and objects. The mathematics of quantity, shape, space,
geometry and algebra can be found and developed. Similarly, the artist Richard Long produces
what is sometimes termed Land Art. In this, time and distance, as well as shape, become
important.

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS AND THE EVERYDAY WORLD

Mathematics in the built environment may be equally diverse. In addition to mapping exercises,
which will be explored in the next chapter, traffic surveys, shopping expeditions and educational
visits can all provide mathematical and creative learning opportunities.
Andrews and Trafton (2002) describe planning a trip to the zoo. Five- and six-year-olds are
trying to work out how many coaches they will need. The authors give a detailed description of
the discussion and processes of representation the children go through in trying to solve the
initial problem of how many people will actually be going on the trip. They arrive at an answer
of fifty-two children and the driver and then have to work out how many adults will be needed
and, therefore, what the final total will be. The numbers they are working with are large, but the
problem is real, and they persist. The authors suggest that, ‘young children can engage in
substantive problem solving and in doing so develop basic skills, higher order thinking skills and
problem solving strategies’ (NCTM 2000: 103, cited by Andrews and Trafton 2002).
Older children, working on a similar expedition, may work out costings, food allocations and
timings. Picnics, journeys to the coast, educational visits to museums or theatre or even camping
trips can be used to develop similar, but perhaps more complex, problems and investigations. As
we saw in Chapter 3, even very young children can use a range of strategies for working out real
and meaningful problems. Children can work out the money involved, schedule the timings of
events and itineraries, decipher timetables for public transport and so on. The possibilities are
endless; what so often prevents us taking on the activities is concern about coverage of the
prescribed curriculum. As was pointed out in Chapter 3, children learning mathematics through
a creative, problem-solving approach do at least as well as others, and often better.

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS IN THE SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

Being outdoors in the school playground, garden or playing field makes it possible for children to
make more noise, make more mess or work on a larger scale than when indoors, and this offers
greater potential for mathematical learning. It also offers access to things that can only be done
outdoors, such as weather investigations. This might involve checking rainfall or wind direction.
It might be about plotting the movement of shadows or finding the height of a tree. The
importance of these things for a creative approach to mathematics should not be underestimated.
Messy maths might include gardening or simply digging mud. A group of Year 6 children
were learning about negative numbers. In order to explore this concept, the children were invited
to dig holes in the soil to represent negative numbers, fill them to ground level to represent zero,
and create small humps for positive numbers. This activity did feature in a Channel 4 series, but
is sadly no longer available online, and so the reader will have to visualise it. The concept of
messy maths might also include the use of water. Long lengths of guttering provide stimulating
collaborative work and taxing problem-finding and problem-solving opportunities, as children
work together to find ways to make water run uphill and down dale. Where’s the maths? It lies
in thinking about angles, heights, distance and capacity. The mathematical understanding lies in
discussion during the task and reflective review afterwards.
The space offered by outdoor environments opens up lots of potential for creative
mathematical activity. Even relatively small outdoor areas can give a sense of space, which can
be quite liberating. The space provided by being outdoors can be used for drawing out dinosaurs
of given dimensions, or giant squid! The question ‘If that tree were cut down, in which direction
do you think it should fall?’ would involve finding the height of the tree and measuring the
spaces around it. (For details of tree measuring by a simple manual method, among other more
complicated approaches, see
www.saps.org.uk/attachments/article/141/SAPS_How_to_find_the_height_of_a_tree.pdf)
On a relatively mundane, but still stimulating, level, outdoor space gives opportunities for ball
games, skittles and other competitive activities, such as races, skipping, obstacle courses and so
on. In addition to the mathematics involved in scoring and timing, children may become
involved in devising leagues and statistics. The methods of representation and the effectiveness
of the presentation of data are every bit as vital an aspect of mathematics as the sums involved.

Mathematical challenges and environments

School playgrounds can also be used to create specific environments for the development of
mathematics. Treasure hunts can be devised with a mathematical slant. Nick Butterworth’s The
Treasure Hunt (2003b) might provide a starting point. Children from Years 5 and 6 might make
up clues for younger children, or, as happened in a London primary school, parents might work
together with their children. Depending on the age of the target audience, the clues, which could
be recorded on a hand-held recording device or written, might include:

The next clue will be found 18 × 3 adult paces due north of this point.
Facing the school’s cherry tree, turn 90 degrees to the right and, when you reach the climbing
frame, turn 90 degrees to the left.
Count the daffodils in the green window box and take that number of paces towards the bench.
This clue will be found beside a number 46.

Children in the Reception class might be supported on a mathematical challenge by older

children. Rhydderch-Evans (1993) suggests that Reception-class children are helped to
understand positional language by being asked to ‘stand between the …’, ‘sit on top of the …’ or
‘go around the …’. The interesting thing about this challenge is that the older children are also
challenged. They are asked to devise a game for the younger children in which there isn’t a
muddle of children all trying to do the same thing at the same time.
Maths trails might include an angle hunt – locating right angles, acute angles, exterior angles
and so on. Alternatively, they might focus on different kinds of symmetry (Rhydderch-Evans
1993). Skinner (2005) suggests a number of different kinds of trail – footprint trails, a number
hunt, a pattern walk or an obstacle course. She also suggests a photographic trail – something
that older children would enjoy creating for younger children or, working in teams, for one
another. It could be complex, involving many different aspects of mathematics, or it could be
relatively simple, using photographs of mathematical features of the local environment. Children
could simply be asked to find out where, for example, a particular green square or gold 42 was to
be found.
 Figure 9.5 Children prepare to work on the maze described in A River Always Finds Its Way

MATHS FOCUS A RIVER ALWAYS FINDS ITS WAY – BOOK 4,

DRAMATIC MATHEMATICS
Positional and directional language

Scenario
The wicked witch Avara hears about Lily’s magic with numbers and decides to kidnap her
and lock her in a tower surrounded by a maze. When Prince Zecko discovers a message from
Lily concealed in a bottle, he knows he has to rescue her, but can he find his way to the
tower?

Exploration
1 The children are put into pairs, and one of them is blindfolded. Their partner has to give
positional and directional instructions to them to enable them to navigate an obstacle
course that has been created, either outside in the playground or in the school hall. They
are involved in moving over and under objects, and part of the instructions they are given
 must include the precise number of paces forward etc.
2 A maze is chalked out on the playground, and the children have to work together to give
one child, who is blindfolded, the instructions they need to reach the middle.

Outcomes
The children got very excited about the maze, and this work was extended to involve them in
creating their own mazes, which were subsequently marked out in the playground.

Quote from evaluation

Directional language can be difficult to demonstrate but this session used excellent
practical exercises and also problem solving, i.e. a maze that had to be escaped from, to
teach. The children loved this practical and game-like context and the fact that we could
do it outside added to this enjoyment. The session really helped the children to
understand. It made learning their left and right much easier. The session was well
paced and the work was pitched for everybody.
(Year 2 teacher)

Reference
Lee, T. (2003) A River Always Finds its Way, Book 4, Dramatic Mathematics Series.
MakeBelieve Arts publication available from www.makebelievearts.co.uk

The Secret Path (Butterworth 2003a) would also be a good stimulus for setting up a maze.
Strictly speaking, mazes are multicursal, and labyrinths are unicursal. In other words, it is not
possible to get lost in a labyrinth, because there is only one path, whereas mazes, such as the one
at Hampton Court, offer a number of choices. Nowadays, the words are often used
interchangeably. Children are fascinated by both types and could be encouraged to set some up
outside, using posts weighted down in large tins with concrete and flexible fencing or plastic
sheeting to create the barriers, or simply by chalking the outline.
Wyse and Dowson (2009) describe work with 8-year-olds based around the subject of Theseus
and the Minotaur. Their focus is not mathematics, but it is creativity. What it does is draw out
the emotional aspects – what a labyrinth means in real-life terms – rather than being simply a
paper exercise. In the case study that follows, a maze (or, more properly, a labyrinth) was
created. Children responded emotionally, because they cared about the heroine of the story.

Den building
Very young children build dens out of blankets and armchairs, cardboard boxes and net curtains,
but dens are attractive to older children too. Tovey (2007: 75) reminds us that ‘den making seems
to be a feature of middle childhood’ in many countries and cultures. Children’s literature is full
of examples of children creating secret small spaces, and most people have some memory of
making a den somewhere. Of course, there are many reasons related to children’s personal, social
and emotional development that make sitting under your gran’s table for hours on end seem
attractive, but there are mathematical reasons too. The more we have watched young children
(and even some older ones) cram themselves into boxes, the more apparent it becomes that this
activity has something to do with measuring oneself up against a visible amount of space. When
we took a giant-size shoe into school as part of the work on giants, the first thing many children
in Year 4 wanted to do was to get inside it. Indeed, when rehearsing for a show, even the actors
wanted to get inside it! ‘That’s how much space I take up’ seems to be the thinking that is going
on at every level. This need to explore physical ways of knowing should not be underestimated
(Claxton 1997; Gardner 1999).

Figure 9.6 Den building offers rich mathematical experiences

Many mathematical problem-solving activities can be undertaken in relation to den building,

or children, given the right materials, will find problems. Of course, an outdoor environment
offers the most scope, but this kind of construction can go on indoors as well. If the dens can be
developed in a space in which they do not have to be dismantled every day, but can evolve, this
too may be an advantage (Knight 2009). Questions such as those listed below, either posed as a
problem-solving activity or emerging from children’s play in response to their problem finding,
could nurture both creative and mathematical activity:

How many people could fit in this den?

How can we make this shelter big enough for four more people?
How can we make this strong enough to withstand the wind, but light enough to transport to
the forest?
How big will the floor space have to be to accommodate four sleeping bags?
How can we fit a table and chairs into this space?

Tovey (2007) cites research that indicates that richer play occurs in dens with ceilings, with a
number of connecting ‘rooms’ or spaces, with different ways of entering and exiting, and where
children can see out without being seen. This indicates a problem sufficiently challenging to
engage even adults, and so cannot realistically be seen as too babyish. White (2008: based on p.
119) suggests a wide range of materials and resources that can support den building. These
include crates, tyres, large hollow blocks (from Community Playthings), real bricks, large
cardboard boxes (both presented as three-dimensional boxes and flattened out as two-
dimensional nets), large plastic flower pots and plastic drums, water barrels etc., guttering,
carpet rolls and plastic piping of different lengths and thickness, together with plumbing joints
with which to connect them, bamboo canes and Build-a-Ball connectors (designed for making
fruit cages, but perfect for constructing shelters etc.), planking, plastic-coated mesh fencing,
clothes airers, large pieces of fabric, including curtains and blankets, tarpaulin, camouflage net
and plastic sheeting, carpet tiles, beach mats or similar, ropes and pulleys, and joining materials
such as gaffer tape and bulldog clips.
We can hear teachers, used to teaching mathematics at desks or on the classroom carpet,
gasping in horror at this list. You may well be asking, ‘Where will we store this stuff?’, ‘Who will
tidy it up?’ and ‘How will I know what they are learning?’. All we would say is: try it!
Experience the children’s excitement. Listen to their insights and, in turn, gain insight into their
creative thinking. We will return to many of these issues in Chapter 12 of this book.
The teamwork and collaboration that come from this kind of work is of vital importance. In
Chapter 4, the role of collaborative discussion in enhancing mathematical competence was
explored. The learning that comes from group exploration of a more physical nature is also of
great importance. One other point to make is that smaller and more manageable materials, such
as twigs and pebbles (White 2008), can be used to work on miniature versions of similar ideas.
Paradoxically, although, in Chapter 3, the problem-solving strategy of ‘trying a smaller case’ was
suggested, in this case, smaller may not be similarly helpful. You have only to think of the
wobble on Norman Foster’s Millennium Bridge over the River Thames to realise that small
constructions do not always reveal the true nature of the problems thrown up by the reality of a
larger replica.

CONCLUSION
The world beyond the classroom represents the real world and, as such, has a great deal of
mathematical potential. Being outdoors presents many opportunities to be creative, especially as
it offers children more space, as well as opportunities to make more noise or more mess. The
chapter highlights activities and approaches that work well outdoors and make it possible for
children to explore mathematics in stimulating and enjoyable ways not readily possible within
the four walls of the classroom.

