Developing mathematical literacy in an inquiry-based setting working with play-coins in a second-grade classroom

Abstract

The work reported in this paper is part of a longitudinal study on mathematical and scientific literacy and inquiry-based learning in two Norwegian primary schools. The project group consisted of university didacticians from both the mathematics and the science sections of the teacher education department working together with teachers at the two schools. At the start of the project, the students were in grade 1. The data analyzed in this paper was collected when the students were at the start of second grade, at ages 6- and 7-years old. Using data from an IBL-inspired lesson with students at their start of second grade, we explore affordances for students’ critical meeting with mathematics in a ‘realistic’ context. While a lot has been said and written about literacy in general and also the particular topic of mathematical literacy, what mathematical literacy constitutes in the earlier grades has been less discussed (e.g., Askew, 2015, p. 708). In this paper our research question is: Which opportunities do students have to be critical in mathematics in a second-grade classroom, and how can an IBL approach foster this?