’

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥
This story will be
one of the most
interesting ones
you’ve ever
encountered. It
also serves an
educational
purpose. Enjoy
reading!♥
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Intro: Isaac Newton died in 1727 and he travelled to a strange

village in his afterlife. He realizes it is not 18th century and
this village has a lot of interesting things. Isaac decides to
travel around and take a look……..

Place: Maths village

Time: Unknown in a different world’s timeline
Figure1: Isaac Newton
Figure2: Pedestrian Robin (author)
Figure3: Professor Sue Doe
Figure4: Professor Patrick Bahls
Figure5: Professor James Beidleman
Figure6: Professor Martha Alexander Goss

Reminder: This whole story is fabricated. If anything coincides with other work. It is only a
coincidence. :)

 Isaac Newton’s Wonder Trip

Confused…. All Isaac Newton feels is confused. Standing in front of the village, all the stuff looks
unfamiliar and strange.

!Where am I,” Sir Isaac mumbles to himself. All he can really remember was staying alone with his
niece and feeling lonely. He felt sleepy and next thing he knew was he standing in front of this
unknown village where everyone dresses differently and he is young again, !I need to figure out
what is this place first.’”

Isaac calls one of the pedestrians and asks what this place is and he gets a name that he never heard
—‘Mathematic Town"#where people group up and discuss the important stuff happening in the Math
world of all time. When Isaac tells the pedestrian who he is, the pedestrian shows great surprise and
admiration to Newton, !Sir, with all due respect, it is such a pleasure to meet you. My name is
Robin. I want to thank you that a lot of your work helps mathematical development. Especially your
calculus creation that basically builds most advancement in modern society. If I may, I can show
you where the calculus field is.”

Newton feels surprised about the contribution of calculus in modern society and he decides to look
around the calculus field. When he reaches the calculus building. He hears a lot of discussion about
calculus. When Robin introduces him all the new theories such as string theory and matter
displacement, which are all helped a lot by the calculus knowledge. When Isaac hears all the
discussion, all he feels is pleased and glad that his invention helps a generation of people.

As they pass several parts of the calculus department, Isaac finds a room with a small group of
professors discussing their way of teaching calculus. Since Isaac invented calculus and used to
teach it, he decides to listen to the discussion of these people. He leans against the doorway under
the board that says $writing in calculus". Robin respects his
choice and stands by him. Both of them start
eavesdropping the conversation inside.

!I know it is hard to teach calculus for the students

nowadays. It is a difficult topic after all. I am thinking,
what if we incorporate the knowledge of writing into the
learning of calculus.’”A half bald and tall man spreads his
hands and suggests it.

!JB, I think you make a clear point of this and we have

heard it several times. Thank you for repeating it again by
clarifying only few points by you.” A guy crosses his arm in front of his big beard. Isaac glances at
the name tag on that guy"s shirt which writes $Patrick Bahls".

!And I will repeat one thing one more time, my name is James Beidleman! Stop calling me JB, I
don"t like it! Also, what"s so cool about Patrick? How do you enjoy being a starfish.” James looks a
little annoyed and fights back at Patrick Bahls.

 !Hey, chill bro. I think you should take this as a compliment. A lot of famous people come with the
abbreviation of JB. Justin Bieber, our dear president today.” Patrick smiles and continues to tease
James.

Isaac gets confused and Robin explains that JB is an abbreviation of the name of the current US
president and a famous singer. Robin also shows Isaac the cartoon that has a character called Patrick
who is a starfish. Isaac shakes his head and shows his speechlessness.

As James is going to engage again, a woman"s voice brings his thoughts back, !Stop fighting, you
guys, I don"t know what"s wrong with you two but what"s so fun about the names?” Following the
reasonable voice, Isaac sees this woman with a serious face and white hair. She has this name tag in
front of her on the table which writes Martha Alexanda Goss. Isaac frowns when he sees the name
and he wonders why everyone has strange names in this room? !Alright gentlemen, can we please
now hear what James is going to say about his research in calculus writing? I read his recent paper,
it is pretty convincing.” Martha"s voice breaks Isaac"s thought.

