The Story Behind Storytelling Math (2023)


Description

Learn about Storytelling Math, a set of English/Spanish board books and picture books that combine authentic cultural diversity, emotionally resonant stories, and deep mathematical ideas. Storytelling Math is a collaboration among Charlesbridge Publishing, Marlene Kliman of TERC, and a host of authors and illustrators from varied cultural backgrounds.

See https://www.charlesbridge.com/pages/storytelling-math-series for books and other resources, and https://www.terc.edu/storytelling-math/ for project rationale.

Award: The Heising-Simons Foundation, with substantial in-kind contribution from Charlesbridge Publishing

Discussion

This discussion took place during the TERC Video Showcase Event Nov. 14-21, 2023. Discussion is now closed.
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Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 13, 2023 11:26 am
Welcome to Storytelling Math!
Learn more at: https://www.charlesbridge.com/pages/storytelling-math-series
Traci Higgins
Traci Higgins
November 14, 2023 8:37 am
Wow. These little board books sound wonderful! What a great collaboration. Grace’s personality comes out beautifully in these videos–she makes me want to read these books myself and my kids are grown! I’d love to hear more about the range of mathematics topics infused into these engaging stories.
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 14, 2023 11:02 am
 
Glad you like the books! Currently, we have eight board books in English and eight in Spanish/English. The board books address spatial sense, patterns, sorting and classifying, measurement, geometry, sharing/dividing equally—all developmentally-appropriate for ages up to 3. We’re starting to work on more and will be including additional topics. We have ten picture books so far in English (with ten in Spanish/English and one in Cherokee), addressing similar topics at but for ages 3-6. as well as more on data, volume/capacity/area, division/fractions, and proportional thinking. We also have a mapping book coming out in 2024, and a logic book coming soon after, as well as more in the works for future years. If there are particular math topics anyone is particularly interested in seeing in the books, please don’t hesitate to let us know as we continue developing books.
Carol Walker
Carol Walker
November 14, 2023 1:49 pm
These books look fabulous! I believe I saw Marlene presenting at n c t m a few years ago and was looking forward to hearing how the project turned out. I’m no longer teaching but I’m really interested in Reading at least one of these books. I’m forwarding this video opportunity to my colleagues at my former school. These books will provide teachers of young children with an opportunity to introduce math ideas and discuss them. The situations in the books seem to be based on situations that certainly could arise in the life of a child. I may need to find some children I can read these with! Thank you for your good work.
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 14, 2023 6:06 pm
Reply to  Carol Walker
Thank you! The books are available at many public libraries, so it’s easy to find them at no cost! I hope you enjoy them.
Scott Pattison
Scott Pattison
November 14, 2023 3:56 pm
Great video, Marlene and team. I love these books. I’ve read several with my own son, and we’ve started to integrate them into some of our family STEM learning projects. I’m curious, have you conducted any studies on how families use the books, what aspects of the design or content families are particularly interested in, or the ways families expand on the books based on their own ideas and experiences? Just curious to know what you’ve learned as the books are used. Thanks!
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 14, 2023 6:05 pm
Reply to  Scott Pattison
We have done informal investigations into this, and we find that there are as many ways that families engage with these books as there are families. We haven’t found any relationship with family demographics.  In developing the books, our emphasis was on ensuring that the characters seemed like familiar kids with realistic social and emotional lives—kids that others could relate to, just as they do in any story. We wanted to feature “regular” kids: not math geniuses or kids who love math, but normal kids who are strong mathematical thinkers. We also ensured that the illustrations captured the important aspects of the story and math, so if those in the family were not strong readers in English or Spanish, they could still follow the narrative arc as well as the math. While we’ve gotten very positive feedback from parents (and educations and librarians) about the math information and activities at the back of each book, we’ve heard just as much about the emotional resonance of the stories. For some families, that’s the most important part, and the math comes in as a secondary element. As far as expanding on their own experiences and ideas, from the math side, the books reify the kind of mathematical thinking kids do in their daily lives–getting it out their on the page, so families can talk about it. We also hear that families value the “casual diversity” in the books: for instance, we show Brazilian-American (and Cherokee, and Indian-American/Black, and …) kids just going about their daily lives being kids and as part of that, thinking mathematically. We like also to highlight the fact that the authors and illustrators are also people of color. And that, for some families, is a huge draw!
Joni Falk
Joni Falk
November 14, 2023 5:26 pm
Love the video and you got me interested to order for my grandkids! I love the comment that you felt that it needed to be a genuine story. That is a big challenge. Also loved that you wanted to extend the areas of math that are addressed. Can’t wait to read it to them! Thanks!!
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 14, 2023 6:07 pm
Reply to  Joni Falk
Thank you!
Stephen Alkins
Stephen Alkins
November 16, 2023 8:59 pm
This is a great way to incorporate principles of mathematical argumentation into everyday life and stories. I was particularly struck by Grace’s vulnerable comment on experiencing math anxiety. This parallels several people’s experience, especially people from racially and ethnically underrepresented backgrounds. As a college professor I taught several introductory math course, college algebra courses, and acceleration programs and we always dedicated I wonder if you all are considering a storybook that directly speaks about math anxiety and ways that we can sort of “weatherproof” ourselves against the winds self-doubt (although your learners may be too young to have a developed fear or aversion). Also, have you evaluated any change in perceptions that families or learners themselves have toward math overall?

