Dr. Natthapoj Vincent Trakulphadetkrai (Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Reading) is one of the recipients this year to have won the British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant.
His project aims to explore the extent to which children (aged 9-10 years old) working in pairs to co-create a short story picture book about fractions helps them engage in using mathematical talk. This study is important as mathematical talk can foster children’s mathematical thinking. 60 pairs of Year 5 children of different ability levels in the Southeast of England will be randomly allocated to either an intervention or comparison cohort. Over the course of one 60-minute session, the intervention cohort children will work in pairs to co-create one short story picture book about fractions, while the comparison cohort children will work in pairs to solve fraction problems on worksheets. Children's conversations about fractions will be audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed using statistical analyses to explore whether there is any statistically significant difference in the quantity and quality of talk about fractions across the two cohorts, when controlling for children’s age.
The grant applications are assessed on: the quality and interest of the research proposal; the ability of the applicant to make a success of it based on their past track record; the feasibility of the methodology; the feasibility of the timescale; and the appropriateness of costs requested.
Dr. Trakulphadetkrai commented “I am pleased to be a recipient of this year’s highly competitive British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant. This funded project is essentially a spin-off of my University Research Fellowship project (2019-2020, which was then extended to 2021 due to COVID). I hope this growing trackrecord in funding will help me attract further research grants in the future.”
The project will begin in October 2022 and end in September 2023.
To learn more about Dr. Trakulphadetkrai’s research interests, click here. He tweets at @NatthapojVinceT.