Gratefully giving Martha a nod, James Beidlman stands up and illustrates his work, !I recently did
research with my colleagues about increasing students' conceptual understanding of first semester
calculus through writing. I found out students are more easily able to understand the concept of
calculus if they write descriptions and essays about specific questions. It is even more helpful for
the professors to understand which part of the question they don"t understand.”

While Isaac is still figuring out the meaning of the writing in calculus, another woman"s voice
draws his attention, !James, your viewpoint is quite interesting. Recently, I have been focusing on
this kind of study too. Are you willing to elaborate more on your subjects?.” Isaac now notices the
woman who didn"t speak before.

!Yes Sue, I am willing to explain everything just let me open my book.” James replies to the
younger but more serious woman. He knows Sue Doe is a tough woman and her research on such
topics is also well-known. Thus, he needs to make strong points.
James opens his book, takes a sip of the tea and continues, 1!In
order to prove our students have the abilities to use writing to
improve their skills in calculus, I did a series of experiments. I
let the students write about what they think about one topic or a
question and lead them to solve the questions. Their instructors
will try to find what"s wrong with the questions and make
comments on it. I will give an easy example which is the basic
knowledge of the mean-value theorem. One of my students
writes the following example of the mean-value theorem.”
James shows what"s in his book to the rest of the participants,
!It is clear to look in this way right? The assignment required
some creativity to determine that at least once during the race
the runners had the same velocity at the same time. The students

1James Beidleman, increasing students' conceptual understanding of first semester calculus through writing
05.4, 297-316.

were given one week to work on this assignment and an informal peer review was conducted in the
middle of the week in order to provide feedback and allow students to revise their work before
turning in the assignment. I know this one is not perfect because it is only the beginning of this
research. However, it is still a huge success and a great example of writing for calculus. Later when
I assigned work for students to write about, they are all able to articulate the situations and
problems. Later students grades just go higher.”

Isaac nods his head, as a well-known scientist, he wrote and published hundreds of papers in his
life. However, he was still a little surprised by the effectiveness of helping students learn calculus
through writing. Isaac turns his head to Robin, “Do you think this method is effective?”

Robin nods his head, “Sir, from my perspective, I feel positive towards this kind of method. I am a
college student and I major in Maths. In one of the major classes I took, the professor told me to
write down every step’s explanation. Most students nowadays just apply the formulas that
professors give us. It can be a good way to let students understand more about the formula like how
we can derive this formula on our own. Indeed, after writing about every step, I felt I comprehended
the point more clearly.”

“Then that method must be very effective. I also feel positive toward this method.” Isaac feels
satisfied with Robin’s answer.

While Isaac Newton gives Robin the recognition. They hear Martha agrees with James"#point,
!Thank you James, I read your whole book about the writing, it was fascinating and I even used this
book as a reference to my own paper.”

!Oh, is it called 2Writing to Learn: An Experiment in Calculus? I read your paper too, I like the way
you try to prove how effective writing is. Care to talk more about your research?”

!Thank you James, It is merely an extension of your work. All I did was just building on your idea.
From my perspective, students nowadays in calculus classes mostly focus on the graphs, lines,
numbers and symbols. It is too restricted in the way of teaching and that"s why most students
sometimes don"t understand the topic and knowledge. 3I believe writing can help students free from
these thoughts and try to truly understand the concepts instead of just committing them to memory.
In other words, I really appreciate the idea that students think the writing assignments helped
students to gain a conceptual understanding of calculus rather than just memorizing the formulas.
Meanwhile, the writing assignments made students think about what they were doing and also
helped them retain the information from the course longer than they might have otherwise. Students
also stated that the writing assignments $have greatly strengthened our ability to solve calculus
problems because we better understand the 'why ' and not just the 'how' to do a problem.%

Everyone in the room and outside room becomes quiet because they are all thinking about what
Martha says except James because he already has similar thoughts, !Enough talking about the

2Martha Alexander Goss, Writing to learn: An experiment in calculus [doctoral thesis]. Hattiesburg, MS:
University of Southern Mississippi. 1998
3Martha Alexander Goss, Writing to learn: An experiment in calculus [doctoral thesis]. Hattiesburg, MS:
University of Southern Mississippi. 1998

 simple writing in the calculus. Writing small paragraphs and essays is only a small branch of the
writing form. I am aware that there are different genre choices in the writing and Patrick, maybe
you have comments on this one? I am even bored by my self discussing too much about the general
writing.” Laying back on his chair, James"#voice amuses everyone.