Thank you for the meaningful work!

Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 17, 2023 9:03 am
Hi,
Thanks for commenting on the video! Math anxiety is rampant and can start at a very young age as children absorb messages about math from caregivers, media, and society at large. We offer more positive visions by portraying children of color as strong mathematical thinkers in emotionally resonant stories that we hope children will want to hear again and again and again.
Anushree Bopardikar
Anushree Bopardikar
November 17, 2023 9:47 am
Marlene, thank you for clarifying the rationale and process behind the design of these delightful books. My pre-schooler and I have enjoyed reading some of the books, and we are eager to explore more titles in this series. I shared some of the books with my son’s pre-school teacher, too, so she could incorporate them into her curriculum for all kids.
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 17, 2023 11:18 am
Thanks, Anushree! I’m glad you and your child like the books. We have lots more coming out in the next couple of years, all by authors and illustrators of color, and all addressing additional math topics. Next up is “Yumbo Gumbo,” coming out in Feb. This book combines the math of data and number with Louisiana Creole culture (and language)
https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/yumbo-gumbo
Nuria Jaumot-Pascual
Nuria Jaumot-Pascual
November 17, 2023 9:58 am
I wish these books were available when my kids were little! I love that you work with incredibly talented authors such as Grace Lin who can bring math into beautiful art and meaningful stories. I personally love Lin’s books and read them for my own enjoyment. I am a big fan!
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 17, 2023 11:20 am
Thanks. We are so fortunate that Grace was willing to contribute her literary and artistic talent to bring math to young children and their families.
jknudsen
jknudsen
November 17, 2023 10:47 am
What a wonderful series this must be. I’m particularly interested in spatial reasoning, something we focus on in our making-and-math materials—from g4-7. So to see how you address it for very young children would be super helpful. Which books should I get? Also, agree I would have loved to have these for my daughter, who loves math and a good story.
Marlene Kliman
Marlene Kliman
November 17, 2023 12:00 pm
Reply to  jknudsen
Thanks for your interest in Storytelling Math! I, too, wish they were around when my kids were young.
At present, we have four picture books for ages 3-6 that deal with spatial relationships. They are all available in English and in Spanish/English bilingual, and the first, below, is also available in Cherokee/English bilingual:
https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/look-grandma-ni-elisi (area, volume, perimeter)
• https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/lia-and-luis-puzzled (math of assembling jigsaw puzzles)
https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/usha-and-the-big-digger (orientation and rotation)
https://www.charlesbridge.com/products/again-essie (3-D geometry)
 
We have a Storytelling Math book that addresses the math of translating 3D reality into 2D maps coming out next fall (Teresa is contributing to this book, as she did to Again, Essie). Lots of public libraries carry the books, so you should be able to find them readily. If you have questions once you’ve had a chance to look them over, don’t hesitate to e-mail me.