Embodied mathematical practices in (re)designing board games in a linguistically diverse classroom

ABSTRACT

In this article, we discuss embodied mathematical practices in the context of learners’ board game (re)design activities. By focusing on redesigning a board game as a pedagogical approach, rather than designing one from scratch, we intended to limit the vast creative design possibilities and engage learners more deeply with the discipline of mathematics. We conducted a design-based research project in a culturally and linguistically diverse Canadian school. Our video analysis identified embodied discourses wherein a student with limited English language proficiency came to be a designer of a board game, while meaningfully engaging in mathematics learning. Our findings demonstrate how the conversations between a newly arrived immigrant student and the teacher in the process of redesigning an existing board game helped the student fully participate in the classroom practice, maximizing the available cultural and linguistic resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematics learning
• game design and redesign
• board games
• English language learners or emergent bilinguals
• embodiment

Acknowledgments

We thank the teachers who collaborated in developing the approach of redesigning board games and the students who redesigned Inversé and played their redesigned games enthusiastically throughout the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We are aware of the problematic nature of the deficit framing of the label “English language learners” as discussed by Gutiérrez and Orellana (2006) and the risks of perpetuating colonial representation and othering as discussed in Takeuchi (2021). We use this term here, with quotation marks, to point out that the term is still used in the school context.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Government of Alberta Canada [2017-0060].

Notes on contributors

Beaumie Kim

Dr. Beaumie Kim is a Professor of the Learning Sciences at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Kim’s research is focused on engaging learners in playing and designing games that model ideas, concepts, and systems, and also express something about themselves. Her research work is carried out in collaboration with teachers and students as design partners, and by observing their interactions, discourse and artifacts.

Reyhaneh Bastani

Reyhaneh Bastani is a doctoral candidate of the Learning Sciences at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Her work is focused on design for learning through a complexity perspective. Her doctoral research involves a complexity-informed design for students’ disciplinary and interdisciplinary learning using board game redesign practices.

Miwa A. Takeuchi

Dr. Miwa A. Takeuchi is an Associate Professor at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Takeuchi’s expertise includes critical epistemologies in mathematics education and the relationships among languages, embodied identities, and social justice in mathematics and STEM learning. Dr. Takeuchi values working collaboratively with learners, teachers, community activists, and families toward the design of transdisciplinary spaces for social and environmental justice.