FURTHER READING
du Sautoy, M. (2008) Symmetry: A journey into the patterns of nature. New York: HarperCollins Perennial.
Lonegreen, S. (2001) Labyrinths. New York: Sterling.
Louv, R. (2006) Last Child in the Woods. New York: Algonquin Books.
Rhydderch-Evans, Z. (1993) Mathematics in the School Grounds. Winchester, UK: Learning through Landscapes/Crediton, UK:
Southgate.
Tovey, H. (2007) Playing Outdoors. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Butterworth, N. (2003a) The Secret Path. London: Collins Picture Books.
Butterworth, N. (2003b) The Treasure Hunt. London: Collins Picture Books.
Jenkins, S. (2006) Actual Size. London: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.
Pouyet, M. (2006) Artistes de nature. Toulouse: Editions Plume de Carotte.
Steer, D. (1996) Mythical Mazes. Andover, UK: Templar Books.
 CHAPTER 10

BUILDING MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING

Construction and architecture

In this chapter, we explore the relationship between construction, architecture and mathematics.
We will consider the mathematical potential of examining architecture and the mathematical
and creative possibilities of block play and other construction materials. Blocks are sometimes
regarded as only appropriate to the early years of schooling. As noted in the previous chapter,
many of the references are to young children, but this is only because relatively little work of
this type has been done with older children. We hope that this chapter will convince you that
these materials and activities are banished from the classroom far too early, long before their
potential for mathematical learning has been exhausted.

ARCHITECTURE
Architecture and mathematics have been linked historically since ancient times. In classical
Greece and Ancient Rome, architects were also required to be mathematicians. The construction
of the pyramids is testimony to the mathematical theories that surround their creation. Unlike
Devlin, who declares that, ‘maths is not about number but about life’ (see Chapter 1 of this
book), Pythagoras believed that, ‘all things are numbers’
(www.mathopenref.com/pythagoras.html). His views were taken up by Plato, who held the view
that architecture had greater aesthetic value than flowers. He loved the straight lines and circles
that could be created by builders and architects, but were not replicated in nature. Greek
buildings such as the Parthenon were based on a ratio known as 3:4:5. Building to this ratio
produced right angles as well as proportions that classical thinkers regarded as pleasing to the
eye (Berlinghoff and Gouvea 2004) (see Figure 10.1).
The Egyptians had known that a triangle whose sides are in the ratio of 3:4:5 would be a right-
angled triangle, and Pythagoras built on this knowledge to develop his famous theorem
(Berlinghoff and Gouvea 2004) (see Figure 10.2).
The golden ratio, formulated during the Renaissance period by Fibonacci, involved a rectangle
measuring 2 × inches. For Fibonacci, these measurements conformed to ‘relationships found
within the natural world’ (Read 1992: 8). Frank Lloyd Wright attributed his skill as an architect to
his playing with Froebel’s Gifts in childhood (see Chapter 5 of this book; Thorne-Thomsen 1994).
Lloyd Wright claimed that, through his play, he discovered the ‘grammar’ of building – the
straight line, the flat plane, the square, the triangle, the circle (Froebel Block Play Research
Group 1992: 89). These are what Galileo called the letters of mathematical language (see Chapter
4). Lloyd Wright is reported as saying that, ‘these primary forms and figures were the secret of
all effects … which were ever got into the architecture of the world’ (Froebel Block Play Research
Group 1992: 89, citing Manson). The Froebel Block Play Research Group (1992: 89) writes:

Figure 10.1 Properties pleasing to the eye

Source: Community Playthings

Figure 10.2 Pythagoras’ theorem

Source: Community Playthings
 A fine example of the fusion of mathematics and aesthetics is the Guggenheim Museum in
New York, designed by Wright, which consists of a gently spiralling interior ramp rising
from a base of a mere one hundred feet in diameter and yielding over a quarter of a mile of
continuous display space for works of art … This has been described as one of the most
magical spatial experiences … At any moment one is in intimate proximity to a small group
of works yet in the presence of the entire exhibition.

This view is echoed by the Finnish architect Pallasmaa. Buildings are as much symbolic
representations as any other construction. Pallasmaa (2005: 71) reminds us that:

The timeless task of architecture is to create embodied and lived existential metaphors that
concretise and structure our being in the world. Architecture reflects, materialises and
eternalises ideas and images of ideal life. Buildings and towns enable us to structure,
understand and remember the shapeless flow of reality and ultimately, to recognise and
remember who we are. Architecture enables us to perceive and understand the dialectics of
permanence and change, to settle ourselves in the world and to place ourselves in the
continuum of culture and time.

Architecture is closely related to mathematics. There are some interesting books aimed at
children, such as 13 Buildings Children Should Know (Roeder 2009) or See Inside Famous
Buildings (Jones 2009). However, children are also interested in photographic books depicting the
work of Gaudí, with its intricate shapes and patterns, or the startling geometric forms of
Libeskind. Drawing these and other buildings and discussing their shapes and forms give
another ‘way of knowing’, another way of understanding mathematics. Although not
architecture in the conventional sense, Rachel Whiteread’s installation of 14,000 white plastic
boxes, which was based at Tate Modern in London in 2005–6, had many architectural features. It
explored space in striking ways and undoubtedly inspired many children and adults who came
to see it, giving greater awareness and understanding of shape and space.

Creating replicas of famous architecture with cardboard boxes

Inspired by Rachel Whiteread’s work, pupils in a Year 6 class were given a large supply of
cardboard boxes and asked to consider how they could set about building replicas of famous
monuments. The children looked at pictures of the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Big Ben,
Buckingham Palace and a number of other famous buildings. In groups, they were given 10
minutes to use the boxes to create their own large-scale representation of these buildings. The
children took the work really seriously, and some amazing representations were created. The
exercise worked as a fun introduction to exploring architecture and having the opportunity to
recreate structures on a large scale. Pupils noticed the symmetry present in the pictures they
were trying to recreate, and the language they used to describe what they were trying to achieve
in this simple activity was highly mathematical. The class teacher commented, ‘we had been
looking at symmetry as a class, but I was surprised at how articulate the children were about this
when they shared their constructed replicas with the class’.

BLOCK PLAY
The child can certainly be interested in seriating for the sake of seriating, and classifying for
the sake of classifying, etc., when the occasion presents itself. However, on the whole it is
when he [sic] has events or phenomena to explain or goals to reach in an intriguing
situation that operations are most exercised.
(Piaget and Garcia 1971: 26, cited by Froebel Blockplay Research Group 1992: 75)

Block play and construction activities present children with opportunities to explore
mathematical concepts. (It should be noted that the term ‘blocks’ is used in relation to materials
that do not interlock, and the term ‘bricks’ is more commonly used for those that do interlock,
such as Lego.) Although, as we have seen, ‘any aspect of maths can crop up at any time’ (Froebel
Blockplay Research Group 1992: 91), blocks perhaps lend themselves to developing
understanding of pattern and geometry (Froebel Blockplay Research Group 1992). The research
group also points out that blocks appeal to children’s mathematical and aesthetic interests. They
cite St Thomas Aquinas as suggesting that, ‘the senses delight in things duly proportioned’
(Froebel Blockplay Research Group 1992: 89). Five-year-old Edward’s response to his own block
creation is described: ‘“I’ve done it! Fantastic!” He is radiant. Alessandros comes over to look:
“It’s beautiful,” he says. “I know,” says Edward. He prowls around and over his rectangular
surface for several minutes, surveying his achievement and savouring its wholeness.’
When 5-year-old Jaimin builds a replica of the pier near his home, he experiments with a
beautiful arrangement of curved and triangular blocks to support the struts. Although his teacher
captures his achievement in her observations of him, neither the early learning goals nor the
National Curriculum guidelines for assessing pupils’ progress truly reflect Jaimin’s considerable
aesthetic abilities or his problem-solving strategies. This, in turn, indicates a narrow view of
what mathematics actually is.
Unit blocks are, by their nature, mathematical. Boaler (2009: 170) suggests that block building
‘has been identified as one of the key reasons for success in mathematics all through school’. She
goes on to indicate that, as boys generally play more with blocks than girls, it is likely to be the
reason for boys’ enhanced spatial abilities. The play and exploration give them a sense of the
internal logic that ensures that the blocks fit together snugly and accurately and appeal to
humans’ ‘mathematical minds’. Wood (1988: 199) describes the process of self-correction, an
attribute essential to the development of a mathematical mind: ‘The disposition to correct oneself
is not an attribute of personality or ability. When children know, albeit intuitively, what looks,
sounds, or feels right, we have reason to be confident that they will self-correct and self-instruct.’
This, of course, implies that adults working with children also need to have an understanding
of ‘what looks, sounds, or feels right’ and why. Block play often involves children in creating
modules or routines. The Froebel Blockplay Research Group (1992: 80) suggests that, ‘in
blockplay, a sign that a particular routine is well established occurs when children collect the
exact shape, size and number of blocks required to carry it out. Sometimes they even
preassemble subsections of a larger arrangement.’
The research group likens this ability to the subroutines involved in building more complex
Logo programs and suggests that it may be used in developing understanding of ‘primitives’ or
subroutines in programming. Blocks may also be used to heighten children’s understanding of
pattern. The mathematical relationships found between the blocks in a single set ensures that
children can explore a number of options – identifying numerical and spatial patterns, and
seeing the relationships between apparently different-sized blocks.
 Figure 10.3 Children’s block constructions involve a great deal of mathematical thinking
Source: Community Playthings

Play with unit blocks provides mental-mathematical models, a process that the Community
Playthings website describes as ‘absorbing’ the concepts: ‘The relationship between the “unit”
and the other block shapes creates an environment in which children develop motor skills and
“absorb” math concepts such as length, volume and fractions while totally engaged in the
creative freedom of block play’ (www.communityplaythings.co.uk).
The Froebel Blockplay Research Group suggests that blocks have a specific role to play in
representing mathematical ideas:

Links are forged enabling children to understand and make use of the relationships between
mathematics embedded in practical situations and that represented in the disembodied
symbolism of formal mathematics.
The children have taught us that they will use both embedded and disembedded
representations as appropriate to their present purposes in situations when it makes sense to
them. Children (in the course of the project) have found their own important reasons to
describe, draw and tally as part of their block play.
(Gura 1992: 105)

The researchers in the Freobel Blockplay project often drew children’s models. This became a
habit copied by many children, who began to record their own models in the same way. This is
an excellent way to look at three-dimensional shapes anew and can give an adult insight into
how well children are perceiving shape. Moreover, it gives children a new perspective on the
shapes and relationships between them.

The development of block building

In Table 10.1, possible stages of the development of block play are outlined. In Table 10.2, Gura
(1992) defines the development of block play in terms of the frequency with which certain kinds
of structure were made during the course of the research project. Stunt building is frequently
mentioned in this project. As children became familiar with particular kinds of building and the
relationships between blocks, they frequently attempted daring feats, representing ideas about
the materials they were using. However, although interesting as part of the research, the ages
indicated should not be taken as the only age group for which unit blocks are useful. Nor should
it be considered surprising if older children, who have not had such rich experiences, do not
achieve comparable standards. As in so many matters, expertise comes with experience (Howe
1999; see Chapter 2).
Community Playthings also produce large, wooden, hollow blocks that are invaluable for
creating large, stable structures that children can climb on safely and that motivate collaborative
play and activity. Although expensive, wooden materials of this sort last forever and represent an
excellent investment.

Table 10.1 The stages of block building

Blocks are carried around but are not used for construction (usually
Stage 1
very young children)
 Children mostly make rows, either horizontal (on the floor) or
Stage 2 Building begins vertical. There is much repetition in this early building pattern,
which is basic functional play with blocks

Children create a bridge (or portal) by using two blocks to support a

Stage 3 Bridging
third. In architecture, this is known as the post-and-lintel system

Children place blocks in such a way that they enclose a space.

