Stories and the world of numbers

Deepa Kiran

‘A friend is one whose story you don’t know’, goes an old saying. Stories are a medium for ‘coming together’ – be it people, ideas, organizations, or even nations. Stories can strengthen the bond between two entities and open our hearts to receive and to give.

The arts can trigger creativity and imagination and offer interesting possibilities for ‘how to think’. Problem-solving is all about finding creative solutions so if we are fostering and building the child’s creativity, we are in fact steering them to think, visualize, and problem solve. These are the qualities one looks to develop to become independent learners.

We often believe that subjects like science and mathematics which are based on logic and rationale must be taught in a logical manner. That is not always true. These subjects can be made much more interesting through stories and storyi-zing. The stories can become a motivation for the learner.

There are a number of stories based on mathematics which can regale our listeners and can be later used to draw them into the world of mathematics, into the world of numbers and logic. The listener who fears the subject might unknowingly become curious about it.

Story
Once upon a time
When monkeys chewed lime
There lived a lonely little number called Zero. Nobody wanted to be friends with Zero. Everybody teased Zero all the time. “You are nothing. You are nothing. Ai yai yo. You are nothing.” Zero felt very sad and lonely because nobody wanted to play with her or be her friend. She sat down in a corner and started to cry. The Sun was watching all of this. He said to Zero. “Hey! Yes, you Zero. Don’t feel so sad. You look like me. Nice and round. Wait and watch what happens.”

Sun called all the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 and announced. “I have something special to tell you. Look at zero. Watch her carefully. Invite her to join you. Make her your friend.” The other numbers hesitated. Slowly number 1 went and held Zero’s hand.

A magical thing happened! Wochaak! Number 1 became number 10! She became greater than the biggest number ‘9’. Yeah! She was thrilled. She had grown 10 times bigger.

Everybody clapped. Quickly number 2 called Zero up to her and held her hand. The magic happened again! Wochaak! Number 2 became number 20! She too became greater than the biggest number ‘9’. Yeah! She was thrilled. She had grown 10 times bigger.

Everybody clapped. Quickly number 3 called Zero up to her and held her hand. And then number 4 and number 5. Each one of the numbers held her hand in turns. Right up to number 9. Each time the same magic happened. The number grew 10 times bigger when Zero was beside them!

Soon they all became good friends with Zero. And the Sun shouted out, “See what happened?” The Sun winked and went to sleep by the horizon.

Zero and her friends played and had lots of fun together.

Ask
Did you like the story?
What was your favourite part?

Was it right that the other numbers didn’t befriend Zero? Can’t we make friends with anyone just for the joy of it?

Role – play/Skit – performance
Children will love to enact this story. The teacher can remain the narrator (in the initial trials) and children can come forward enacting their role and telling their dialogues. Since there is a lot of repetition, children will easily become familiar with the language of the story.

The teacher must focus on confidence and ease of speaking. It would be improper to focus on errors by stopping and correcting mistakes. Let the children gain confidence in speaking. They are motivated to try speaking before others. Correction at this initial stage can discourage the children.

Tips for telling
• Showing Zero’s loneliness and sadness can establish the situation well.
• Showing the coldness of the other numbers will help build empathy.
• Educational aids such as number fl ash cards can be used effectively in this story.
• Children can be encouraged to hold these props as well when they perform the story.

Other concepts in mathematics
Many concepts can be shared with learners through stories. In this article we have looked at stories for simple fundamental concepts. One can make stories of ‘pairing friends’ to explain the concept of odd and even numbers. The digits that have a pairing friend get to be called even and the ones that don’t get to have a pairing friend get to be called odd.

We can make up simple stories with repetition, drama, some movement, and melody. So go ahead and bring the magic of stories and the world of numbers together in the classroom.

The author is a storyteller, educationist, writer and voice-over artist. She holds storytelling performances and conducts training workshops for teachers on the art of storytelling. She is also the founder of Story Arts India (www.storyartsindia.com). She can be reached at over2deepakiran@gmail.com. You can also visit her facebook page storyartsindiaofficial or view her storytelling videos on YouTube.