RESEARCHING CHILDREN'S SPONTANEOUS 'MATHEMATICAL PLAY' IN KINDERGARTEN

Τσιούλη & Παπανδρέου (ελληνικά)
Published: Sep 17, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/enedim.21171
Keywords:
everyday mathematical knowledge mathematical play early childhood education mathematizing
Μαρία Τσιούλη (Tsiouli Maria)
ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI
Μαρία Παπανδρέου (Maria Papandreou)
ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI
Abstract
Research has shown that play is a favorable context for investigating the range of children’s informal mathematical knowledge, as into their play activities they bring and use different kinds of experience and knowledge which they appropriate by participating in various everyday activities. A growing interest is also observed recently for further mathematical learning based on children’s family and cultural knowledge through mathematizing elements of their play. For the implementation of this pedagogical perspective, a specific kind of children’s engagement with mathematical ideas, the ‘mathematical play’, is of particular interest, issue that has not been systematically researched. The present paper focuses on the features of mathematical play incidents identified during a resent research in a kindergarten, which sought to investigate children’s everyday mathematical knowledge as it was expressed  during six weeks in their free choice activities. Based on these findings we demonstrate the children’s intense interest on various mathematical topics. ‘Playing’ with mathematical ideas and interacting with their peers the children elaborated and extended their mathematical knowledge, while the emergence of these incidents seems to be related to specific play activities based on various topics of their everyday life. Findings are discussed, and implications are proposed for everyday practice in early childhood classrooms and further research on this issue.
Article Details
  • Section
  • Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).

 

