Teaching mathematics with children’s literature in Finland

Abstract

The Finnish school system will transfer to the new Core Curriculum for Basic Education 2014 in 2016. The new curriculum emphasizes integration of subjects. In Finland, mathematics and the mother tongue are the two subjects which are taught the most and therefore play a significant role in every primary teacher's weekly routine. Unlike English-speaking countries, Finland lacks children's literature aimed towards use in mathematics teaching. This study aimed to understand teachers' and teacher-trainees' points of view on the extent to which they use children's literature in teaching mathematics in primary school and how to efficiently use children's literature in teaching mathematics in primary school. This study was a part of an international study entitled 'Teachers' beliefs on the integration of children's literature in primary mathematics learning and teaching: A comparative study', including universities from England, Hong Kong, Australia, and Finland. The aim was to determine teachers' beliefs concerning integration of children's literature into mathematics teaching and to the extent to which this benefits learning. Data collection was conducted via web-based questionnaires translated into Finnish from spring to autumn 2015. Mixed methods data analysis showed that teachers/teacher-trainees do not use children's literature in mathematics teaching, but they still recognize various ways to implement it into their teaching. Previous studies on the use of literature in mathematics teaching show that children's literature may provide a meaningful context to develop mathematical skills and foster children's positive attitudes towards mathematics, as the stories in the literature are presented in an engaging and approachable manner.

Effects of using picture books in mathematics teaching and learning: A systematic literature review from 2000–2022

“…After that, some teachers would provide mathematical guidance to the students, such as posing open‐ended questions to ease and deepen their understanding (Björklund & Palmér, 2020; den Heuvel‐Panhuizen et al, 2009; Van den Heuvel‐Panhuizen & Elia, 2011). In other words, the picture book stories not only act as new teaching content to motivate students (Wikholm & Aerila, 2017), but also pave the way for students to further develop their mathematical concepts or skills (Durmaz & Miçooğullari, 2021). By allowing students to read the picture books aloud, they could learn how to learn mathematical knowledge independently, thus benefiting their learning at a later stage (Can et al, 2020).…”

“…Another factor inhibiting the effects of integration is time constraints (Wikholm & Aerila, 2017). In the above studies, 26.5%, 53.1% and 23.4% of surveyed in‐service and pre‐service teachers in Australia, Taiwan and Ireland, respectively, agreed that time constraints were a significant barrier to integrating picture books into their teaching (Livy et al, 2021; Prendergast et al, 2019; Yang et al, 2021).…”

“…The effects of integration are also limited by the resource constraints (Wikholm & Aerila, 2017): 13.2%, 15% and 37.8% of surveyed in‐service and pre‐service teachers in Australia, Taiwan and Ireland, respectively, agreed that resource constraints were a significant barrier to integrating picture books into their teaching (Livy et al, 2021; Prendergast et al, 2019; Yang et al, 2021). They indicated that finding suitable children's literature to fit their teaching goals was difficult.…”

“…Factors such as recommendations from schools, inspiration from peers and personal preferences for teaching contributed to a favourable social norm encouraging the integration of picture books with mathematics teaching. In one study in Finland (Wikholm & Aerila, 2017), such integration had broad support from teachers. A new social norm can be formed if most teachers agree and are able to integrate picture books into mathematics learning.…”

“…A total of 11 studies (Björklund & Palmér, 2020, 2022; Can et al, 2020; Capraro & Capraro, 2006; den Heuvel‐Panhuizen et al, 2009; Durmaz & Miçooğullari, 2021; Edelman, 2017; Ompok et al, 2018; Rathé et al, 2018; Van den Heuvel‐Panhuizen & Elia, 2011; Wikholm & Aerila, 2017) presented different approaches to the use of picture books in mathematics instruction. The findings across these studies revealed that most teachers used picture books during the introductory and practical parts of mathematics lessons (Can et al, 2020; Edelman, 2017).…”