Teachers’ pedagogical mathematical awareness in diverse child-age-groups
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/nomad.v21i4.148745Abstract
In this study we investigate preschool teachers’ attention to number sense, number sequence, geometrical shapes and patterns, and their pedagogical awareness regarding these areas in their work with younger and older preschool children. The specific research questions are: Are there differences in teachers’ attention to the different mathematical content areas depending on the age group they are teaching? And if mathematical content areas show differences between age groups, what pedagogical awareness levels constitute these differences? The study shows that the frequency of working with mathematical content is higher for all areas regarding older children, but teachers’ choice of mathematical content area is not necessarily depending on the age of the children. Teachers’ frequency of observing and engaging children in mathematics is lower among those working with younger children but the difference is in general quite small. Significant and substantial differences appear in teachers’ attention to children’s mathematizing initiatives and problematizing number sequences, geometrical shapes and patterns.
References
Aunio, P. & Niemivirta, M. (2010). Predicting children's mathematical performance in grade one by early numeracy. Learning and Individual Differences, 20 (5), 427-435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2010.06.003
Aunola, K., Leskinen, E., Lerkkanen, M.-K. & Nurmi, J.-E. (2004). Developmental dynamics of math performance from preschool to grade 2. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96 (4), 699-713. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.96.4.699
Ball, D., Thames, M. & Phelps, G. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 59 (5), 389-407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487108324554
Björklund, C. (2014). Mot en förståelse för målorienterat matematiklärande i förskolan [Towards an understanding of goal-oriented mathematics learning in preschool in Swedish]. In Resultatdialog 2014 (pp. 34-41). Stockholm: Swedish Research Council.
Björklund, C. & Barendregt, W. (2015). Teachers' mathematical awareness in Swedish early childhood education. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 60 (3), 359-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2015.1066426
Butterworth, B. (1999). The mathematical brain. London: Macmillan.
Clements, D. & Sarama, J. (2007). Early childhood mathematics learning. In F. K. Lester Jr. (Ed.), Second handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 461-555). New York: Information Age.
Clements, D. & Sarama, J. (2008). Experimental evaluation of the effects of a research-based preschool mathematics curriculum. American Educational Research Journal, 45 (2), 443-494. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831207312908
Clements, D. & Sarama, J. (2011). Early childhood teacher education: the case of geometry. Mathematics Teacher Education, 14 (2), 133-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-011-9173-0
Dehaene, S. (1993). Varieties of numerical abilities. In S. Dehaene (Ed.), Numerical cognition (pp. 1-42). Cambridge: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(92)90049-N
Dehaene, S. (2001). Précis of the number sense. Mind & Language, 16 (1), 16-36. Doverborg, E. & Pramling Samuelsson, I. (2000). To develop young children's conception of numbers. Early Child Development and Care, 162, 81-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300443001620107
Gelman, R. & Gallistel, C. (1978). The child's understanding of number. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hannula, M. (2005). Spontaneous focusing on numerosity in the development of early mathematical skills (Diss.). Turku: Annales Universitatis Turkuensis.
Hannula, M., Mattinen, A. & Lehtinen, E. (2005). Does social interaction influence 3-year-old children's tendency to focus on numerosity? A quasi-experimental study in day care. In L. Verschaffel, E. De Corte, G. Kanselaar & M. Valcke (Eds.), Powerful environments to promote deep conceptual and strategic learning (pp. 63-80). Leuven University Press.
Hannula-Sormunen, M., Lehtinen, E. & Räsänen, P. (2015). Preschool children's spontaneous focusing on numerosity, subitizing, and counting skills as predictors of their mathematical performance seven years later at school. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 17 (2-3), 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/10986065.2015.1016814
Huttenlocher, J. (2008). Coding location: the view from toddler studies. American Psychologist, 63 (8), 641-648. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.641
Jordan, N., Kaplan, D., Ramineni, C. & Locuniak, M. (2009). Early math matters: kindergarten number competence and later mathematics outcomes. Developmental Psychology, 45 (3), 850-867. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014939
Klein, P. (1991). Molar assessment and parental intervention in infancy and early childhood: new evidence. In R. Feuerstein, P. Klein & A. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Mediated learning experience (MLE): theoretical, psychological and learning implications (pp. 213-239). London: Freund Publishing House.
Lee, J. (2010). Exploring kindergarten teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics. International Journal of Early Childhood, 42 (1), 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-010-0003-9
Lee, J. & Ginsburg, H. (2009). Early childhood teachers' misconceptions about mathematics education for young children in the United States. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 34 (4), 37-45. https://doi.org/10.1177/183693910903400406
LeFevre, J.-A., Fast, L., Skwarchuk, S.-L., Smith-Chant, B. & Bisanz, J. (2010). Pathways to mathematics: longitudinal predictors of performance. Child Development, 81 (6), 1753-1767. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01508.x
Levine, S., Suriyakham, L. W., Rowe, M., Huttenlocher, J. & Gunderson, E. (2010). What counts in the development of young children's number knowledge? Developmental Psychology, 46 (5), 1309-1319. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019671
Mattinen, A. (2006). Huomio lukumääriin. Tutkimus 3-vuotiaiden lasten matemaattisten taitojen tukemisesta päiväkodissa [Attention to numbers; in Finnish] (Diss.). Turku: Turun Yliopisto.
McCrink, K. & Wynn, K. (2004). Large-number addition and subtraction by 9-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 15 (11), 776-781. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00755.x
National Agency for Education (2011). Curriculum for the preschool Lpfö98. Revised 2010. Stockholm: Fritzes.
National Agency for Education (2014). PM - Barn och personal i förskolan hösten 2013 [Children and staff in preschool autumn 2013]. Retrieved from http://www.skolverket.se/publikationer?id=3199
Pramling, N. & Pramling Samuelsson, I. (Eds.).(2011). Educational encounters: nordic studies in early childhood didactics. Doordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1617-9
Pramling Samuelsson, I. & Asplund Carlsson, M. (2008). The playing learning child: towards a pedagogy of early childhood. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 52 (6), 623-641. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830802497265
Pramling Samuelsson, I. & Pramling, N. (2013). Orchestrating and studying children's and teachers' learning: reflections on developmental research approaches. Education Inquiry, 4 (3), 519-536. https://doi.org/10.3402/edui.v4i3.22624
Resnick, L. (1983). A developmental theory of number understanding. In H. Ginsburg (Ed.), The development of mathematical thinking (pp. 109-151). New York: Academic Press.
Sheridan, S., Pramling Samuelsson, I. & Johansson, E. (Eds.).(2009). Barns tidiga lärande. En tvärsnittsstudie om förskolan som miljö för barns lärande [Children's early learning. A crossectional study of preschool as an environment for children's learning, in Swedish]. Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Sheridan, S. (2009). Förskolornas pedagogiska kvalitet. In S. Sheridan, I. Pramling Samuelsson & E. Johansson (Eds.), Barns tidiga lärande. En tvärsnittsstudie om förskolan som miljö för barns lärande [Children's early learning. A crossectional study of preschool as an environment for children's learning, in Swedish] (pp. 75-92). Gothenburg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15 (2), 4-14. https://doi.org/10.2307/1175860
Sylva, K., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B., Sammons, P., Melhuish, E. et al. (2006). Capturing quality in early childhood through environmental rating scales. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21 (1), 76-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2006.01.003
Wynn, K. (1998). Numerical competence in infants. In C. Donlan (Ed.), The development of mathematical skills (pp. 3-25). Hove: Psychology Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315784755-2
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