 
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Author Biography
Μαρία Παπανδρέου (Maria Papandreou), ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI
Assis. Professor
References
Bjorklund, C., Magnusson, M., & Palmer, H. (2018). Teacher’s involvement in children’s mathematizing-beyond dichotomization between play and teaching. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(4), 469-480.
Bobis, J., & Way, J. (2018). Building connections between children’s representations and their conceptual development in mathematics. In V. Kinnear, M. Y. Lai & T. Muir (Eds.), Forging connections in early mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 55-72). Singapore: Springer.
Broström, S. (2017). A dynamic learning concept in early years’ education: A possible way to prevent schoolification. International Journal of Early Years Education, 25(1), 3-15.
Cook, D. (1996). Mathematical sense making and role-play in the nursery. Early Child Development and Care, 121(1), 55-66.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research-planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Dockett, S., & Goff, W. (2013). Noticing young children’s mathematical strengths and agency. In V. Steinle, L. Ball & C. Bardini (Eds.), Mathematics education: Yesterday, today and tomorrow, Proceedings of the 36th annual conference of MERGA (pp. 771-774). Melbourne, VIC: MERGA.
Edo, M., Planas, N., & Badillo, E. (2009). Mathematical learning in a context of play. European Early Childhood Education Journal, 17(3), 325-341.
Ferrara, K., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Newcombe, N. S., Golinkoff, R. M., & Lam, W. S. (2011). Block talk: Spatial language during block play. Mind, Brain, and Education, 5(3), 143-151.
Fleer, M. (2010). Early learning and development: Cultural-historical concepts in play. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gejard, G., & Melander, H. (2018). Mathematizing in preschool: Children’s participation in geometrical discourse. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(4), 495-511.
Ginsburg, H. P., Lin, C., Ness, D., & Seo, K. H. (2003). Young American and Chinese children’s everyday mathematical activity. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 5(4), 235-258.
Hill, M., & Wood, E. (2019). ‘Dead Forever’: An ethnographic study of young children's interests, funds of knowledge and working theories in free play. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2019.02.017
Holton, D., Ahmed, A., Williams, H., & Hill, C. (2001). On the importance of mathematical play. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 32(3), 401-415.
Howe, N., Adrien, E., Della Porta, S., Peccia, S., Recchia, H., … & Ross, H. (2016). ‘Infinity means it goes on forever’: Siblings’ informal teaching of Mathematics. Infant and Child Development, 25(2), 137-157.
Jupri, A., & Drijvers, P. (2016). Student difficulties in mathematizing word problems in algebra. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 12(9), 2481-2502.
Kozulin, A. (1998). Psychological tools: A sociocultural approach to education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Κωνσταντινίδου, Ζ., & Παπανδρέου, Μ. (2018). Η μέτρηση μήκους ως πολιτισμική πρακτική στο νηπιαγωγείο με την αξιοποίηση κατάλληλου εκπαιδευτικού υλικού. Στο Χ.
Σκουμπουρδή & Μ. Σκουμιός (Επιμ.), Πρακτικά 3ου πανελληνίου συνεδρίου με διεθνή συμμετοχή: Εκπαιδευτικό υλικό Μαθηματικών και Φυσικών Επιστημών: Διαφορετικές χρήσεις, διασταυρούμενες πορείες μάθησης, (σελ. 237-246). Ρόδος. Ανακτήθηκε από http://ltee.aegean.gr/sekpy/
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lee, S. (2012). Toddlers as mathematicians? Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 37(1), 30-37.
Munn, P., & Schaffer, H. R. (1993). Literacy and numeracy events in social interactive contexts. International Journal of Early Years Education, 1(3), 61-80.
Papandreou, M. (2014). Communicating and thinking through drawing activity in early childhood. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 28(1), 85-100.
Παπανδρέου, Μ. (2017). Εισαγωγή για την ελληνική έκδοση. Στο C. Mclachan, M. Fleer & S. Edwards (Eds.), Αναλυτικά προγράμματα προσχολικής και πρώτης σχολικής ηλικίας: Σχεδιασμός, αξιολόγηση και εφαρμογή (σελ. 15-37). Αθήνα: Εκδόσεις Gutenberg.
Papandreou, M. (υπό κρίση). Young children’s representational practices in the context of self-initiated data investigations.
Papandreou, Μ., & Tsiouli, Μ. (υπό κρίση). Noticing and understanding children’s everyday mathematics during play in early childhood classrooms.
Perry, B., & Dockett, S. (2008). Young children’s access to powerful mathematical ideas. In L. D. English (Ed.), Handbook of International Research in Mathematics Education (pp. 75-108). New York: Routledge.
Ramani, G. B., Zippert, E., Schweitzer, S., & Pan, S. (2014). Preschool children's joint block building during a guided play activity. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 35(4), 326–336.
Riojas-Cortez, M. (2001). Preschoolers’ funds of knowledge displayed through sociodramatic play episodes in a bilingual classroom. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(1), 35-40.
Rogoff, B. (2008). Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, and apprenticeship. In K. Hall, P. Murphy & J. Soler (Eds.), Pedagogy and practice: culture and identities (pp. 58-74). London: SAGE.
Τζεκάκη, Μ. (2010). Μαθηματική εκπαίδευση για την προσχολική και πρώτη σχολική ηλικία-Αλλάζοντας την τάξη των Μαθηματικών. Θεσσαλονίκη: Εκδόσεις Ζυγός.
Sarama, J., & Clements, D. H. (2009). Building blocks and cognitive building blocks: Playing to know the world mathematically. American Journal of Play, 1(3), 313-337.
Skoumpourdi, C. (2016). Different modes of communicating geometric shapes, through a game, in kindergarten. International Journal for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, 17(2). Ανακτήθηκε από http://www.cimt.org.uk/ijmtl/index.php/IJMTL/article/view/16
Sumpter, L., & Hedefalk, M. (2015). Preschool children’s collective mathematical reasoning during free outdoor play. Journal of Mathematical Behaviour, 39, 1-10.
Trawick-Smith, J., Swaminathan, S., & Liu, X. (2015). The relationship of teacher–child play interactions to mathematics learning in preschool. Early Child Development and Care, 186(5), 716-733.
van Oers, B. (2013). Is it play? Towards a reconceptualisation of role-play from an activity theory perspective. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(2), 185-198.
van Oers, B. (2010). Emergent mathematical thinking in the context of play. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 74 (1), 23-37.
Van Oers, B. (1996). Are you sure? Stimulating mathematical thinking during young children’s play. European Early Childhood Research Journal, 4(1), 71-87.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribler & E. Souberman (Eds.). Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Worthington, M., & van Oers, B. (2016). Pretend play and the cultural foundations of mathematics. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 24(1), 51-66.