Bridging and enclosures are among the earliest technical problems
Stage 4 Enclosures
children have to solve when playing with blocks, and they occur
soon after a child begins to use blocks regularly
With age, children become steadily more imaginative in their block
Stage 5 Increasing use of imagination building. They use more blocks and create more elaborate designs,
incorporating patterns and balance into their constructions
Naming of structures for dramatic play begins. Before this stage,
children may have named their structures, but not necessarily based
Stage 6 Named structures
on the function of the building. This stage of block building
corresponds to the ‘realistic’ stage in art development
Children use blocks to represent things they know, such as cities,
cars, aeroplanes and houses. They also use blocks to stimulate
Stage 7
dramatic play activities: zoo, farm, shopping center and other
locations

Source: Based on Wardle 2002

Table 10.2 The development of block play

Age Frequency of types of block play Frequent examples of figurative representations

Some figurative building but focus on exploring:

properties of blocks
3 and 4+ combinations of blocks at increasing levels of integration
and complexity
issues of space and movement
3–5 2D and 3D patterns
1 Houses, buildings (sometimes named, e.g.
Equal amounts of time spent on exploring (as above) and
4+–5+ London Bridge)
figurative representations
2 Figures and furniture, transport and roads
Groups of structures, e.g. water, bridge and
6+ Focus on figurative representation
road

Source: Based on Gura (1992: 198–201)

 Figure 10.4 Children are challenged to build a house they can lie down in. They must first
estimate how many blocks they might need

CONSTRUCTION SETS
Much of what has been said about blocks applies to other types of construction set, although
many would dispute the idea that plastic materials can be compared to the aesthetic qualities of
wood. When we considered manipulatives in Chapter 5 of this book, some types of construction
material were mentioned. There is a huge range of types of construction set – each offering
different challenges, strengths and scales. As with blocks, it is vital that there are sufficient of
any one set to make construction meaningful for a group of children. Frustration and disaffection
run high unless this is addressed.
An extremely interesting aspect of work with construction sets is the work it opens up on
robotics or gear ratios. A Lego set, for example, which can be used to make models that move in
exciting and interesting ways, has a great deal of potential for developing not only information
technology understanding but also mathematical understanding related to time, sequence and so
on. Similarly, Minecraft has created a link between computers and construction.

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS: BUILDING ON BUILDING

MakeBelieve Arts involved a group of children from Years 3 and 4 in considering the dilemmas
facing town planners and cartographers (see the Maths Focus on p. 137 and Figures 10.5 and
10.6).

TRANSFORMING THE TWO DIMENSIONAL TO THREE

DIMENSIONAL
Two-dimensional work is a common feature of work on shape. Pattern blocks, which, like
wooden unit blocks, are structured mathematically, provide insight into geometrical concepts.
Four-year-old Marie was able to create a wide range of symmetrical shapes through informal
play with them. She also become interested in finding out a number of different ways in which
she could construct hexagons. This can be extended and made more exciting by, for example,
work with pattern blocks and mirrors. If you add a mirror, how many times is your model
revealed? What if you add two or three mirrors? These materials can also engage older children,
who can devise games and activities that involve mathematical challenges and problems.
An aspect of mathematical construction that we have not yet considered concerns the
processes by which something two dimensional (such as a piece of paper) can be turned into a
three-dimensional object (such as a box or a model). Children can find this process enchanting,
containing as it does an element of magic. Indeed, adults can too. Recent newspaper articles
featured the work of a Canadian architecture student. Mui-Ling Teh has produced tiny origami
models, some as small as 3 millimetres (see
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/7166758/Tiny-origami-models-
created-by-Mui-Ling-Teh.html). For many years, origami was seen as something for children,
just following the instructions in the Rupert Annual. More recently, however, it has been
recognised as an exciting branch of mathematics – undertaken by real mathematicians (see, for
example, Alperin 2000; Demaine and O’Rourke 2008) for real purposes (see, for example, Newton
2009).
 Devlin (2000: 259–60) argues that what we actually need to teach children about mathematics
is not simply about getting the right mathematical answer; rather, we should:

MATHS FOCUS TOWN PLANNERS AND MAP-MAKERS

Data handling
Transforming two-dimensional materials into three-dimensional materials

Scenario
A new town is going to be built, but, before work can begin, the town planners need to work
out where all the buildings will be placed, so that everything is in a convenient area. Once
the town is built, the map-makers are called in, and it is their role to ensure that they keep a
record of where everything is.

Exploration
1 A giant eight-square grid was marked out on the floor with tape. The children were then
put into role as town planners and began to add houses, a school and shops on the various
squares, thinking about where each of these should be in relation to each other.
2 Once all the pieces were placed, children had the opportunity to review the town and see if
any of the pieces needed to be moved, or other buildings needed to be added.
3 When the town was completed, the children mapped it out accurately on to a smaller grid.
4 Other pupils were then given an empty giant eight-square grid, alongside the pieces that
represented the buildings and the map of the town. They were invited to recreate the town
using these items.

See Figures 10.5 and 10.6.

Outcomes
This work was piloted with children from Years 3 and 4. The sophistication that they showed
was greater than expected, and the groups began to develop high-quality maps to represent
the town.

Quote from evaluation

I loved drawing my map after we had created the town. I wanted to make sure I got it
 exactly right so when we gave it to the other group they could build our town properly.
(Year 4 pupil)

design courses that demonstrate what mathematics and science are and what role they play
in modern life, rather than teach particular skills. These courses would more closely
resemble typical history or social skills courses than existing mathematics and science
courses. Their arithmetical and manipulative-algebraic content ‘problem solving’ work
would be included to give a feel for what is involved, and the goal would be completion of
the task, not a ‘perfect performance’ or ‘getting the right answer’.

This, he suggests, would meet the traditional goal of education, as it would ensure that human
culture was passed on, rather than simply being vocational or functional training. If we link this
to another of Devlin’s premises (and indeed one that is central to this book), that narrative (or
gossip, as he provocatively terms it) is central to learning, then it begins to make perfect sense.
Of course, teachers can do both – ensuring that children are familiar with the narratives of
mathematics and the development of mathematical understanding are not mutually exclusive. If
intrigue and interest are what make us want to know more, then origami has much to offer.
 Figure 10.5 Town planners set up their town
 Figure 10.6 Map-makers study a map and attempt to recreate it on a grid

Origami is the branch of mathematics that has supported the development of robotics (Kanade
1980; Demaine and O’Rourke 2008). It is the branch of mathematics that made the Hubble
Telescope possible (https://str.llnl.gov/str/March03/Hyde.html). Imagine the excitement
engendered by explaining to children that, in order to construct a telescope light and compact
enough to be sent into space, yet strong enough to be of value, scientists made use of origami
techniques.
In folding models, there are many examples of places where words such as square, triangle,
parallelogram, trapezium, isosceles, scalene, obtuse-angled, triangle, pentagon, hexagon etc. can
be used in a perfectly natural way. Fractions and angles are an integral part of the folding
process. The transformations of square to triangles, triangles to trapeziums, and so on, give a
new perspective on the world of shape. In addition, they underpin the transformation from two
dimensional to three dimensional, which becomes apparent as the model emerges.
Another activity involving two-dimensional to three-dimensional transformation is the more
traditionally included work on nets. The simple collection and storage of boxes as flat nets,
rather than three-dimensional shapes, present children with a puzzle. This can be done with
small boxes, for junk modelling or design technology purposes, or with large boxes, for building
outdoors or in a larger space, such as a hall. Two books on skyscrapers and bridges (Johmann
and Reith 1999, 2001) might offer a starting point for children who may lack creative confidence.
Upitis et al. (1997) describe a jewellery-making activity undertaken with 8- and 9-year-olds.
Rena Upitis describes her long-held interest in making paper jewels, which she claims began in
childhood, when a teacher reprimanded her for absentmindedly wrapping a strip of paper
around her pencil. When challenged, she claimed she was making jewellery. She describes the
process that she finds so exciting:
 We invited (the children) to cut various shapes from the paper, and then to roll the paper or
in some other way turn it into a three-dimensional object from the flat two-dimensional
piece of paper. I am particularly fond of the effect that comes from rolling a long right
angled triangle, and I demonstrated this effect to the class.
(Upitis et al. 1997: 81)

A description of the children’s experimentation follows, involving scalene, isosceles and right-
angled triangles, of different sizes and papers. The way in which the children sort through a
collection of beads is described as ‘purposeful’, different from the early sorting that goes on in
classrooms in that:

In order to make the kind of jewellery you have in mind, you sometimes have to sort along
a number of different dimensions or attributes before the right beads are found … Some
people never stop sorting and classifying – after all, biologists spend their lifetimes sorting
and describing independent and overlapping sets of objects … [A] prominent computer
scientist … speculates there are enough new problems in biology alone to keep scholars
occupied for the next 500 years.
(Upitis et al. 1997: 83)

The gender aspects of this task are discussed. The class teacher was worried that boys might
not be motivated, but reflects that she often introduces activities that are chosen with boys in
mind. Despite some initial reticence from some boys, they all engage enthusiastically, but, when
they see that one boy is making a Star Trek communicator badge, interest levels soar. The class
teacher comments on the way in which transforming two-dimensional materials into three-
dimensional objects changes her own way of seeing:

Now I looked at shapes – both finished shapes, and shapes that I imagined were there
initially, in two dimensions. This reminded me of my experience with tessellations, when
previously unobserved maths started popping out at me from unexpected places. With
jewellery, I looked at size changes and thought about scale transformations: I looked at
shapes and thought about geometric combinations, and I looked at pleasing designs and
thought of symmetry and balance.

Finally, consider the design technology tasks that can be undertaken with rolled-up
newspaper. Students constructed a giant tetrahedron using rolled up newspapers, in much the
same way as Construct-o-straws might be used.

CONCLUSION
Play with two- and three-dimensional shapes appears to give the human mind new ways of
seeing and understanding them. Transformations are involved in:
 changing something two dimensional into a three-dimensional shape;
creating two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional constructions;
building, deconstructing, modifying and reconstructing structures from blocks or other
construction materials;
creating moving objects from stationary materials.

Transformation, translation and transduction are vital aspects of creativity. The power and
engaging aspects of these particular processes should not be overlooked, as they are not only
creative but also mathematical.

FURTHER READING
Cockburn, A. (ed.) (2007) Mathematical Understanding 5–11: A practical guide to creative communication in maths. London:
SAGE.
Gura, P. (1992) Exploring Learning: Young children and blockplay. London: Paul Chapman.
Sullivan, P., Clarke, D. and Clarke, B. (2013) Teaching with Tasks for Effective Mathematics Learning. London: Springer.
Upitis, R., Phillips, E. and Higginson, W. (1997) Creative Mathematics. London: Routledge (see chapter 4).
The following websites offer free instructions for a range of origami projects:

www.origami-resource-center.com
www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Clements, G. (2007) A Picture History of Great Buildings. London: Frances Lincoln Children’s Books.
Hutchins, P. (1987) Changes, Changes. New York: Aladdin.
Jam, S. (2005) The Paper Princess. Hong Kong: PPP.
This is the story of ‘the world’s greatest folder upper’ – quirky, but entertaining and containing some truths about paper
folding.
Johmann, C. and Rieth, E. (1999) Bridges: Amazing structures to design, build and test. Charlotte, VT: Williamson.
Johmann, C. and Rieth, E. (2001) Skyscrapers: Amazing structures to design, build and test. Charlotte, VT: Williamson.
Jones, R. (2009) See Inside Famous Buildings. London: Usborne.
Roeder, A. (2009) 13 Buildings Children Should Know. London: Prestel.
Thorne-Thomsen, K. (1994) Frank Lloyd Wright for Kids. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.
 CHAPTER 11

EXPLORING MATHEMATICS THROUGH MUSIC

There is a strongly held, popular belief that music and mathematics are inextricably linked.
Marcus du Sautoy (2004: 77) asserts that there is a natural link, adding that, ‘Mathematics
departments invariably have little trouble assembling an orchestra from the ranks of their
members’. The link is sometimes made in teaching music – especially if students are being
taught primarily through the use of notations. They may be asked to do the sums involved in
calculating rests, dotted notes and hemidemisemiquavers. However, music is rarely used as a tool
for teaching mathematics. A notable exception may be that, in the early years, number rhymes
are used to teach children to count. This reflects an implicit understanding of the role that music
plays in supporting memory.
However, music has much more to offer mathematics than simply a role as a mnemonic. It is
thought by many (see, for example, Egan 1991; du Sautoy 2004; Brandt 2009) to have been the
biological and cultural starting point for the development of mathematical thinking in humans.
Rhythms emerge or develop in human activity and support those activities. You have only to
think of a group of people moving heavy loads, without the benefits of machinery, to think of the
advantage that rhythmic movement offers (Egan 1991). Some writers suggest that numbers arose
from our fingers, whereas others prefer to link the origins of counting to dance (Brandt 2009).
Whatever the case, theorists from many disciplines are clear about the role that music played in
bringing rhythm and, thus, an understanding of time to human consciousness. Leibniz, a
seventeenth-century German polymath, reflected this idea from a different perspective, writing
that, ‘Music is the pleasure the human mind experiences from counting without being aware that
it is counting’ (cited by du Sautoy 2004: 77–8).
Perhaps the most obvious way in which music and mathematics interrelate lies in the physics
of sound. In simple terms, the length of a vibrating string or column of air determines the pitch it
plays. Children can be invited to compare, say, the sound of a small drum or xylophone with the
sound of a large instrument of the same type. The general rule is that larger instruments or
objects make lower sounds, although you should always be aware that there are exceptions to
this.
The relationship between sound and pitch is one that has fascinated mathematicians for
thousands of years (du Sautoy 2004) and one that can continue to engage children. Pitch was
perhaps the main interest of Pythagoras (Harkleroad 2006), which is probably surprising, as he is
more readily linked to geometry in the popular mind. Harkleroad (2006) also writes of the
position of music in the Middle Ages, when music was linked to arithmetic, geometry and
astronomy as the paths to knowledge. For children, the use of Boomwhackers can illustrate the
relationship between size and pitch very well.

