Applied mathematics through an embodied storytelling lens

Abstract

In this research, I investigated how an applied mathematics professor and her students organized and presented information that aligns with elements found in traditional storytelling. The participants of this study were involved in an applied mathematics laboratory that researched applications of inverse problems and met once a week to discuss the progress they had made with their respective contributions to the lab. I also investigated how the participants communicated information through an embodied lens. Using my originally constructed storytelling framework, along with the embodied cognition framework of Nathan (2021), I analyzed audio- and video-recordings of the laboratory meetings. My findings suggest that the participants of the laboratory organically organized and presented information that aligned with traditional storytelling elements. Furthermore, my findings also suggest that the participants utilized embodiment to communicate the applied mathematical content within each storytelling element. I conclude by offering the potential research and teaching applications of this work, along with potential future research endeavors inspired by this study.