!Why all of the sudden?” Patrick rolls his eyes.

!Because I said I was bored and I wanted to hear something differently.” James smiles.

!Maybe you can write a song to express your feelings. $JB~".”

Once again, Martha interrupts these two men"s conversation, !Okay. How about this? Patrick starts
first and Sue, can you make your point next?”

Sue nods her head slightly and pushes her glasses. Patrick and James look at each other angrily and
Patrick stands up, !Ok, I will talk about my way of teaching calculus. It is kind of interesting
because I write an essay about how to use poetry to teach a class.”

!Wow poetry, what an elegant way! I hope you didn"t learn it from Sponge-bob because that will not
be elegant~”

!James!!!”

!Sorry Martha, I will stop. Continue your discussion, Patrick.”

Patrick chooses to ignore James, &!I know some of you guys may feel skeptical of how poetry can
help students learn math. I claim that poetry can be made to serve two important purposes in an
introductory mathematics course. First, poetry offers a new sort of cognition, a new lens, one based
in linguistic metaphor, through which students can examine and re-examine mathematical ideas.
Second, writing poetry emboldens students and gives them confidence by allowing them a more
familiar idiom in which they can express themselves mathematically. These two factors are
significant in mathematical development.”

Patrick opens his laptop and types some words in it and it shows some poems on the screen. Isaac
never saw this technology before and gets intrigued by it immediately. He sees the words and lights
and colors one the screen. In the middle of it there is a paper-like page. Robin tells him this is a
Word document which is basically unlimited
paper in a single screen.

Patrick chooses one of the poems in the

document and shows it to others, !This poem is
written by a girl who got so frustrated by
mathematics and he writes a poem to express
her feelings. She usually is a shy girl and hides

4Patrick Bahls, Math and Metaphor: Using Poetry to Teach College Mathematics. The WAC Journal, 20(1),
75-90. 2009

 her frustration inside, but with poems, we can see how she acts toward the calculus study and we as
teachers can give her a hand. As a result, poems could be really strong aids as a writing genre to
teach a calculus class.”

Everyone claps in the room, even James because he is even surprised by how Patrick provides his
points of poetry. Except for Robin at the doorway. Isaac sees the frown of Robin and asks, “What’s
wrong?”

“I don’t actually believe poetry can be a great help for learning Mathematics.” Replies Robin.

“Why not.” Isaac gets curious and he starts to get intrigued by this boy’s own thoughts.

“Because learning mathematics tends to be challenging already. Thus, I don’t believe students who
try to learn more about Calculus are able to compose ideal poems. Also, the poetry is still limited in
its length. Only few ideas will be expressed and it seems difficult for students to actually learn
something from a poem. Poems work well to express students’ concerns but it won’t help much for
maths learning.” Robin makes his comment in a serious tongue and he is in deep thought. He even
forgets to put respectful words in his response towards Isaac.

After hearing what Robin says, Isaac smiles and pats on Robin’s shoulder to appraise his unique
thought. Robin realizes he just conversed with Isaac like two friends and his face becomes flush.

“That is one good idea. Too bad they didn’t hear you.” Isaac sighs and looks into the room again.

In the discussion room, Martha acknowledges Patrick"s idea, !I hope more people can apply
methods like this. This is such an interesting topic. I never thought poetry can also be used in
teaching Maths.”

“Thank you!” Patrick replies her gratefully.

Everyone in the room except Sue Doe has already made their claim now and they are all looking at
Sue. “Sue, it is your turn.” Smiles Martha, “We know you also get a different way of teaching
Maths. I hope you also can do a great job.”