Figure 11.1 Similar instruments of different sizes and designs allow children to explore the
science and mathematics of sound

Junk materials can also be used to demonstrate this principle. By taking plastic tubing (such as
that used for drainpipes) and cutting it into different lengths (with an ordinary small hacksaw),
you can produce the notes of a familiar do-re-mi (major) scale. The tubes can be made to sound
by holding them lightly and hitting them on the end with a ruler or small bat (like a small table-
tennis bat). They can also be mounted on a frame and used outdoors. If you are interested in
producing a major scale of eight notes, the following measurements will work: 120 cm, 108 cm,
96 cm, 90 cm, 80 cm, 72 cm, 64 cm and 60 cm.
Although music has its own intrinsic value and worth and should not be seen as simply a tool
for learning and teaching other subjects, it can offer creative, exciting and challenging ways to
develop students’ mathematical understanding. The role of music in promoting the playfulness
associated with creative thinking and learning has been well documented (Bresler 2004; Malloch
and Trevarthen 2009). On a more solemn note, the aesthetics of mathematics has led to it being
referred to, like music, as ‘a creative art’, in which ideas should fit together ‘harmoniously’ (du
Sautoy 2004: 78, citing Hardy). Harkleroad (2006: 1) draws attention to the way in which both
music and mathematics ‘combine the intellectual and the aesthetic in a wonderful blend.
Unfortunately nonmusicians often remain unaware of the rich intellectual content of music, and
nonmathematicians likewise of the equally rich aesthetic side of math’.
CREATIVE TEACHING
For teachers wishing to teach creatively and to awaken creative mathematical learning in
children, music offers many exciting opportunities. It is clear that music and mathematics have a
number of fundamental, or perhaps elemental, links. Harkleroad (2006: 1) suggests that, ‘abstract
patterns form the stock-in-trade of each’, and that, in order ‘to express these patterns, each has
developed its own symbolic language’. Learning about one approach to pattern and the symbols
with which it can be represented not merely supports but enhances learning in the other (Egan
1991).
Exploring mathematics through music is highly motivating for children, as indicated in the
Cambridge Primary Review (Alexander 2010). Music takes up a very high proportion of
everyone’s time, at least outside school. Sadly, it takes up relatively small amounts of time in
school! However, in the real world, as Hargreaves (2004) points out, an average of 40 per cent of
our waking lives is spent listening to music. In fact, this would be a great mathematical
investigation – working out the average listening times for different age groups, families, classes
and so on.
In addition, music is said to support the development of a number of personal qualities (Music
Education Council submission to the Cambridge Primary Review, in Alexander 2010), many of
which can contribute to mathematical understanding. These might include the development of
language, concentration and self-discipline. Hallam (2001) has investigated claims that music has
an impact on cognitive understanding and draws a number of conclusions, two of which are
pertinent here. She writes:

Taking music was positively related to better performance in other subjects, [but] this does
not necessarily mean that it was the cause of it … From our current level of knowledge it is
not possible to draw firm conclusions about the effects of listening or active involvement in
music making on our intellectual skills. The jury remains out.
(Hallam 2001: 15–16)

She does, however, concede that musical activity ‘appears to have a significant positive effect on
the development of characteristics of creativity’ (2001: 58). It is clear that music and mathematics
have many links. In the sections that follow, some ways in which these links can be developed
and extended creatively in order to support mathematical understanding are given.

MEMORY FOR MATHEMATICAL FACTS

One of the universal features of music is that it is used to support memory (Pound and Harrison
2003). Advertising jingles and alphabet songs underline this function in our everyday lives. In
schools and other early childhood settings, number rhymes are used to help children remember
number names in the correct order, and, if these are accompanied by finger actions, they are an
even more powerful aid to memory. This is because the part of the brain responsible for numbers
is adjacent to the part of the brain responsible for fingers (Ramachandran and Blakeslee 1999).
Every teacher of young children has a ready store of counting songs, many with accompanying
finger actions.

Figure 11.2 Music has a significant effect on creativity

The musical elements used do not have to be fully worked out tunes – rhythmic chanting and
movement will also support memory. Egan (1991) reminds us that, whereas in literate societies
written language and symbols are key means of supporting thought, in aliterate cultures, people
use a number of different tools for thinking. These include music, dance and poetry – as well as
narrative. As we have seen, children’s attempts to learn mathematics are akin to those of
someone learning a new language (Worthington and Carruthers 2006; Boaler 2009). In order to
be able to use mathematics at more than a barely functional level, children need to become
fluent users of mathematical language. Just as songs are used to support the development of
bilingualism, so they can be used to support children in becoming ‘bi-numerate’, fluent users of
mathematical language and thinking. Songs and rhymes that employ mathematical language
give children a ready bank of relevant words and phrases.
Books such as Tom Thumb’s Musical Maths (MacGregor 1998) include a range of songs,
written to fit well-known tunes, that explore some other aspects of mathematics, rather than
simply counting. There are songs about shape and songs about adding and multiplying. Other
commercial materials exist (see, for example, resources available from Oxford University Press in
the Be a Mathematician (BEAM) range, which include mathematical raps and sung versions of
tables).
Songs for Teaching offers a wide range of items to support mathematical development (see
www.songsforteaching.com/mathsongs.htm). The authors (see
www.songsforteaching.com/chantsraps.htm) suggest that chanting has many of the benefits of
singing – so, even if you think you can’t sing, you can use rhythm and rhyme to support
learning. Both offer the following advantages:

they emphasise pattern, which makes learning easier and enhances mathematical
understanding;
they support memory and build children’s confidence;
they promote a sense of community, which is conducive to learning;
they provide a change of pace and mood to improve motivation and energy levels;
they offer opportunities for joyful repetition, which supports learning;
they serve as a writing prompt, enabling children to write new verses and thus reinforce
learning in the process;
they encourage physical movement, which further reinforces learning.

This approach can also encourage adults to make up their own songs and rhymes to reinforce
the learning of mathematical facts. The simplest way is to use a known tune – preferably one
that repeats phrases and does not require a rhyme. Tunes that lend themselves well to this idea
are London Bridge is Falling Down, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, Polly Put the Kettle
On and so on. Below is an example of children creating raps to help them remember a range of
facts. These, of course, do not need a tune, but carry many of the same advantages.

RHYTHM AND TIME

Rhythmic vocalisations often link with rhythmic movement. Many writers, looking back at
human history, present a link between rhythmic movement and the development of
mathematical thinking (see, for example, Mithen 2005; Brandt 2009). If music and dance are
considered as internalised counting, there are many creative musical activities that can be used
to promote mathematical understanding. Let’s Go Shoolie-Shoo (MacGregor and Gargreave 2004)
and Let’s Go Zudie-o (MacGregor and Gargreave 2001) include many examples of music in
which the rhythm can readily be felt. Many British folk tunes have this quality, which is why
folk dancing can be attractive to all ages. Group dancing offers an opportunity to develop the
internalised counting of those who appear to have difficulty in holding a rhythm.

RAPPING TO LEARN
Raps are popular and make things memorable for children. In this example, children were
invited to create a number of raps to help them memorise crucial facts. This was written by
five Year 6 pupils, who were struggling with remembering the difference between mode,
mean and median.

You’ve got 2, 4, 4 and 8.

Find the mean before it’s too late.
We add them together and divide by 4
Cos that’s how many numbers we have to explore.
Mean – Mean – The average machine!

You’ve got 2, 4, 4 and 8.

Find the mode before it’s too late.
Mode is the one that comes round more.
In this case it’s gonna be 4.
Mode – Mode – The popular code!

You’ve got 2, 4, 4 and 8.

Find the median before it’s too late.
Put them in order, find the middle.
That’s the answer to the median riddle.
Median – Median – The middle’s the median!

Here is a rhyme created by another group from the same class, to remind them about lines:

Ver-tic-al,
stand up straight and touch the sky
If you’re tired be horizontal,
lie down, touch the ground
Diagonal lines up against the wall
But vertical stand straight up tall
Ver-ti-cal is straight
that’s right mate, straight,

Chorus: We’re talking lines of different kinds

We’re talking lines
 With different rhymes
We’re talking lines so don’t forget it
Because if you do you will regret it
(if you do you will regret it)

Parallel lines never meet

Look to the horizon for the horizontal beat
Vertex like a mountain top
Perpendicular. 90 degrees then stop
Bisect means to cut a line in half
A bendy line is called an arc.

This rhyme was accompanied by hand movements that children could be seen demonstrating
silently to themselves in a subsequent test. (Some mathematicians argue that parallel lines
may meet at infinity, but this is something of a philosophical debate. The teacher, in this
instance – and just before SATs – was content to take the general definition such as this
simple one: ‘parallel lines will never meet, no matter how far they are extended’
(www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/parallel-lines.html).)
It is also possible to use a call-and-response technique to get children to create and
remember the words to a new memory song. The teacher chants the first line, and, in groups
or pairs, the children have to write a second line as a response to call back. By asking the
children themselves to come up with responses, we generate ownership of the piece, rather
than it being something that someone else has written for them to learn.

The mirror neurons in the brain encourage imitation – in fact, the brain itself mirrors or
imitates the brain of others engaged in physical actions (Rizzolatti and Craighero 2005). A book
such as Tanka Tanka Skunk (Webb 2003) encourages rhythmic chanting and is very much
enjoyed (and emulated) by young children. The Maths Focus opposite was actually a Year 7
project, but demonstrates the kinds of learning that can be explored through musical activity.
The physical action reinforces the learning, offering another ‘way of knowing’ (Claxton 1997).
Children often enjoy listening to Steve Reich’s piece Clapping Music – perhaps not least
because it challenges their ideas about what music is. The piece was written for two performers.
One claps a basic rhythm in 12/8 time, throughout the piece. The other claps the same pattern,
but regularly adjusts the pattern, moving it away from the basic or initial rhythm one beat at a
time. Eventually, after 144 bars, the two performers are once again playing in unison.

DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING OF PATTERN

If mathematics is the ‘science of pattern’ (Devlin 2000), music and dance are undoubtedly the ‘art
of pattern’. Pattern and structure are inherent to both areas of discipline – the art and the
science. The human brain enjoys pattern, both seeking it out and creating it (Lucas 2001). Devlin
(2000) suggests that it is this characteristic that led us to develop mathematics. As we noted in
Chapter 1, the Department for Children, Schools and Families recognises pattern as one of five
major aspects of what mathematics is – both in number and shape (National Strategies 2006).
This makes it even more surprising that a document entitled Numbers and Patterns: Laying
foundations in mathematics (National Strategies 2009b) makes no attempt to define pattern.

MATHS FOCUS MUSIC FRACTIONS

Fractions

Exploration
1 We demonstrated the component parts of bars of music, with four different groups of
children clapping different beats of the bar:
– Group 1 clapping once every count of 4, to represent the whole beat;
– Group 2 clapping twice every count of 4, on the count of 1 and 3; – Group 3 clapping
quarter beats on every count;
– Group 4 clapping eighth beats
– 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
2 We then invited four children to stand between two canes, to form a visual representation
of one bar of music. We asked them to take turns to clap one beat, to represent where they
stood in the bar. So, the first child clapped, then the second etc.
3 Next, the children were asked to separate the bar in half, so that we just heard the first half
of it (i.e. only the first two children clapping).
4 Then we listened to three-quarters of the bar and, finally, one quarter.
5 We extended the activity to include six, eight, twelve and sixteen children in the bar. Each
time, we looked at breaking the bar down into differing fractions.

