The meaning of meaningful learning in mathematics in upper-primary education
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The meaning of meaningful learning in mathematics in upper‑primary education Judith Polman1 · Lisette Hornstra2 · Monique Volman1 Received: 17 August 2019 / Accepted: 3 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract One of the ways in which schools try to improve students’ motivation is through making learning meaningful for students. The concept of meaningful learning, however, has been defined in various ways in the literature. This small-scale in-depth study focused on meaningful learning in mathematics in upper-primary education. We investigated what teachers, according to their own views, undertake to make mathematics learning meaningful for their students. Two interviews (one stimulated recall) were conducted with five fifth-grade teachers from five Dutch primary schools that differed in terms of their schools’ educational concept. Teachers’ beliefs about the meaning of meaningful learning varied from students being able to understand what is learned to connecting with students’ daily experiences. Teachers also differed in their self-reported pedagogical practices aimed at meaningful learning. They used different types of context, including activating prior knowledge, connecting to students’ personal worlds, showing the value beyond school, goal setting for/ with students, creating a context that is future-oriented, referring to the personal world of the teacher, applying the learning content in school, and creating cross-curricular context. Practices to foster and support meaningful learning included collaboration and dialogue, working independently and experiential learning. This study provides suggestions for embedding meaningful elements in the mathematics learning environment to stimulate students’ learning motivation. Keywords Context · Mathematics education · Meaningful learning · Pedagogical practices · Primary education
Introduction Over the past decades, schools in many countries have implemented educational innovations with the aim of enhancing students’ motivation and achievement (Hornstra et al. 2015; Stroet et al. 2016; Volet and Järvelä 2001). One of the ways in which schools try * Monique Volman [email protected] 1
Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15776, 1001 NG Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Department of Education, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Vol.:(0123456789)
Learning Environments Research
to improve students’ motivation and achievements is through making learning meaningful for students (Loyens and Gijbels 2008; Van Rijk et al. 2017). Meaningful learning environments connect learning with the interests and needs of students and make students experience the value of learning activities beyond school (Newman et al. 1996; Roelofs and Terwel 1999; Van Oers 2009). Compared with traditional education, such environments are assumed to motivate students to greater effort and lead to better transfer of knowledge from the classroom to the outside world (Wilson 2012). Meaningful learning can be realised through
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