Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media

Jennifer Hall; Christine Suurtamm

doi:10.29333/iejme/8260

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Jennifer Hall ¹ ^* , Christine Suurtamm ²

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¹ Faculty of Education, Monash University, AUSTRALIA² Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, CANADA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Media play an important role in young people’s lives as an agent of socialization, both generally and with regard to mathematics. To understand the mathematics-related messages disseminated to young people via popular media, we analyzed portrayals of mathematics and mathematicians in over 40 media examples (television shows, movies, websites, video games, and books). Notably, the selection of media was based on elementary students’ responses to a questionnaire about their media favourites, thus enabling an analysis of the messages to which students are exposed during typical media use. While there were differences in the portrayals across the media types, the messages disseminated consistently related to the invisibility of mathematics, narrow views of mathematics, and stereotypical portrayals of mathematicians. Such messages are problematic as they can influence young people’s views of mathematics and mathematicians, as well as of themselves as mathematics learners.

Keywords

popular media
elementary students’ views

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 15, Issue 3, October 2020, Article No: em0591

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

Publication date: 11 May 2020

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How to cite this article

APA

Hall, J., & Suurtamm, C. (2020). Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 15(3), em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

Vancouver

Hall J, Suurtamm C. Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2020;15(3):em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

AMA

Hall J, Suurtamm C. Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2020;15(3), em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

Chicago

Hall, Jennifer, and Christine Suurtamm. "Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2020 15 no. 3 (2020): em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

Harvard

Hall, J., and Suurtamm, C. (2020). Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 15(3), em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260

MLA

Hall, Jennifer et al. "Numbers and Nerds: Exploring Portrayals of Mathematics and Mathematicians in Children’s Media". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 15, no. 3, 2020, em0591. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8260