Integrating Literature to Support Mathematics Learning in Middle School

Supporting all students' learning is a challenge for middle grades mathematics teachers. One approach that holds promise is integrating mathematics and literacy, a practice consistent with middle school philosophy. While reading and language arts are typically easy to integrate with other subjects, some have cautioned that integrating mathematics with other subjects may be difficult to do in ways that lead to deep understanding of mathematics content (Klein, 1996; Shanahan, 1997) In particular, new research supports integrative approaches that use literature with mathematical themes to support and extend the conceptual understanding of complex mathematical development (Austin, Thompson, & Beckman, 2005; Bean, 2000). This is because familiar contexts allow students to draw on their prior knowledge to bring meaning to the mathematics (Miller, 1998; Murphy, 1999; Whitin, Mills, & O'Keefe, 1990; Whitin & Wilde, 1992). Integrating mathematics and literacy creates opportunities to introduce new vocabulary, make connections among abstract concepts, and showcase ways that mathematics applies across curriculum (Whitin & Wilde, 1992). In addition, integrating multicultural literature in the mathematics classroom can provide familiar contexts for culturally diverse students and it can present content from various viewpoints. This can help students develop cultural awareness and sensitivity as it strengthens their mathematical content knowledge and literacy skills (Bean, 2000). One possible reason teachers have difficulty integrating mathematics and literacy is the perceived lack of materials recommended and readily available to middle grades teachers. In this article, we identify a wealth of short stories, novels, and texts that not only represent rich language but also complex mathematical thought. For the purpose of this article, we focus on literature that could be easily integrated into mathematics classrooms. We developed a framework for classifying texts based on the complexity of the mathematics content, and we have organized our discussion according to this framework. Reviewing texts The authors searched extensively to find novels and short stories with mathematical content. Using advanced searching mechanisms and keywords such as math or numbers, we examined online book warehouses (e.g., Amazon.com) and literature databases (e.g., Children's Literature Comprehensive Database). These resources provided all types of literature; however, for the purposes of this article, we limit our discussion to only young adult literature. The second author's website features a complete list of titles, including a brief synopsis of each (http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~fwallac1/). We used national standards for teaching middle grades mathematics to determine the type of mathematical content within these young adult texts (see Figure 1). Broad categories of content in middle grades mathematics classrooms include numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability, and problem solving. As we read each text and identified the mathematical content, we found that the potential for using the books to support integrated instruction varied in relation to the complexity of the mathematics. Consequently, we developed categories related to the potential opportunities to teach rich mathematics. In other words, the higher the level of mathematical complexity within a story, the greater the number of opportunities for using integration to support the development of rich mathematical ideas for students. To develop the categories, we compared each new text read with each previously read text and asked questions such as: How does the story support the development of mathematical ideas? What is the purpose of the mathematical content within the story? How is the mathematical content presented? and How are solutions to mathematical problems described? Integrating mathematics and literature Our examination of literature found that middle school mathematical concepts found in the national standards are represented in young adult literature and offer possibilities for integration. …