Outcomes
Some of the Year 6 pupils struggled with this initially, but, surprisingly, a number of
children who normally struggle with fractions really began to grasp it. For children who
have strong musical intelligence, this type of approach can reach them where other
methods might not.
Some of the children who were normally very good at maths found this way difficult, and
it began to build an understanding among the whole class of how it feels when you find
something difficult, especially as they could see children who normally struggled
excelling in this lesson.
 Quote from evaluation
Music was really fun. It was like you could learn stuff by clapping and rapping. I
remember clapping the beats and seeing how much can go into a number which helped
me. It was fun, like I could do anything. I felt like I was really good, normally I am
rubbish at maths and get told off a lot.
(Year 6 pupil)

Although pattern is such a strong part of human thinking and activity, many children and
adults find it surprisingly difficult to describe pattern – to identify the characteristics. Zebra skin,
for example, is not regular or symmetrical, but it is a pattern, because it is identifiable as such.
Although, as has been reiterated in this book, we are born pattern seekers, mathematical patterns
remain a complex issue for many children, and, as such, some children may need help in
understanding them. Describing patterns found in the environment, in pictures, fabrics, events
and so on can help by giving children some of the relevant vocabulary, such as sequential,
repeating, symmetrical, growing, increasing, decreasing, alternating, cyclical, radial and staircase
patterns (Pound 2008). Representing the same patterns aurally and visually is another way to
explore the concepts involved.
A group of children made up aural patterns: some used body percussion, some used voice, and
some used instruments and other sound-makers. Each group played its pattern and then tried to
represent it visually, using a range of natural and structural materials. So, a group of children
had created a cyclical pattern using first one, then two, then three sounds, until they reached six
sounds, and then they returned to one. Initially, the sounds used were simply claps. As there
were five in the group, and the clapping continued for several rounds, each time a child had
another turn they had to clap a different number of times.

Note: 1–5 identifies children in the group taking their turn; X indicates the number of sounds made by each child

They represented this pattern by setting out rows of buttons in a circle, rather like rays of the
sun. They then tried creating the pattern, each using a different sound. This time, they
represented the pattern with shells, using six different kinds of shell to represent the six sounds.
They also experimented with using a range of other materials – twigs and pebbles, pattern blocks
and unifix. Of particular interest was the discussion that surrounded the decisions of this and
other groups – about whether the representation should be read horizontally or vertically, which
material or resource would best represent the sounds made and so on.

ENJOYING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY

In addition to the opportunities for exploring mathematical ideas creatively that have been
outlined in this chapter, it would be a pity not to acknowledge the role of music and dance in
allowing children to think while lessening the constraints usually placed on them. In focusing on
music and the physical movement that, in children, invariably accompanies it, we give them
opportunities to shift to the more creative, unconscious thinking that promotes creative thought.
In everyday language, it helps them to lighten up and think outside the box. The mathematical
understanding that emerges from these experiences feels very different from the mathematical
thinking that comes about through discussion or through paper and pencil work. But that does
not make it less valuable – it simply means that adults are helping children to tap into a variety
of ‘ways of knowing’. These, in turn, reinforce one another.
Work that may be loosely described as creative is often linked to learning styles. Eminent
psychologists working in different fields – Greenfield, Claxton and Gardner – are agreed (see
Pound 2009) that a focus on learning styles will not support this rich learning. What they are
agreed upon is that the workings of the brain benefit most from sensory input on all channels –
in short, the importance of using a variety of media goes way beyond any learning preferences.
All learning and learners benefit from a wide range of sensory input. Music is often
marginalised, and yet it is one of the few disciplines that rely on both temporal and spatial
awareness. It is this that has led Odam (1995: 19) to describe music and dance as ‘a unique
schooling for the brain’.
Finally, we cannot leave this chapter without drawing attention to the fact that a musical
performance will, of itself, provide a range of opportunities for thinking mathematically. The
work of Upitis et al. (1997) on animation, which was outlined in Chapter 8, included music. Wyse
and Dowson (2009) highlight the creativity involved in producing a musical or mini-opera. The
music is clear, but the mathematical thinking involved is perhaps less obvious. Nonetheless,
creating and playing music (possibly including the use of ICT), devising and performing dances,
planning and scheduling the event, and problem solving throughout the process can all, as we
have seen, contribute to a creative approach to mathematics. In addition, the event could include
ticket sales (including pricing and booking arrangements) and perhaps refreshments, to enhance
the mathematical opportunities.

CONCLUSION
Although music takes up a lot of time and interest outside school, it is given relatively little space
within school. This is a pity, as it can motivate children and support memory – both physical and
cognitive. It is also a way of internalising understanding, as rhythms are in themselves fractions.
Above all, music and dance provide excellent ways to learn about and understand pattern – a
key element of mathematical understanding.

FURTHER READING
Brandt, P. A. (2009) ‘Music and how we became human: A view from cognitive semiotics’, in S. Malloch and C. Trevarthen (eds),
Communicative Musicality. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Devlin, K. (2000) The Maths Gene. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (see section on pattern).
du Sautoy, M. (2004) The Music of the Primes. London: Harper Perennial.
Harkleroad, L. (2006) The Math Behind the Music. New York: Cambridge University Press.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Webb, S. (2003) Tanka Tanka Skunk. London: Random House.
 CHAPTER 12

CONCLUSION
Learning mathematics through playful teaching

The focus throughout this book has been on four types of creativity – creative teaching, creative
learning, creative partnerships and creative mathematics. These four aspects work together to
produce an approach that may be called teaching for creativity. All rely on a creative and
therefore playful teacher – someone prepared to take risks and entertain new ideas and with a
sense of wonder and curiosity about the world around them. Time and time again, when we
were researching for this book, it became apparent that the chosen approach is only as good as
the teacher – when using, for example, manipulatives or apparatus or exploring origami, and
showing a general willingness to be playful, curious, adventurous and enthusiastic. The teacher
in the example that follows was playful and willing to take risks and demonstrated both a sense
of fun and trust in the children.
The flexibility of thinking involved in playfulness is the essence of creativity. As with all other
aspects of teaching, teaching mathematics creatively requires a number of characteristics and
skills. In this chapter, we will attempt to draw these elements together (see also
http://escalate.ac.uk/5312).

TEACHING FOR CREATIVITY

Teachers can promote creativity in a number of ways, but should be aware that, as they teach,
they are also modelling what it is to be a learner. When mathematics is being taught, curiosity
and imagination can sometimes get lost, but they are vital elements of mathematical
understanding. Together with making unusual connections, they are vital to problem solving
(and finding), to the analysis of data and to representations of outcomes. The following are
aspects of creativity to consider in relation to mathematics:

Creativity is about making connections and seeing unexpected relationships. Creative teaching
and learning involve drawing on previous experience, seeking out relevant metaphors or
analogies and identifying patterns. Ideas will be communicated in innovative ways, and
learning will be applied in a wide context.
Creative teachers and learners envisage or imagine possibilities. Visualising or imagining a
 variety of ideas for solving problems requires an open mind, on both the part of the learner
and the teacher.
Creativity involves exploring ideas, keeping options open. Some teachers and learners find it
hard to cope with the uncertainty when situations involve flexibility. Such an approach
involves play, perseverance, willingness to follow a hunch (or guess) and not minding getting
it wrong.
Creativity involves questioning and challenging. As teachers, we are used to doing both, but
sometimes find it more difficult to cope with children who are curious, questioning and
challenging, and who don’t always follow rules. For teachers and learners, creativity will
involve asking unusual questions, as well as ‘why?’ ‘how?’, ‘what if?’. The answers and
responses to questions or tasks may be unusual. Independent thinking may also be involved.
Asking children to explain their reasoning makes it possible to promote unusual thinking. It
may take time for children to explain, and they may need support to do it. In order to
promote creative thinking in general, adults should avoid asking closed questions.
Mathematics is an area of the curriculum in which it is all too easy to drift into wanting one
single correct answer. This approach is an anathema to creativity. Williams (1996) suggests
that responding to apparently correct answers and those displaying apparent misconceptions
in the same way will help. Simply asking children to explain how they arrived at an answer
will provoke an open-ended response, rather than a teacher-pleasing, pat answer. It is not
always easy to find the questions that will challenge children to think in creative ways, but,
the more adults try to do this, the more children will pick up on those ideas and challenge one
another and themselves. Adults also need to be mindful of research (see, for example, Walsh
and Sattes 2005) that highlights the way in which we fail to give children sufficient thinking
time. Most adults rush in with another question before the first one is answered.
Creativity emerges from reflecting critically on ideas, actions and outcomes. If you are a
reflective practitioner, you will encourage pupils to be similarly reflective. Praise must be
specific in order to be effective. Simply saying ‘great!’ or ‘fantastic!’ doesn’t allow children to
pinpoint what you are praising and why. ‘Well done for not giving up, but sticking with it
even when it went wrong!’ or ‘I really like the way you have tessellated those shapes – how
do you think the pattern might be extended?’ is much more likely to enable children to repeat
and build on their success. Feedback (whether written or spoken) will be most effective when
it is given as close to the event as possible. Compliment those who think about alternative
ways of approaching a task or problem.

Creating a climate for creativity in the mathematics classroom

Safe enough to take risks: Risk taking is an essential element of creativity. Mathematics is an
area of the curriculum where most people – children and adults alike – lack confidence and
therefore find it hard to take risks. A shift to a more conjectural, more problem-solving
approach will support improved confidence. Drama, role-play, story, outdoor experiences,
music and dance are all likely to be perceived by children as fun. The notion of hard fun,
 which was described in Chapter 3, should be the aim of creative mathematics. In order to be
adventurous, children need to be challenged – they have to want to find out, in order to
engage with a task.
Spaces and places for quiet reflection and concentration if you want pupils to work
imaginatively: Organising the classroom, indoors and out, in such a way as to both support
collaborative work and play and promote quiet, reflective and focused activity is a challenge.
How this is achieved will depend on the space available and the ethos of the school. The rate
of change towards this goal will also depend on a whole-school approach. As noted earlier,
parents and staff often have to shift their perceptions of what mathematics is and how
creativity can possibly be applied to it, before progress can be made. Claxton (2008) reminds
us that children need unhurried time if they are to reflect and think flexibly. When children
are urged to rush, when pace becomes more important than thinking, we tend to revert to
well-rehearsed modes of thinking, rather than the ‘out of the box’ thinking required for
creativity (Claxton 1997).
A willingness to make the most of the unexpected – without losing sight of your overall learning
objectives: Children’s interests may shift, but that need not be a problem. Evaluation of the
day’s teaching will inform decisions about whether the unexpected event served the planned
learning objectives, whether they need to be addressed in a new way, and what other learning
objectives may have been met.
Providing opportunities to work with others from their class, year group or even other age
groups: There is strong evidence that explaining things to others helps us to understand (see
Chapter 3; Lee 2006; Mercer and Littleton 2007). Cross-phase work, like that described in
Chapter 7, is powerful and rewarding. Older children working with younger ones; children
with additional learning needs finding a valuable niche; those whose spoken or written
English is not well developed exploring mathematics through drama or painting; those who
are good at spoken or written English being challenged to think through a different and
perhaps less comfortable medium – all of these things are possible and manageable. They
involve some creative risk taking by both adults and children, but they can produce exciting
and memorable mathematics.
 Figure 12.1 Questioning and challenging ideas built on children’s interests

MEMORISING FACTS
Imagine sitting in a hall with a group of Year 6 pupils, prior to SATs, and apparently wasting
time that could be spent on serious revision in an afternoon creating stories, riddles and
rhymes. What are the number properties that we need to remember, and how can we make
remembering them a joyful experience for our pupils? Rather than testing the knowledge that
they already have, we can try giving out the formulas, with the task of creating a way to
remember these using a range of learning approaches that will appeal to the whole class.
As demonstrated on page 81, prime numbers can be remembered by dividing them up
between the class, so that, in groups of four or five, each child gets three or four numbers to
remember. The task is for each group to come up with a short story or phrase around its
numbers that it can recite as a group, accompanied by actions. As each group creates its
number stories and actions, it needs to ensure it develops something that it can teach to the
rest of the class. Here is an example of part of a story created by a group of Year 5 pupils
using the first six prime numbers:

The 2 legged monster had 3 heads and 5 eyes.

7 dwarfs climbed 11 feet down, to reach the monster’s 13 toes.

Once each group has created its rhymes or mnemonic, it teaches the others the lines and
actions. As the teaching continues, pupils are questioned to further embed the numbers in
their memory. How many legs? How many dwarfs? Down how many feet did the dwarfs
climb?
Imagine an afternoon revising prime numbers spent asking questions such as how many
dwarfs were there, and how many heads did the monster have? Surely this is much more
playful than asking pupils to name three prime numbers? (See also p. 81 for additional
 examples.)

