Mathematical Student Choice in the Elementary Classroom

Incorporating student choice in the classroom provides opportunity for students to take responsibility of their learning (Goodman & Eren, 2013; Williams, Wallace, & Sung, 2016). By presenting students with choice in mathematics, their engagement, motivation, and understanding grow by their willingness to complete the task. Student choice must be meaningful to student’s interests so that they understand the importance of their choice. Throughout this self-study, first grade students were provided choice for small group math activities. All choice included the same content varying the representation. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect that student choice can have on students’ mathematical understanding. Through analysis of teacher narratives, student work, and audio recordings of personal conversations with students, students selected the hands-on choice which they were actively involved in. Student’s selection of hands-on choice creates enjoyment, increasing students’ desire to complete the task due to an increase in motivation and engagement of mathematical content