Humanities-Oriented Accents in Teaching Mathematics to Prospective Primary School Teachers.

Our research includes undergraduate students who major in primary school education. Their academic background is prevailingly in the humanities. This poses specific demands on their mathematics instruction at university. To attract them to their mathematics course and raise its effectiveness, we use a series of activities. Writing assignments intrigue the students, shape their personal mathematical experience, and connect literature with mathematics. Special attention is paid to problem solving in which the mathematical concepts studied are applied. The plots and characters from popular children stories, novels, or movies diversify mathematical problems and make them more likable to the students. This results in significant reduction of mathematics anxiety in the classroom and the students advance uninhibited and motivated. Thus using humanities-oriented accents in representing mathematical ideas successfully complements the teaching of mathematics to prospective primary school teachers. It is also a model to be followed in further teaching practices.