Finally, Sue stands up, she is always the quiet one. The only reason she comes here is that she wants
to learn more about how writing in calculus can help students. She also did some research and
conducted some experiments.

!I did research and wrote a paper about how storytelling can help students understand calculus.”
Sue pauses to clear her throat. “5I always believe the narrative students learn is the story they will
carry into their subsequent courses to inform them as to why they need to know the definition, the
theorems, the proof techniques. If they are not going to continue in mathematics, they will probably
forget the body of material they have studied; but, if they have written about the course they will be
much more likely to hold that narrative in their memory as their record of what that area of
mathematics is about.”

5Sue Doe, Stories and Explanations in the Introductory Calculus Classroom: A Study of WTL as a Teaching
and Learning Intervention. The WAC Journal, 27(1), 94-118, 2016

 “Excellent point Sue. Storytelling is always intriguing for the younger generation nowadays. They
will definitely commit both the story and mathematics idea in it. Do you also have an example? I
bet it will be interesting.” Patrick smiles and helps Sue continue her discussion.

Sue nods her head and shows one of her students"#work on a laptop. It is about a zombie story, '!In
this story written by a student, it does
demonstrate a clear understanding of
velocity with respect to time—
indicating the appropriate changes of
running slower and faster—and it is
also a creative story that demonstrates
that the student could generate a fun
correlative to the principle in
question, thus suggesting confidence in
the student"s knowledge. In other words, the student"s understanding of knowledge can be seen
clearly by how good the stories they write are.”

As Sue finishes her last sentences and everyone falls in deep thoughts. All of the writing genres
displayed here are effective in teaching and all of them make great points. Isaac again, turns his
head toward Robin, “What do you think?”

“Well, sir…”

“Don’t call me sir, call me Isaac.”

Robin stuns and sees Isaac Newton’s smile. He has never felt so honored, “Thank you s…Isaac!
From my perspective, storytelling may be effective in a way. Although students still have to
construct a new genre, a story is easier to construct than a poem. Meanwhile, story can get more
details and contents. However, it still depends on how well the story is constructed.”

Isaac laughs, “It feels strange but I will allow it. These ideas about writing in calculus are really
fascinating. Can I join the discussion?”

“Yeah. You are welcome everywhere here.”

Then, Robin takes Isaac into the discussion room and the four professors notice them.

!You are?” The four professors ask.

“My name is Robin. A Maths major student and this is…..”Robin pauses for dramatic effect. “Isaac
Newton!!”

!Newton!?” Exclaimed by James.

6Sue Doe, Stories and Explanations in the Introductory Calculus Classroom: A Study of WTL as a Teaching
and Learning Intervention. The WAC Journal, 27(1), 94-118, 2016

 !Sir Isaac Newton!!!?”The four professors stand up and show great respect.

!You four are truly good professors, incorporating different writing styles and genres into calculus
and mathematics learning. I am so intrigued by your teaching ideas. Robin also has great viewpoints
about the writing. Can we join your discussions?” Isaac Newton sincerely asks.

!Sure! It is a huge honor!” Four professors then gladly invite Isaac and continue their discussion.

The End

Continued to the last page…….

 Work Cited:

Doe, Sue, Pilgrim, Mary E., & Gehrtz, Jessica. (2016). Stories and Explanations in the Introductory
Calculus Classroom: A Study of WTL as a Teaching and Learning
Intervention. The WAC Journal, 27(1), 94-118

Bahls, Patrick. (2009). Math and Metaphor: Using Poetry to Teach College Mathematics. The WAC
Journal, 20(1), 75-90.

Beidleman, James; Doug Jones; Pamela Wells. (1995). Increasing students' conceptual
understanding of first semester calculus through writing. PRIMUS: Problems, Resources, and
Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies 05.4, 297-316.

Goss, Martha Alexander. (1998). Writing to learn: An experiment in calculus [doctoral thesis].
Hattiesburg, MS: University of Southern Mississippi.

Tips:
Don’t get confused with Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton. They both make great contribution
science development. Einstein is the one on the left who discovered relativism. Newton is on the
right and he invented calculus and Newton's three physical laws.