Can We Science the Poop, Too?

Abstract

This article describes how an innocuous question from a primary schooler taught me to pay attention to the dynamic meaning making activities of children—particularly, those of my young daughter. Through this lens, I examine how the verb-based world of children might compel us to think differently about the largely nominalized project of schooling and, more specifically, about the craft of teaching mathematics.

Humanistic science education: The history of science and other relevant contexts

“…In education, The Journal of Humanistic Mathematics (2021) explains its territory as: “a broad range of topics; for our purposes, it means ‘the human face of mathematics.’ Thus our emphasis is on the aesthetic, cultural, historical, literary, pedagogical, philosophical, psychological, and sociological aspects as we look at mathematics as a human endeavor” (website quote). An article in this journal “Can we science the poop, too?” by Banting (2021) epitomized humanistic elementary school science, which is not the purview of this article.…”

“…An article in this journal "Can we science the poop, too?" by Banting (2021) epitomized humanistic elementary school science, which is not the purview of this article. Dorce (2020) correctly pointed out that for learners, the history of mathematics "can supply human roots to the subject" (p. 3).…”