CREATIVE MATHEMATICS
Teaching mathematics creatively involves rethinking the idea of mathematics held by many,
including teachers, parents and support staff. It involves reconceptualising what mathematics is
– entailing problem solving and pattern and with a focus on the application across the
curriculum. It involves going way beyond numbers, beyond the purely instrumental or
functional aspects of mathematics, beyond the mere entitlement to demonstrate to children the
excitement and the beauty of mathematics. And, perhaps above all, it will go beyond ‘curriculum
delivery’. We should remember Paley’s phrase (1981) that children are often only in ‘temporary
custody’ of mathematical ideas and concepts: until something has been learned, we haven’t
taught it. We will need to revisit, re-present and make mathematics memorable, by making it
creative.
Mathematics is much more than numeracy and, as we explored in Chapter 1, it is about the
beauty of mathematics that some children and adults become enthusiastic (see, for example, du
Sautoy 2008b). By encouraging children to explore mathematics in their own way, we help them
to find both the creative beauty and the creative energy that will support learning. This will
mean harnessing the imagination that is at the heart of human endeavour (Ramachandran 2004).

CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
Throughout this book, the immense value of learning to work together in order to foster creative
mathematics has been reiterated. Collaboration among children is vital, but the partnerships do
not stop there. We need to create communities of learners – parents and staff working together.
This is essential if children are to come to understandings about the true nature of mathematics.
Only in this way can the creative approach to mathematics that will fit children for their adult
life in our ever-changing world be realised. We need to draw in the community and we need to
undertake the additional training proposed for primary mathematics specialists. However, being
the specialist does not mean having all the answers.
There will need to be a partnership between members of staff. All phase specialists, as well as
subject specialists, can work together to reach consensus on the kinds of integrated approach that
will bring mathematics to life. Cross-phase work draws children and staff together, developing a
sense of progress in learning and a sense of a learning community. Co-operation is also needed
between staff to ensure that, with art and mathematics or history and mathematics, learning in
both subjects is enhanced, and one is not compromising the integrity of the other.
The conventional sense of creative partnerships – of working with creative artists – is also
important. Although relatively rare, MakeBelieve Arts, for example, has been able to take on
creative partnership work in schools, focusing on the development of mathematical
understanding. This gives recognition and status to the role that the creative arts – and, in this
case, drama in particular – can play in making mathematics more real for children.
Much lip service is paid to the idea of partnership with parents, but it is not always easy to
achieve. Although frequently described as partners, parents are rarely thought of as creative
partners. In fact, as Boaler (2009) points out, parents have a vital role to play in helping children
to become creative mathematicians. She devotes a whole chapter to the early beginnings of
mathematical thinking and to the role that parents play in its development. The problem for
schools is that attitudes (in children and parents) have already hardened by the time children
arrive at school. One London borough has produced a booklet for the parents of young children.
Entitled More to Maths Than Counting (Tower Hamlets 2009), it offers suggestions of activities to
support children’s interest and enthusiasm for mathematics that are fun and a simple part of
everyday life.
By far the most important aspect of a creative partnership needs to relate to children. Teachers
and support staff need to tune into children’s thinking. Clark (2005) describes the careful
observation of, and intent listening to, them as ‘ways of seeing’ – giving an enhanced
understanding of their thinking. Teachers frequently claim to start where the child is, but unless
we really listen to what their words and actions tell us about their mathematical understanding
and their motivations and interests, we will be unable to determine where that is.
Creative partnerships between pupils are also productive. Cross-phase work can be very
liberating: younger children are motivated by proximity to older ones; older children learn what
they know (and don’t know) by beginning to articulate it in a new way; less able children have a
chance to shine; and, as we saw in the previous chapter, the competence of abler children can be
questioned and extended by their having to think in new ways. A focus on measurement (Wyse
and Dowson 2009: 43) would be a great cross-phase topic or project. Wyse and Dowson suggest,
for example, a check that all classes have chairs of the right size for the relevant children. This
would be followed up by strategies to improve provision. It is also suggested that children’s
horizons on measurement could be extended by measurement of noise and light levels. A focus
of this nature could involve every child in the school, with real purpose and an opportunity to
learn from and with others.

CREATIVE LEARNERS
According to an Ofsted report, creative learning emerges when children are encouraged to
question, to make connections and to see relationships. It is also based on an ability to speculate,
to pursue a line of enquiry flexibly and to reflect and review critically (Ofsted 2010). In order to
develop the children we work with as creative learners, we should be trying to nurture a range of
characteristics. We want learners who are active – physically and mentally. We want confident
learners, prepared to take intellectual risks and capable of enjoying the challenge of hard fun. In
order to be creative, children will need to be encouraged to make unusual connections. They
know how to do it, but a curriculum that focuses on one right answer will quickly discourage
them from making anything but safe, tried and tested connections. Unusual connections are
evident in humorous interludes and will be supported where children are able to engage in
dialogue and negotiation with both peers and adults.
Creative learners make use of opportunities to exercise their curiosity and enthusiasm, seek
challenges and be intrigued by the world around them. They will make full use of their
imagination and enjoy the conjectural thinking that means they will strive to look for
alternatives and developments. Creative learners emerge when teaching is ‘dialogic’. Mercer and
Littleton (2007: 42) define dialogic teaching as where:

1 [children are given] … opportunities and encouragement to question, state points of view,
and comment on ideas and issues that arise in lessons;
2 the teacher engages in discussions with students which explore and support the
development of their understanding of content;
3 the teacher takes students’ contributions into account in developing the subject theme of
the lesson and in devising activities that enable students to pursue their understanding
themselves, through talk and other activity;
4 the teacher uses talk to provide a cumulative, continuing, contextual frame to enable
students’ involvement with the new knowledge they are encountering.

Children also emerge as creative learners when they are supported in becoming collaborative
learners. Investigations work well for this, particularly if they involve physical action. An
activity such as this one (suggested by Wyse and Dowson 2009: 42) – ‘What is the tallest tower
you can build using only A4 paper and sticky tape? What happens if you use larger sheets?’ –
engenders immediate enthusiasm and interest.

CREATIVE TEACHERS
Creative teachers remember the importance of fun. In the main, this book has sought to
emphasise ‘hard fun’ – helping children to find and solve problems, identify patterns,
collaborate, discuss and think. Sometimes, however, techniques and approaches that emphasise
fun for its own sake can help children simply to remember some of the things that they find
hard. The example below describes a group of children having fun remembering square
numbers.
Creative teachers acknowledge the nature of learning. Bowkett et al. (2007: 132–3) uses the
acronym RING to help students (and teachers) remember four key conditions for learning.
Learning needs to be relevant – if we don’t understand, the brain finds it hard to engage. It needs
to be interesting – if you are not interested, then you cannot recall. They suggest that learning
also needs to be naughty and to make you giggle – the humour changes the chemistry of the
brain, and the images it evokes support visualisation – an aspect of abstract thinking. The
example below describes some work in which RING was being explored.

A Year 6 class was struggling to remember the difference between a parallelogram and a
rhombus. The children were asked to imagine a little square in their hand. Then they were
asked to think about it as a baby square wearing an all in one romper suit. They had time to
 think about what colour the romper suit was and also to imagine what was on the pocket of
the romper suit. Then they held out their hands and admired their baby square in its bright
red romper suit. Suddenly it fell over and the group called out the word rhombus. Next the
class were asked to imagine a train speeding along parallel lines. They used their hands to
demonstrate the train’s movement, stretching out as far as they could go. Suddenly the train
came off the track with a big crash. Moving the top hand forward over the bottom hand the
class made a crashing noise and then called out parallelogram.

Creative teachers recognise the importance of space and time. Claxton (1997) emphasises the
role of ‘slow ways of knowing’ in the creative process, and this means creating opportunity,
unhurried time and mental space to review children’s learning with them (Mercer and Littleton
2007). Teachers also need to model this process, helping children to understand how to identify
learning and how to review it (Lee 2006).
As we saw in Chapter 1 (Cremin 2010), creativity is not something we can develop in others
unless we are prepared to nurture our own creativity. In order to be mathematically creative, we
have also to nurture our willingness to explore mathematical ideas. Teaching mathematics
creatively will therefore require:

belief in play and narrative as the bedrock of all human understanding and abstract thought;
maintenance of the childlike curiosity that retains a sense of wonder at the world about us,
actively seeking and solving problems;
collaboration with parents, colleagues and children;
an enjoyment of challenge and ‘hard fun’, together with a spirit of flexibility and a measure of
spontaneity to ensure that learning opportunities are not lost.

MEMORY TECHNIQUES
In Success in the Creative Classroom (Bowkett et al. 2007: 136), Roy Leighton talks about how
physical activities can engage the memory. He has created an exercise that involves
visualising and placing imagined objects throughout the body. This technique can be used for
anything that needs to be remembered.
Taking up this challenge, MakeBelieve Arts tried the approach with a group of Year 6
children who were involved in revision of square numbers for the forthcoming SATs exam.
The workshop leader and the Year 6 pupils worked together to create the following list of
objects to remember the first ten square numbers. The pupils then worked through the list,
visualising each object and placing it on the relevant part of the body.
Note: *For an explanation see www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-_J7dy96ts

The group spent time visualising all these numbers, and then we repeated it later on in the
session. MakeBelieve Arts was back with the group a week later, and, to their amazement, the
children had good recall of square numbers.
 Figure 12.2 Creative teaching requires a belief in the power of play and story

CONCLUSION
Creative teachers make use of a range of opportunities in order to develop mathematical
understanding. They identify and communicate the creativity of the subject itself in exploring
pattern and identifying problems – both real and conjectural. They strive to nurture the creative
abilities of children, who are inherently creative. And they make use of creative partnerships –
inviting in musicians, drama specialists and visual artists, who can use their skills to support the
teaching of mathematics creatively.

FURTHER READING
Duckworth, E. (ed.) (2001) Tell Me More. New York: Teachers’ College Press.
Lee, C. (2006) Language for Learning Mathematics. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Wyse, D. and Dowson, P. (2009) The Really Useful Creativity Book. London: Routledge.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS
McNaughton, C. and Kitamura, S. (2005) Once Upon an Ordinary School Day. London: Andersen Press.
This book is not about mathematics, but it is about creative teaching. Through his creative
teaching, the supply teacher changes the dull greyness of a child’s life to an extraordinary world
of excitement and colour.
LIST OF MATHEMATICAL ACTIVITIES

The list below highlights the range of practical mathematical activities highlighted in each
chapter. Most of the activities can be adapted to suit a wide range of interests, ages and abilities.
The descriptions are not intended to act as a directive, but to offer a starting point for developing
activities with the children you teach.

CHAPTER 2: I HATE MATHS! POSITIVE FEELINGS, CREATIVE

DISPOSITIONS AND MATHEMATICS
Use raps, songs and chants to commit number facts to memory.
Mark out irregular-shaped islands on the floor using masking tape. Then, in small groups,
divide these islands equally using various tools.

CHAPTER 3: MOTIVATING CHILDREN: PROBLEM-FINDING

AND PROBLEM-SOLVING
Using the story of Mr Archimedes’ Bath, fill bowls with coloured water or balls and explore the
notion of displacement, using objects of various weights, shapes and sizes.
Using the story of Centipede’s 100 Shoes, discover how many insects’ feet you can protect using
cut-out shoes and socks. Use plastic insects to explore counting in twos or sixes or eights.
Find examples of books that offer rich, problem-solving/problem-finding opportunities.
Explore problems that are real; this could be finding out how many seats there are on a train, or
how much food is needed for a picnic.
Write a list of all the problems you can find that can only be answered by your being in a
specific room, or with specific objects.

CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING: TALKING AND

THINKING ABOUT MATHEMATICS
Create patterns and talk about them mathematically, discussing symmetry or their cyclical
nature.
 Describe a shape or pattern mathematically to a partner, who has to draw it.
Analyse the meaning of mathematical words and concepts that are used frequently. Discuss
philosophical questions, such as: does zero equal nothing?
Set up a Philosophy for Children (P4C) enquiry, using a lottery ticket as a stimulus. Warm up
with a game of ‘Would you rather?’, around choices that have a mathematical bias.

CHAPTER 5: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: REAL

MATHS!
Explore ways to share out different numbers of biscuits with a group, incorporating problem
solving, estimation, computation and pattern.
Find the mathematics in everyday situations, from fantasy football leagues to the time it takes
to walk home from the park.
Explore ways to move a heavy object from the middle of the classroom.
Use drama to set up situations that have a wealth of mathematical learning potential; for
example, a vet’s surgery, a baby clinic or a travel agency.
Create scenarios around recycling, fines for dropping litter and an urgency to dispose of
rubbish.

