The why
Pedagogy is at the heart of the new curriculum for Wales. Effective pedagogy involves exploring and reflecting on which teaching strategies will best support learning in a given context, and inquiring about the impact of this on learners.
Therefore, this study aims to explore and reflect on the ExplanAStory strategy from the DigiTales4Maths programme and inquire about the impact of the strategy on a group of learners’ conceptual understanding of place value.
Choosing the strategy
The ExplanAStory strategy was chosen because it provides learners with an engaging experience that allows them to develop and demonstrate their understanding of a mathematical concept whilst helping them to realise the four purposes. It makes maths visual and uses manipulatives to expose the structure of maths, helping learners to make rapid progress. The ExplanAStory strategy supports learners to become:
ambitious, capable learners who
are building up a body of knowledge and have the skills to connect and apply that knowledge in different contexts
can communicate effectively in different forms and settings, using both Welsh and English
can explain the ideas and concepts they are learning about
use digital technologies creatively to communicate, find and analyse information
and enterprising, creative contributors who
connect and apply their knowledge and skills to create ideas and products
lead and play different roles in teams effectively and responsibly
express ideas and emotions through different media
ExplanAStory is underpinned by the pedagogical principles which state that good learning and teaching:
regularly reinforces the cross-curricular skills of literacy, numeracy and digital competence, and provides opportunities to practise them
encourages learners to take increasing responsibility for their own learning
encourages collaboration
Rationale for the strategy
“The better a child understands a partition as a representation of a number, the better developed is that child’s later understanding of numerical structures
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Children need a good number sense foundation to develop their understanding of place value. An important part of this is knowing that numbers can be represented in a variety of ways and that each of those different representations means the same thing. As children learn to see numbers in different ways, it helps them to expand their understanding of the number and what it means.
The mathematics and numeracy AoLE in the Curriculum for Wales 2022 states…
“Understanding mathematical concepts and being able to apply and reason with the abstract representations of concepts is central to learning mathematics. Learners demonstrate conceptual understanding through being able to explain and express concepts, find examples (or non-examples) and by being able to represent a concept in different ways, flowing between different representations including verbal, concrete, visual, digital and abstract.
An increasing breadth of knowledge is achieved through the learners being introduced to new mathematical concepts, and depth of knowledge is achieved through learners being able to represent, connect and apply a concept in different ways and in different situations.
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