Draw yourself doing mathematics: developing an analytical tool to investigate the nature of young children’s attitudes towards mathematics

Understanding children’s attitudes towards mathematics provides insights into their lived mathematical experience and engagement. Despite the considerable amount of research into students’ attitudes toward mathematics, limited research has been conducted into young children’s attitudes toward mathematics (YCATM). Within this limited research, investigating YCATM has certain challenges. From a methodological perspective, limitations exist regarding the type of research techniques that can be employed to study the nuances of the issue. The foci of this paper are to present and evaluate a methodological approach that used children’s drawings (N = 106) and interview responses as the primary sources of data. Findings indicate that the strategy of “Draw yourself doing mathematics”, when used with other research methods, generated rich attitudinal data in the form of personal stories about YCATM.