CHAPTER 6: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: USING

STORY TO TEACH MATHS
Explore the final fee given for a chore, if, on the first day, it was 1 penny, and, for every day
after, the amount doubled, over the period of 1 month.
Use pebbles and rice to examine counting and why we need place value, through a story that
asks which kingdom has the largest army.
Examine the implication of a world without number and explore ways to compensate for this.
Invent villains who steal odd numbers and superheroes who rescue them.
Create beds out of shoes to explore the problems that can arise using nonstandard
measurements.
Use algebraic formulas to describe what is happening in a part of a story.
Create stories to memorise prime numbers.
Incorporate interest in football cards into maths lesson.
Suggested titles of books explicitly about mathematics, with ideas for follow-up activities.

CHAPTER 7: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: GIANT

MATHS
 Explore books about giants and the mathematical potential contained in them.
Imagine a giant is trapped down a well; find out the average height people can jump and create
a plaited rope to help the giant escape.
Create scaled props for a film about discovering a giant or entering a giant world.
Plan and make a giant birthday party, incorporating scale, circumference, pattern and shape.
Explore the relative size of different parts of the body and work out the equivalents to this on a
giant’s body, using the golden mean and proportion.
Using a giant toothbrush and a normal-sized toothbrush, how many ways can you attempt to
work out the height of a giant? Mark out the differing lengths on the floor using masking
tape.

CHAPTER 8: CROSS-CURRICULAR TEACHING:

MATHEMATICS AT THE HEART OF THE CURRICULUM?
Representing mathematical ideas in a variety of forms and media gives children insight into
data handling as a mode of communication.
Using the story of two brothers who need to share their field equally, explore fractions and
divide tables using masking tape.
Use food technology to discover the maths in recipes, shopping for ingredients, calculation,
weighing and pricing.
Explore the lives of evacuees from the Second World War, creating maps of where children will
stay, checking criteria for who can go where, and allocating children to families.
Create a market that is selling products from a period of time in history and buy and sell these
items using the currency of the time.
Create kinaesthetic maths programs by giving physical responses to various number properties.
Create a number property assault course and hold relay races to solve maths questions and to
sort and categorise numbers.

CHAPTER 9: MATHEMATICS OUTDOORS: THE WORLD

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Explore the mathematics contained in the school grounds, estimating the number of leaves on a
tree, or how many bricks in a wall.
Redesign an area of the school playground, mapping and marking out various areas and
creating realistic budgets.
Incorporate data analysis when monitoring the weather.
Sample numbers of flowers in an area of the field, to estimate the quantity in the whole.
Explore patterns and shapes found in nature.
Plan a school trip, including organising the transport, budgeting and problem solving.
 Dig holes in the ground to represent negative numbers and create mounds for positive numbers.
Use lengths of guttering to discover how to make water run uphill, and learn about angles and
distances.
Explore which direction a tree would fall if it were chopped down.
Find the mathematical opportunities in outdoor games, including scoring, league-table creation
and statistics.
Develop and solve mathematical treasure hunts.
Create obstacle courses and direct others around these blindfolded.
Build dens that accommodate varying numbers of people. Create complex structures or work in
miniature.

CHAPTER 10: BUILDING MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING:

CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECTURE
Use large numbers of cardboard boxes to create replicas of famous monuments. Present these
models to the class using mathematical language.
Explore ways to record models made from blocks, or build replicas from records of models
previously created.
Become town planners and map-makers, incorporating several giant, 8 × 8 masking-tape grids
marked out on the floor and using pictures of buildings.
Create shapes against a mirror and discuss the results. Add more mirrors and discuss further.
Use origami to fold and create models and solve geometrical problems.
Collect and store boxes as flat nets and create patterns and puzzles.
Make three-dimensional paper jewellery.
Use rolled up newspaper to create giant shapes.

CHAPTER 11: EXPLORING MATHEMATICS THROUGH MUSIC

Use Boomwhackers to explore the relationship between sound and pitch and discuss the
findings.
Work out the average times for listening to music for people from various age groups.
Create raps or songs to remember complex mathematical properties.
Explore fractions by clapping out different beats in a bar.
Create aural patterns using body percussion, voices or instruments, and then try to represent
these visually using a range of materials.

CHAPTER 12: CONCLUSION: LEARNING MATHEMATICS

THROUGH PLAYFUL TEACHING
 Explore cross-phase work, measuring and planning together and sharing the findings.
Discover the tallest tower you can build using only A4 sheets of paper and sticky tape. Use
visualisation activities to remember square numbers.
GUESSTIMATES

Estimation is a well-established aspect of mathematics education and an important mathematical

skill for life. However, too often, by the time it is introduced into the curriculum, children have
already internalised the idea that mathematics is all about getting the one right answer.
Children’s ability and willingness to estimate is thus inhibited. ‘Guess first’ is the principle on
which we have based our thinking about teaching mathematics creatively. In each chapter, we
have identified reasons for encouraging children to guess first. In case you’re anxious that
children will simply make wild guesses, we suggest the term ‘guesstimate’, which may
encompass the benefits of either term. The following reasons for guesstimates have been
highlighted in each chapter:

CHAPTER 2: I HATE MATHS! POSITIVE FEELINGS, CREATIVE

DISPOSITIONS AND MATHEMATICS
Guessing helps the brain to tune into the topic under consideration.
Guessing encourages children to make use of what ‘they know in their bones’.
Children’s estimates can be challenged (by adults and children) with less loss of face and
greater opportunity for subsequent discussion, as in the episode involving rug measurers.

CHAPTER 3: MOTIVATING CHILDREN: PROBLEM-FINDING

AND PROBLEM-SOLVING
Guessing promotes flexible thinking by encouraging the idea that there may be more than one
right way or answer.
Guessing can nurture perseverance by encouraging trial and error strategies – if one thing
didn’t work, what else might?
When children guess first, teachers gain an insight into their thinking and are better able to
scaffold learning.
Guessing at possible solutions helps to prevent children from simply waiting to be told how to
get it right.
Prediction and conjecture are close relations of guessing and are important parts of the learning
that comes from books and stories.
CHAPTER 4: DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING: TALKING AND
THINKING ABOUT MATHEMATICS
Guessing helps children to think, as, when tension is relieved, communication is promoted.
Guessing helps to make the invisible visible, as patterns emerge through discussion with others.
Conjecture (or guessing) leads to good ideas, as, in order to have good ideas, you have to have
lots of ideas.

CHAPTER 5: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: REAL

MATHS!
If adults don’t encourage children to guess, children often try to predict (or guess) what adults
want them to say.
Apparently wild guesses may highlight puzzlement or misconceptions. Having heard them
spoken out loud, the teacher is better able to analyse and address misunderstandings.

CHAPTER 6: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: USING

STORY TO TEACH MATHS
Guessing what happens next in a story engages the brain in both the narrative and the
mathematics.
Learning to guess or estimate when large quantities of small things such as rice are involved is
much less time consuming and often, because of the nature of the task, equally accurate.
Getting children to think about ways of doing this – such as weighing a small number and
then working out the greater amount – often obtains a reasonable answer.

CHAPTER 7: TEACHING MATHEMATICS CREATIVELY: GIANT

MATHS
Giants and other fantasy figures provide good material for promoting estimation. As they are
not real, you cannot be wrong.
The guessing may be described as conjecture – a vital part of creativity and useful for
developing creative mathematics.

CHAPTER 8: CROSS-CURRICULAR TEACHING:

MATHEMATICS AT THE HEART OF THE CURRICULUM?
 The cross-curricular context for learning mathematics enables the brain to relax and to draw on
many different ways of knowing (Claxton 1997), and so estimates are informed by a wider
range of information.
The many different forms of representation of mathematical ideas (ICT, art, drama, music etc.)
enrich the process of guessing.

CHAPTER 9: MATHEMATICS OUTDOORS: THE WORLD

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
If offered a generally more relaxed and informal learning environment than traditional
classrooms, children are more likely to generate relaxed, intuitive solutions and answers.
Opportunities for den building encourage a series of guesses (or predictions or hypotheses)
about the best way to build a den of a suitable size. In general, this relies on a trial-and-error
approach. As children get older, they will be able to plan – basing their judgements on
experience.

CHAPTER 10: BUILDING MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING:

CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECTURE
Children’s ability and willingness to guesstimate will be enhanced by a range of activities, such
as treasure hunts and construction, that rely heavily on trial-and-error strategies, which in
turn support imagining, envisioning and predicting.

CHAPTER 11: EXPLORING MATHEMATICS THROUGH MUSIC

Guesstimation in relation to music and mathematics is an effective strategy, because music
relies a great deal on physical memory when one is singing, playing or dancing. It also evokes
excitement and enthusiasm. Guessing, in this context, is less likely to make children feel as
though they are in a test situation.

CHAPTER 12: CONCLUSION: LEARNING MATHEMATICS

THROUGH PLAYFUL TEACHING
Adults who take risks and make errors reassure students that these create learning
opportunities. Mixed age groups help children to see progression and development and
provide safe contexts and new information to support estimation.
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Pouyet, M. (2006) Artistes de nature. Toulouse, France: Editions Plume de Carotte.
Rempt, F. and Smit, N. (2006) Snail’s Birthday Wish. London: Boxer.
Reynolds, P. (2007) So Few of Me. London: Walker.
Roeder, A. (2009) 13 Buildings Children Should Know. London: Prestel.
Rosen, M. (2014) Good Ideas. London: John Murray.
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Ross, T. (2008) I’m Coming to Get You. London: Picture Puffins.
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Scamell, R. and Terry, M. (2006) Ouch! London: Little Tiger Press.
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Vernon Lloyd, J. (1988) The Giant Jam Sandwich. London: Piper Picture Books.
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Webb, S. (2003) Tanka Tanka Skunk. London: Random House.
Wenzel, A. (2010) 13 Sculptures Children Should Know. London: Prestel.
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INDEX

abstract thinking 2, 6, 11, 12, 15, 20, 23, 24, 34, 51, 58, 59, 60, 61, 65, 67, 72, 80, 98, 99, 102, 109, 111, 112, 144, 158
accuracy see estimation
adults 1, 10, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 41, 42, 46, 47, 49, 50, 58, 59, 64, 65, 72, 76, 81, 82, 86, 88, 92, 109, 119,
121, 122, 126, 130, 131, 136, 146, 149, 150, 153, 155, 157; see also parents, teachers
aesthetics 12, 130, 143
Alexander, R. see Cambridge Primary Review
algebra 1, 16, 17, 32, 80, 81, 121, 137
answers 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 40, 42, 45, 50, 52, 54, 55, 57, 59, 65, 66, 67, 73, 78, 79, 93, 94, 98, 103, 107,
116, 121, 136, 137, 147, 153, 156, 157; no right answer 8, 11, 18, 28, 34, 59, 93–4; right answers 4, 8, 11, 18, 28, 30, 34, 45, 55, 59,
103, 137, 157
architecture 128–141
art 97, 109, 110, 111, 112, 121, 130, 134, 156
arts xii, 10, 11, 60, 98, 109–112, 156; see also art, cross-curricular, dance, drama, music
Atkinson, S. 17, 18

bilingualism 20, 146; mathematical language like a foreign language 49

biliteracy 56
binary opposites 73, 74, 75, 78, 83, 86, 94
Boaler, J. 1, 4, 8, 17, 26, 28, 31, 32, 37, 40, 43, 45, 46, 56, 115, 119, 131, 146, 156; fake maths 2, 59, 64; ladder of rules 12, 40, 97;
Mathsland 33; passive maths 45–6, 56; representation 37
Bruner, J. 25, 72

calculation 4, 19, 25, 58, 59, 82; addition 5, 19, 36, 70, 79; computation 2, 20, 28, 33, 43, 62, 102, 103; division 5, 25, 36, 39, 47, 70, 99,
100, 107; multiplication 5, 19, 20, 36, 39, 66, 70, 100, 107, 109; subtraction 5, 36, 47, 79
Cambridge Primary Review 3, 6, 96, 97, 103, 144
Claxton, G. 3, 12, 14, 20, 50, 93, 104, 115, 126, 148, 150, 155, 158; intuition 12, 19; slow ways of knowing 51
collaboration 7, 9, 37, 41, 54–6, 57, 67, 104, 109, 115, 122, 126, 133, 155, 156, 157, 158; collaborative thinking 49; community of
learners 31, 114
communication 13, 18, 38, 46, 54, 97–100, 103, 112; supports mathematical thinking 46–56
computation see calculation
confidence 1, 4, 13, 15, 18, 54, 59, 77, 79, 97, 140, 146, 153
conjectural thinking see dispositions for learning
construction 67, 101, 111, 114, 126, 128–141; blockplay 131–4
counting 6, 16, 21, 25, 29, 30, 32, 34, 37, 39, 73, 75, 76, 78, 82, 84, 101; dance and counting 142; More to Maths than Counting 156;
music and counting 109, 142, 144, 146–8; stories using counting words 73
creativity 5, 6–14, 20, 32, 43, 50, 60, 65, 98, 99, 102, 109, 114, 115–6, 119, 125, 141, 144, 151, 158, 160; creative learning 10–11;
creative mathematics 11–12; creative partnerships 11; creative teaching 8–10, 13, 160; definitions 6–8; four types of creativity
152; mathematics and creativity 8, 155; teaching for creativity, 152–5
cross-curricular 1, 10, 37, 82, 86, 88, 94, 96–112; design and technology 101; history & geography 104; in outdoor provision 116;
justification for 96–7; need for true integration 112; science 101–3; see also arts, dance, drama, ICT, music, technology
cross-phase 12, 88, 94, 155, 156
Csikszentmihalyi, M. 7

