Creating Elementary Mathematics Lessons with Children’s Rich Imaginations

According to the report of TIMSS (1999), Japanese children’s performance in mathematics is relatively high, but their attitudes towards mathematics are extremely negative; in fact they are at the lowest in the world. This is a serious problem for mathematics education in Japan. This article discusses ways to improve the current mathematics education system, presenting concrete examples. To improve mathematics education, the teacher has to consider the importance of children’s thinking. In other words, the lesson needs to be changed in ways that fit children’s thinking. It is important that the teacher plans and practices mathematics lessons in a way that incorporates children’s imaginations. Imagination is a primitive form of thinking and is related to creativity. The teacher makes children imagine diversely about mathematical content and exchange ideas with each other. Then, the lesson will deepen and enrich children’s understanding. This article includes lesson records which represent reform ideas: (1) Mathematics Learning with Imagination (2) Diverse View and Thinking (3) Seeing Invisible Things Numerical (4) Using Children’s Imaginations Effectively. These lessons were done under the real spirit of mathematics; that is, in each sample, children have thought and imagined freely and diversely about mathematical content. As L. B. Resnick (1988) argues, mathematics should not be thought of as a well-structured subject. Thus, children would learn mathematics with much interest and their attitudes towards mathematics could become positive. Elementary mathematics lessons should be more energetic, imaginative, and creative. Fostering children’s creativity is one of the most important tasks for mathematics education.