Should maths be fun?

We’re shortly to have a new maths curriculum. Where’s the fun in that, asks Lynne McClure...

In the UK we have a problem with the public attitude towards mathematics. Despite the efforts of populists such as Marcus du Sautoy and Brian Cox, or the new National Numeracy campaign, it’s still OK to say that you can’t do maths, that you never got it at school, that only geeks enjoy it and it’s hard and boring for the rest of humanity. So how we can use the new curriculum to alter this perception in our current generation of children?
What don’t we want?

The solution to these attitudinal problems is often thought to be making maths ‘fun’. One way is to disguise the fact we’re doing maths at all by hiding it inside other activities – a bit like the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down. I feel rather sad when I hear a teacher say ‘We did fractions/ division/ shape today and they didn’t even realise they were doing maths!’ - as if it were something to be pleased about.

Why don’t we want it?

If at some point we don’t make the maths in which children are engaged explicit then it’s difficult for them to make those vital connections between different aspects of mathematics or appreciate its applications. It’s also a bit dishonest and exemplifies those attitudes above – that maths is boring and needs to be livened up a bit.

What do we want?

If you ask mathematicians what maths is, they will usually answer something along the lines of ‘the study of patterns’. Ask most children what they think maths is and they will say it’s all about rules which they need to learn, or facts they have to remember. That’s because most children don’t experience real mathematics in their classrooms – they get a proxy for it. What children should be doing is investigating the way in which the number system works, how shapes fit together, and using and applying the rules and facts they have learned in solving problems (their own as well as those posed by others).

Why do we want it?

‘Give the pupils something to do, demand thinking; learning naturally results’ - John Dewey Learning those rules and facts is, of course, important, but they are the tools with which we learn to do maths fluently. They aren’t maths itself. It’s similar to the way that learning scales is an important part of learning to playing music fluently – but there’s far more to music than playing scales.

At NRICH we believe it’s important to help all children to understand what it means to be a mathematician, and to encourage them to develop mathematical habits of mind. In the classroom that translates to learning those rules and facts in meaningful ways and in meaningful situations. Intriguing contexts are more likely to hook children in to a task and ensure engagement, which also means they are likely to remember what they have been engaged in and why they were doing it.

We enjoy designing rich, intriguing tasks that combine fluency, problem solving and reasoning and offer children an opportunity to stamp their personal mark on the mathematics they do. Once to persevere in the face of getting stuck. James Nottingham talks about getting stuck as being ‘in the pit’. And getting stuck or being in the pit is what mathematicians do all the time, because real maths requires some energy and perseverance to make progress, or get out of that pit. John Mason talks about being stuck as an ‘honourable state’ – it’s only by working out how to get unstuck that we learn.

So rather than offering them ‘fun’ activities that skate along the surface of maths, let’s rethink the way we give small children a mathematical experience. Let’s not be afraid of offering tasks that require a bit of intellectual work and perseverance, and being honest about it. That perseverance is likely to lead to success, which is valued precisely because of the effort involved. And success is a pleasurable state, which means children are likely to think of maths as enjoyable. Which is not the same as fun, but much, much better.

For an example of a rich task that combines fluency, reasoning and problem solving, take a look at Strike it Out, nrich.maths.org/6589