dance 5, 19, 24, 25, 69, 109, 142, 146, 148, 150, 151, 153
data gathering 13, 62, 101, 113, 114
data handling 1, 13, 65, 89, 97, 98, 101, 102, 104, 119, 122, 137, 152
Devlin, K. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 11, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 47, 49, 50, 65, 67, 72, 104, 109, 128, 136, 137, 148
discussion 37, 38, 43, 45–57, 66, 67, 90, 94, 100, 101, 104, 109, 113, 115, 119, 121, 122, 126, 150, 157; philosophical dialogue 51–6;
promotes thinking 50–54
dispositions for learning 10, 12, 13, 16–27, 29, 32, 33, 131; conjectural thinking 10, 12, 25, 28, 32, 34, 42, 43, 65, 67, 93–4, 98, 104, 115,
153, 157, 160; curiosity 13, 18, 25, 28, 29, 32, 115, 119, 152, 157, 158; flexibility 10, 20, 28, 29, 67, 115, 152, 153, 155, 157, 158;
perseverance 18, 28, 32, 54, 153
division see calculation
drama 13, 19, 25, 47, 59, 67, 74, 75–6, 88, 90, 92, 97, 98–100, 104, 109, 124, 134, 153, 155, 156, 160; defining ‘real’ and ‘pretend’ 67,
90–1; develops from blockplay 133–4; mantle of the expert 88, 104; see also MakeBelieve Arts, narrative
du Sautoy, M. 3, 4, 5, 11, 41, 45, 47, 52, 64, 65, 109, 116, 119, 142, 143, 155

Egan, K. 10, 11, 16, 24, 30, 71, 75, 94, 115, 142, 144, 146; story model form 74; teaching as storytelling 16, 47, 72–3
Einstein, A. 7, 65, 67
emotions and feelings 4, 11, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 63, 67, 72, 74, 79, 98, 112, 125; enthusiasm 5, 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, 71, 76, 94, 115, 156, 157;
excitement 5, 10, 21, 23, 24, 25, 41, 76, 80, 94, 103, 115, 126, 139, 155; feelings about mathematics 17–20; negative feelings 18, 26;
teachers’ enthusiasm 25
engagement 11, 24, 32, 40, 71, 73, 87, 88, 98, 104
estimation 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, 20, 47, 50, 58, 59, 62, 64, 65, 77, 91, 113, 153; accuracy 19–20 guesstimation 59, 91, 165–7

fractions 23, 28, 68, 83, 93, 99–100, 105, 133, 139, 149, 151
Froebel 59, 128, 129, 131, 133

Gardner, H. 7, 8, 11, 25, 104, 126, 150

geometry see shape
Goleman, D. 11, 18
guesswork see estimation

‘hard fun’ 10, 31, 153, 157, 158

Hardy, G. H. 47, 65, 143
humour 30, 43, 83, 84, 158
hypothesising see estimation

ICT 97, 101–3, 111, 112, 151

imagination 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 25, 29, 30, 43, 50, 51, 65, 67, 69, 73, 79, 82, 86, 87, 89, 92, 94, 98, 99, 109, 110, 115, 134, 140, 152, 153,
155, 157, 158, 159
intuition 11, 12, 19, 20, 65
investigation 29, 34, 37, 40–2, 43, 46, 62, 101, 113, 114, 121, 122, 144, 157; childled 59; community of enquiry 51–3; quests 41

Katz 31

logic see reasoning

MakeBelieve Arts 10, 13, 16, 17, 35, 37, 42, 47, 55, 68, 71, 73, 76, 78, 90, 107, 124, 136, 156, 159
manipulatives see structured apparatus
mathematical achievement 1, 2, 11, 13, 112
mathematical language 45, 46, 49–57, 82, 97, 129, 146; activities to develop 49; language 56–7; learning to talk mathematically
49–50; mathematical literacy 4, 98; songs to develop 144, 147; written language 56–7
mathematicians 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 20, 23, 24, 31, 33, 34, 40, 41, 45, 47, 50, 51, 64–5, 88, 128, 136, 142, 143, 148, 156
mathematics: definitions 2–6, 21–2, 155; illstructured discipline 33
mathematics: innate capacity for 1, 3–4, 15, 28
mathematics: mental 55, 107, 133
mathematics: ‘real’ 2, 17, 19, 20, 24, 33, 41, 58–69, 88, 101, 115, 136; everyday maths 1, 18, 52, 64, 121; made real through use of
imagination 67–9; outdoors 99, 113–127, 140, 143; real for children 60, 65–9
Mathsland 32–3, 96, 113, 119
measuring 1, 5, 12, 22, 23, 35, 47, 49, 52, 54, 60, 64, 80, 87, 92, 93, 101, 107, 110, 113, 114, 120, 122, 125, 128, 143, 157; non-standard
measurements 22, 47, 52, 80
memory 19, 20, 24, 80, 81, 82, 117, 125, 142, 144–6, 148, 151, 154, 159
money 39, 55, 58, 68, 73, 105, 121
multiplication see calculation
multiplication tables 3, 16, 19, 20, 107, 146
music 6, 11, 24, 25, 67, 69, 109, 111, 142–151, 153, 160; children’s own songs 17, 147; music and pattern 148–50; rhythm and time
146–8

narrative 10, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 30, 32, 35, 37, 41, 42, 47, 54, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70–85, 86, 89, 90, 92, 94, 97, 98, 99, 100, 109, 110,
111, 125, 137, 139, 146, 153, 154, 158, 160; algebra stories 80–1; children’s mathematical story books 83–4; children’s own stories
82; importance of story 71–2; mathematical ideas in story form 73–9; stories and memory 81, 154; stories created by teachers
79–80; stories with problem-solving opportunities 39; story maths 34; story model form 74; see also booklists at the end of each
chapter, MakeBelieve Arts
National Curriculum 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 23, 47, 71, 96, 97, 102, 131
National Strategies 1, 5, 37, 56, 65, 148
number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 45, 47, 49, 53, 54, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 69, 79–80, 83, 93, 100,
101, 108, 110, 119, 123, 124, 128, 144, 155; big numbers 41, 75–6; King and Queen of Number 76–9; music and number 109, 142,
144, 147; odd and even 79–80; positive and negative 122; prime numbers 65, 81, 107, 154, square numbers 158–9
numeracy 1, 155

Ofsted 2, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 33, 157

outdoors 99, 113–127, 140, 143, 153;

Paley, V. G. 10, 22, 23, 66, 71, 72, 155

Papert, S. 4, 31
parents 8, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 43, 59, 109, 122, 155, 156, 158; see also adults
pattern 3, 6, 12, 19, 20, 25, 30, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 50, 61, 62, 64, 65, 70, 75, 87, 89, 94, 97, 101, 113, 114, 116, 119, 123, 130, 131, 133, 134,
136, 144, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 158, 160; symmetry 5, 41, 47, 52, 116, 123, 130, 140, talking about pattern 47–9
percentages 68, 105
philosophy 51–6
physical activity 12, 24, 25, 60, 61, 63, 78, 100, 104–6, 112, 115, 116, 117, 119, 126, 146, 148, 150, 151, 157, 159; kinaesthetic maths
107–9
Piaget 31, 46, 51, 61, 131
place value 23, 47, 60, 73, 75–6, 79
play 8, 12, 13, 24, 25, 34, 37, 41, 43, 47, 59, 64, 67, 71, 72, 78, 79, 82, 90, 92, 97, 105, 109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 118, 126, 136, 141, 143;
blockplay 131–4; playful teaching 12, 152–60
positional language 36, 47, 49, 123,
Pound, L. 3, 4, 6, 15, 18, 29, 59, 109, 110, 115, 144, 149, 150
predicting 6, 14, 15, 32, 47, 50, 97
probability 6, 50, 55, 82
problem finding 28–44, 52, 64, 101, 116, 126
problem solving 2, 10, 11, 12, 13, 25, 26, 28–44, 46, 53, 56, 62, 64, 66, 68, 78, 94, 99, 101, 102, 104, 105, 113, 115, 116, 121, 122, 124, 126,
131, 137, 151, 152, 153, 155; architecture 128; collaborative problem-solving 54–6; problem solving strategies 34–40; stories with
problem-solving opportunities 39
proportion 87, 89, 93, 131; golden mean or ratio 90, 92–3, 128; music 143
puzzles 30, 40–3, 64, 102

questions 13, 14, 17, 28, 29, 34, 39, 54, 57, 66, 67, 73, 76, 79, 87, 94, 98, 116, 121, 122, 126, 154; closed questions 50, 153; open-ended
questions 33, 46, 50, 52, 65; philosophical questions 51 5; questioning assumptions 51, 65, 153; questioning by children 10, 32, 33,
42, 53, 54, 59, 66, 90, 116, 157; questioning by teachers 13, 153, 157

reasoning 2, 6, 8, 11, 12, 20, 37, 45, 51, 55, 64, 93, 97, 153
reflection 7, 10, 20, 22, 30, 34, 40, 46, 50, 51, 52, 59, 122, 153, 155, 157
Reggio Emilia 22, 56
Resnick, L. B. 32, 33, 37, 46
risk taking 10, 25, 37, 50, 52, 83, 105, 116, 152, 153, 155, 157
Rose. J. 46–7, 96, 97, 98, 101, 102, 103, 104
Schiro, M. 20, 25, 70
shape 1, 6, 17, 49, 54, 59, 64, 76, 78, 80, 89, 94, 102, 107, 112, 113, 115, 116, 121, 130, 131, 133, 148, 153; 2- and 3-dimensional 136–40;
origami 136, 139, 152; songs about 146
size 12, 22, 35, 52, 54, 62, 66, 76, 86–95, 114, 125, 131, 133, 140, 143, 157 ; actual size of animals 121; conjectural thinking about 93;
relative size 92–3
songs see music
space 1, 39, 92, 104, 107, 115, 121, 122, 130, 134, 158; den building 125–6; outdoor space 113–4, 118, 122
story see narrative
structured materials 32, 59–61, 64–5, 67, 70, 136, 152; blockplay 131–5; construction sets 136; junk materials 143; origami 139; use
in den building 125–6
subtraction see calculation
symbolic representation 6, 10, 11, 12, 15, 23, 37–40, 43, 46, 49, 60, 64, 65, 67, 69, 77, 79, 81, 97–8, 102, 109, 111, 112, 114, 121, 122, 130,
141, 144; blockplay 133–4; kinaesthetic maths 107–9; map-making 137; mark-making 110–1; music 109, 143, 146, 148–51;
structured materials 59 61; symbols and signs 46; written mathematical language 56
symmetry see pattern

talking see discussion

teaching 8, 15, 23–4, 59–61, 69, 70, 144; creative teaching 6, 7, 8–10, 11–12, 13, 25, 58–69, 121, 144, 158; excitement of 25, 70; playful
teaching 12, 152–60; role of teacher 20–1; teaching as storytelling 72–3; teaching for creativity 7, 12, 13, 50–1, 152–5; technology
10, 12, 13, 31, 88, 98, 101–3, 111–2, 116, 136, 140; see also ICT
testing 1, 2, 32, 45, 58, 70, 148, 154, 159
thinking 45–57; analytical thinking 51–2, 55; collaborative thinking 49, 54; critical thinking 51; philosophy 51–6

Upitis, R. 10, 47, 111–2, 140, 151

Vygotsky, L. 38, 46, 56, 111

whole-school approaches 19, 21, 24–5, 155

worksheets 59
Worthington, M. and Carruthers, E. 3, 12, 38, 40, 49, 56, 110, 146