Recognising the child as a social constructor of their mathematical knowledge
Thinking, understanding and skills, together with dispositions and patterns of behaviour do not develop in isolation. A socio-cultural view of mathematical thinking acknowledges that a child's engagement and learning is affected by mathematically-related influences from a variety of 'others' in the child's life1. Early childhood educators will have noted how Te Whāriki, Aoteroa/New Zealand's national early childhood curriculum2, recognises that a child's learning environment extends beyond the experiences taking place within their particular setting3.
The interpretation of 'others' could be 'others within the immediate play/experience' or 'others outside the immediate play/experience'. The 'others within' might include one or more other child/ren, whose influence on the mathematical thinking and shared mathematical understandings could be through indirect or direct contribution. An example of each would be:
- indirect - two toddlers engaged in parallel play at the dough table can pick up from each other how to roll out a long snake with minimal interaction between them
- direct - a group of young children engaged in constructing a planter box for growing vegetables can be observed working together, collaborating on the planning, listening to each other, discussing a variety of options and sharing out the jobs.
It is important for the enrichment of mathematical experiences that early childhood educators look beyond 'those children who are playing well together and look at how they are collaborating'. Educators need to pick up on the mathematical meaning-making4 that can occur in children’s collaboration in their construction of reality.
In order to value the child as a social constructer of their mathematical knowledge how can early childhood educators notice and make sense of the influences of ‘others’ on children’s mathematical learning?
1 Rogoff, B. The cultural nature of human development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki Mātauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa. Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
3 Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. London: Harvard University Press.
4 Ministry of Education. (2009). Kei Tua o te Pae. Assessment for learning: early childhood exemplars (Book 16). Wellington: Learning Media.