“It was all led by them”: opening up opportunities for making mathematics through a children’s exhibition

POVEY, Hilary, ADAMS, Gill and JACKSON, Colin (2016). “It was all led by them”: opening up opportunities for making mathematics through a children’s exhibition. Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics, 36 (1), 82-87.

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Abstract

The Mathematics in the Making (MiMa) project drew on Pestalozzi's model of learning - from hand to heart to head - and that of Bruner in which understanding develops from the enactive to the iconic and thence to the symbolic. It also recognised that learning is fundamentally social and that worthwhile learning is democratic. The MiMa partners produced practical activities for 8 to 10 year olds. Participating teachers experienced the activities themselves before running ‘laboratories’ with their children. Throughout, the teachers and children knew that they were preparing their objects and activities for public exhibition. We describe the exhibition in Sheffield and draw on our own reflections and those of participating teachers to argue that MiMa gave the children an opportunity to exercise responsibility and autonomy with respect to their own mathematics and that this led to many, particularly those previously low attaining, becoming successful and more confident learners.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Published in the Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics Day Conference held at Manchester Metropolitan University, Saturday 27th February 2016
Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018:	Sheffield Institute of Education
Page Range:	82-87
Depositing User:	Gill Adams
Date Deposited:	25 Jul 2016 11:32
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2021 00:25
URI:	https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/12599

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