Seeing Math as More Than Numbers

According to Dr. Jo Towers and her colleagues, students may have too narrow a view of mathematics. Based on experiences in school and media portrayals, students may not see math as anything more than numbers and arithmetical operations.

In a research study, students from Kindergarten through Grade 9 identified math with numbers and operations between ten and twenty times more often than any other idea. This limited vision raises concerns about students’ developing ideas about mathematics, how they feel about it, and how they engage with it.

In the Alberta mathematics curriculum, between 40% and 50% of the expectations are connected with the Number strand. This strong influence from the documents may guide teachers to (over)emphasize these concepts, which skews the students’ images of mathematics.

Drawing more students into university-level mathematics-rich disciplines will only be possible if a broader range of school students are introduced to the beauty and creative elements of mathematics. Dr. Towers and her team believe that this could be achieved through giving more emphasis to topics in the curriculum such as shape, space, patterns, and relations, taught in authentic and creative ways.

For Teachers

Increasing awareness of the beauty of mathematics revealed through its many dimensions can broaden students’ perceptions of the subject. Engaging students in activities drawn from the wide array of topics and ideas within the field of mathematics can shift student’s perceptions of mathematics learning.

*This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)*