Alternative methodologies for teaching mathematics to elementary students: A pilot study using children's literature

The reform of mathematics education in the Unites States has been debated for many years. Although many mathematics educators concur about the objectives of reform, there is less agreement about the variety and efficacy of methodologies which can be used to improve classroom instruction and student learning. One such methodology, suggested by Boidy (1994), is to employ storytelling as an instructional strategy in teaching mathematics. According to Boidy, storytelling is a strategy in which children's literature is integrated into the mathematics curriculum. He asserts that storytelling can lead to higher student achievement, and more positive attitudes toward learning mathematics. In this study, storytelling, through the use of specific selections of children's literature, was implemented in two elementary schools, one private school located in Houston, Texas, and one public school located in Baltimore, Maryland. The total target population (N = 72) consisted of four third grade classes (two classes in each school). Thirty-six students were taught mathematics using storytelling and thirty-six students were taught mathematics using traditional methods. Improvement in the following instructional goals had been previously established for the period of the interventions: (1) two and three digit multiplication, and (2) two and three digit division. The primary hypothesis for this study was that the use of children's literature as a form of storytelling in elementary mathematics classrooms could be an effective method for teaching students to solve numerical and word problems, and should be considered as one of the methodologies that can be used in teaching mathematics. The purpose of this research was to demonstrate that a variety of methodologies could be employed to help students in mathematics. Of the thirty-six students in the pilot groups, 84.3% benefited from storytelling. All students were given pre-tests and post-tests to compare prior knowledge and skills learned. The pilot groups were also given attitude surveys, and participated in focus groups to obtain perceptions of storytelling. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze significant differences between the pilot and control groups (p < .05). Regression analysis of the pre- and post-test scores was conducted to determine if storytelling improved mathematics learning and achievement. Responses to the attitude surveys were analyzed via frequencies. The findings indicated that the use of children's literature in storytelling is an effective instructional strategy to help elementary students become more interested in learning mathematics, improve skills in solving numerical and word problems, and increase achievement levels in mathematics.