Mathematics and Literature

An example of how poetry dealing with numbers can facilitate math learning is provided by Curcio et. al (1995) in their description and discussion of children's responses to a poem entitled, "Overdues." In the book, a character owes the library a fine for a book he has not returned in 42 years. Based on their discussion of the poem, children became interested in determining just how much money was owed to the library.

With respect to learning, in their attempts to compute the fine, children were able to use a variety of mathematical strategies for solving the problem and to then decide which of the strategies produced the most accurate sum owed. Also, they applied some of their strategies to different versions of the problem and then proceeded to actually create their own mathematical poetry.

The final point made by Curcio et. al (1995) was that in working with poems, teachers will want to make sure that they select powers which compliment the math curriculum of their schools. In other words, the simple fact that a poem deals with numbers may not be sufficient a criterion for selection.

Schneider (1995) also used literature as a means

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g, Grummer (1995) ascertained that children had learned the basics of graph characteristics. She then read them a story entitled, "Ten For Dinner." The story was about a girl's birthday party with nine good guests and one who was a "little devil." The class was asked to think about the information contained in the story which they could use to make graphs. Working in collaborative groups, students produced a variety of different graphs. Grummer (1995) reported that this method of teaching children how to construct and communicate with graphs via literature was so successful that it served as a foundation for increased learning throughout the year. Indeed, learning was so substantial that children were able, by the end of their first school year, to engage in data exploration and reporting in graphic form for social studies and health issues. Smith (1995) has asserted that children's literature can be used to simultaneously teach mathematics and social studies; she uses the example of a story entitled, "The Patchwork Quilt." This story teaches children about economic necessities calling for people to reuse available materials in a pre Civil War family. The story was used by Smith (1995) not only to give students informatio
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Chicken Stew, Zarnowski Vigliarolo, Specifically Whitin, Black Dots, Ten Dinner, Sky Smith, Civil War, Children Mathematics, Mills O'Keefe, Counting Book, teaching children, teaching children mathematics, children mathematics, mathematical reasoning, math learning, grummer 1995, et al, social studies, weinberg 1996, smith 1995, schneider 1995, curcio et al, et al 1995, ten black dots, mills o'keefe 1994,
Approximate Word count = 1477
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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