Instead of memorization and lectures in classrooms, SESP Prof. Jen Munson, who studies learning science, envisions a transformation in primary education where young students learn from games and fun activities, finding math along the way.
Munson received the CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation with a $815,789 fund across five years, Northwestern announced Oct. 20. Munson said the grant will be used toward after-school math spaces at two District 65 elementary schools, where fun will be the number one priority.
With 13 years in math education, both as an elementary and middle school teacher and a coach for math educators, Munson said she decided to go to graduate school to work on inquiries she came across often in education.
“There were just all kinds of persistent questions that kept coming up about how do we support teachers? How do we support kids to learn math in really deep and meaningful ways?” Munson said.
Munson said that students are encouraged to read for enjoyment and passion to develop “lifelong readers,” but math often lacks an equivalent. She said this after-school space is one aimed at replicating the philosophy for reading education for students to find joy and lasting curiosity in mathematics.
She added that she hopes students can also bring their joy for math home to their families, playing games together that involve math, just like they would read a bedtime story.
Running these spaces in two different schools will allow Munson to identify key design principles that apply to unique settings, which she said could translate to supporting others to design similar spaces themselves.
Laura Pinsof, the principal of Lincolnwood Elementary, said the school will be inviting educators to collaborate on the design and implementation. As one of the schools implementing the program, Lincolnwood will involve the educators in gathering materials and structuring the format of after-school sessions. Teachers will also be in a separate group to facilitate these sessions.
For Pinsof, the program will aim to increase the students’ confidence, adding that math is a particular area where they tend to lose it.
“My hope is that, if kids can see the math in the things they most love to do, that can create a gateway to all kinds of uses of math and kids being excited about that,” Pinsof said.
Fourth-year learning sciences Ph.D. candidate Taylor Topham said he is supporting the project by focusing on the research and data collection.
Topham said the process will involve primarily video and audio recording data, both with student learning interactions and as teachers meet together after students leave to reflect on the session.
As a researcher focused on how teachers reflect on their own practice, especially in collaborative settings, Topham said he is curious about how teachers will engage with the space and with their students.
“I think it’ll be really interesting to see, especially in this space, how the teachers are noticing students differently, how they’re reflecting on things in a different way,” Topham said.
Muson said she will be collaborating with educators to design the space and make it visible to the students that they are interacting with math while not taking away its fun. She added that she envisions the method of introducing the game or building project, as well as opportunities to share and discuss game strategy or building design, will help them to form these connections.
In math, Munson said she sees emphasis placed on what is lacking or wrong, and Munson said the focus here is to recognize and celebrate the process instead.
“It’s not just a space that’s designed for the kinds of kids who already see themselves as loving math,” Munson said. “The idea is to welcome more kids into math, those that might be skeptical about mathematics, but open to LEGOs, and then we can bring them into math that way.”
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