Teachers’ involvement in children’s mathematizing – beyond dichotomization between play and teaching

Maria Magnusson,Camilla Björklund,Hanna Palmér

doi:10.1080/1350293x.2018.1487162

Maria Magnusson, Camilla Björklund + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293x.2018.1487162

Copy DOI

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe focus of this article is on mathematics teaching in a play-based and goal-oriented practice, such as preschool, and on how different lines of actions may impact children’s learning opportunities. Video recordings of authentic play activities involving children and nine teachers from different preschools were analyzed qualitatively to answer the following research questions: (1) What lines of action do teachers use when they teach mathematics in play? and (2) What implications may different ways of teaching have for children’s learning opportunities? The analysis revealed four different categories: confirming direction of interest; providing strategies; situating known concepts; and challenging concept meaning. As these differ regarding both the mathematics content focused on and the kind of knowledge emphasized, they have implications for children’s learning opportunities.

Highlights

There is a growing consensus in policy and research that early mathematics is important and bears relevance for children’s development in the short and long term
What is left for the teachers and researchers within this field to determine is how to teach in a play-based and goal-oriented practice. We address this question in this article by studying how teaching in a play-based and goal-oriented practice can be conducted, and how different lines of action may impact children’s learning opportunities
The starting point for this article was the ongoing debate regarding the relation between play and teaching, and the question of how to teach in a play-based and goal-oriented practice (Pramling and Pramling Samuelsson 2011; Sundsdal and Øksnes 2015; Pramling, Doverborg, and Pramling Samuelsson 2017)

Summary

Introduction

There is a growing consensus in policy and research that early mathematics is important and bears relevance for children’s development in the short and long term. Despite the solid view that early mathematics is important, there is no agreement as to how preschool mathematics education should be conducted. Differences in opinion are visible both within and between countries, resulting in a plural view on preschool mathematics (Palmér and Björklund 2016). One of the most prominent differences regards the relation between play and teaching: is teaching to be integrated with or separated from children’s play? There are paradigms emphasizing children’s right to play, undisturbed by adults, for the sake of play itself (Sundsdal and Øksnes 2015); and on the other hand there is contemporary Nordic research developed within theoretical

Methods

Results

Conclusion