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Understanding Children's Mathematical Graphics: Beginnings in Play
This book challenges traditional beliefs and practices of teaching 'written' mathematics in early childhood. It gives theoretical underpinnings and offers exciting insights and context to children's early mathematical thinking and in particular into children's mathematical graphics, showing how this supports their understanding of the abstract symbolic language of mathematics. Drawing on a wide range of examples, it illustrates and explains how children explore and communicate their mathematical thinking through their mathematical graphics, and how this begins in play.The book looks at the power of children's own marks, symbols and other graphical representations to convey meanings, exploring how they support complex thinking. The authors explore the relationship between children's play and meaning making. Rather than viewing mathematics as a separate subject or as a set of basic 'skills' to be transmitted, they demonstrate that in supportive learning cultures children develop their own mathematical thinking to solve problems.
Key features
Numerous new examples and case studies of children from birth to 8 years,highlighting the complexity and richness of children's thinkingExplanation of pedagogical issues - showing how they can support rich play and mathematicsDraws on the authors' latest research This book is valuable reading for students, teachers, primary mathematics coordinators' and all early years' professionals working in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One.
Key features
Numerous new examples and case studies of children from birth to 8 years,highlighting the complexity and richness of children's thinkingExplanation of pedagogical issues - showing how they can support rich play and mathematicsDraws on the authors' latest research This book is valuable reading for students, teachers, primary mathematics coordinators' and all early years' professionals working in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Key Stage One.
421 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
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December 12, 2016
A very interesting read. Children can learn a lot from play, especially when adults watch and listen and most of all respect. I enjoyed the examples in the book, I would have liked even more specific examples not just of what children do but how specifically teachers foster this. I do it in my own way but I am always curious how others do it and I learn from that.
The book had an oversimplified and unproblematical view of play also of children's interests and how that relates to things like gender (other factors of identity and context were not discussed and the paragraph on gender was too brief and "common sense" to be useful). I felt that it needed to break down some of these understandings to be even stronger. What was also glossed over was how in this play based learning to identify (and reach) the children who are not so focused on these ways of playing. In my experience in play based settings many children DO play in these ways but also many choose not to engage with these ways of thinking. I suspect this is an under-researched area.
I really loathed the quote from Spike Milligan at the end. Milligan may well have thought such a thing about children, but he was an entertainer (of adults mainly) not an educator. A teacher can't afford to view (or treat) children as a different species to adults though it is valid to consider that children may have different cultural understandings and artefacts to adults.
In any case it was useful to think about the ways maths is available to children I work with in their play and the things I could perhaps do to extend and enrich this! I feel all motivated to start a group or something.
The book had an oversimplified and unproblematical view of play also of children's interests and how that relates to things like gender (other factors of identity and context were not discussed and the paragraph on gender was too brief and "common sense" to be useful). I felt that it needed to break down some of these understandings to be even stronger. What was also glossed over was how in this play based learning to identify (and reach) the children who are not so focused on these ways of playing. In my experience in play based settings many children DO play in these ways but also many choose not to engage with these ways of thinking. I suspect this is an under-researched area.
I really loathed the quote from Spike Milligan at the end. Milligan may well have thought such a thing about children, but he was an entertainer (of adults mainly) not an educator. A teacher can't afford to view (or treat) children as a different species to adults though it is valid to consider that children may have different cultural understandings and artefacts to adults.
In any case it was useful to think about the ways maths is available to children I work with in their play and the things I could perhaps do to extend and enrich this! I feel all motivated to start a group or something.
Displaying 1 of 1 review