Young Children’s Photographs of Addition in the School Environment

Abstract

Young children often face difficulty in acquiring Mathematics concepts. This study examined how photograph assist young children to understand the concept of early number and engage in addition activities within classroom learning. The study employed case study research design and involved six children (aged six years) in one preschool centre. Data was collected using observation, informal interviews and analysis of photograph produced by the focus group whilst engaged in various addition activities. The findings showed that photographs function as visual mathematical representations that facilitate and reinforce young children’s understanding of addition concept. The study implicated that young children’s creation of visual mathematical representations is an essential learning approach among young children and could be best assisted by the use of information technology and communication applications. Introduction Representation is vital in teaching and learning mathematics. Mathematics educators worldwide utilize various forms of representations including physical and virtual manipulatives, number lines, pictures, written and spoken symbols (Ahmad, Tarmizi, & Nawawi, 2010; Elia, Gagatsis, and Demetriou, 2007). As a result, students use various types of representation to access mathematical ideas and solve mathematical tasks. The study by Mohamed & Johnny (2010) reporting on students’ heavy reliance on a particular form of representation (i.e. symbols) raise concern among mathematics educators; because researchers strongly put emphasis on the link between children’s facility in a variety of representation and their mathematical understanding (Lesh, Post, & Behr, 1987). Research highlights the positive impacts of multiple representation use (including physical, verbal and written symbols) in mathematics teaching and learning: by supporting communication of mathematical thinking, understanding of concepts and the solving of various mathematic problems (Elia et al., 2007). Despite the positive function of multiple representation use as reported in a number of studies, little is International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 8, August, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS 3 reported about visual representations created in early year’s mathematics (Crespo & Kyriakides, 2007; Woleck, 2001) particularly with regards to the use of photographs that gave insight into young children’s understanding of addition concepts. Research Background Zarzycki (2004) indicate the importance of visualization in teaching and learning mathematics. “We could not even imagine introducing many mathematical concepts without illustrating them by pictures, drawings, graphs, etc.” (Zarzycki, 2004, p. 108), especially to young children who are more visual than adults. Presmeg (2006) suggested that visualization involves the creation of visual images which guide the creation of mathematical representations. The advancement of technology enables both teachers and students to benefit from technology (Lokman, Nasri & Khalid, 2019; Khalid, Karim & Husnin, 2018; Ruhil Amal, Nor Fariza & Affendi, 2017; George & Archontia, 2013; Khalid, Nawawi & Roslan 2009). In particular, technology assisted learning has been found useful to enhance children’s learning (Bakar & Nasri, 2018). For example, digital cameras, which offer an aid to the quick generation of visual images when teachers incorporate them into instruction and children utilize them to explore various mathematics concepts. The purpose of including visualization with technology in classrooms is to provide visual representations that facilitate communication about important mathematics concepts to help students develop deeper understanding. Since this technological device is associated with many special features, it offers unlimited opportunities to be integrated into the learning environment to help students “see the beauty and excitement in mathematics” (Cuoco & Curcio, 2001, p. xiii) A large number of studies related to digital camera usage, photography and visual imagery in the early learning environment have documented that integrating photographs with learning has positive impacts on children. For example, combining photography with literacy is helpful in developing language and literacy skills (Britsch, 2010; Byrnes & Wasik, 2009; Marinak, Strickland, & Keat, 2010). Researchers found that photographic activities encouraged meaningful discussion (Marinak et al., 2010) and led students to use longer sentences to describe pictures (Britsch, 2010). Therefore, more studies using digital cameras should be conducted to identify their utility in other subject areas. Researchers are increasingly encouraging various photographic activities to enhance learning of mathematics among students of all ages (Bragg & Nicol, 2011; Furner & Marinas, 2012; Northcote, 2011; Orr & Suh, 2013). Problem-posing and problemsolving using photographs helped develop students’ awareness of mathematics in everyday objects around them as they were searching for images to create the questions and problems (Bragg & Nicol, 2011; Orr & Suh, 2013). In fact, capturing outdoor images is a useful way to bring the mathematics found outside of the classroom into the learning space. Such activities provide a more meaningful way to make useful links between mathematical concepts and objects in the surrounding areas (Northcote, 2011) rather than being dependent on teachers to show the connection (Furner & Marinas, 2012). Exploring mathematics through photography permits students to realize and understand that mathematics is related to their everyday lives (Bragg & Nicol, 2011), therefore, enabling students to experience the International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 8, August, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS 4 beauty of mathematics (Cuoco & Curcio, 2001). Moreover, photos captured by students are often familiar objects found within their educational setting, thereby lessening the cognitive load related to understanding unfamiliar objects. Photography provides great opportunities for children to be active and explore the objects as well as various everyday phenomena in the environment. Further, the photo-taking activities can assist in making learning relevant and natural to the children. In taking their own photos, they are deciding what is important and constructing their own meaning of their experiences (Piaget, 1955). This is important in providing them with the opportunity to optimize their learning experiences. These experiences are imperative in the process of learning mathematical concepts. Researchers emphasize the importance of developing children’s arithmetic skills in the early years of instruction (Patel & Canobi, 2010; Resnick, 1992). Skills learned in the early years of school are important knowledge for use in many aspects of everyday life as well as for use in future learning and life. Children’s early counting experiences provide an important base towards understanding addition concepts (Gelman & Gallistel, 1978). Since teachers reported that their pre-schools’ children faced difficulties understanding the addition concept and continued struggling with this basic operation in Year One (Tyng, Zaman, & Ahmad, 2011), it is important to discover if visualization can help facilitate understanding of the addition topic in similar ways that it facilitates students understanding of other topics such as geometry. The Study This study aimed to examine how visual mathematical representations assist young children to understand the concept of early number and engage in addition activities within classroom learning. The study was underpinned by the significance of visual representation in mathematics learning and the necessity to use technology tools in classroom learning of young children. Although researchers have been investigating children’s representation usage for mathematics learning, researchers have focused mainly on examining either a particular form or neglected the utilization of visual representation. Furthermore, the inclusion of technological tools in this study (digital cameras) is essential to equip children with new and dynamic ways of learning and being prepared for the challenges of life in the 21st century. Specifically, the study explored the ways in which young children used photographs to portray addition concepts by addressing the following research questions: 1. How do young children use photographs to represent numbers and addition concept? 2. In which ways and to what extent do young children’s photographs portrayed their understanding of numbers and addition? Methodology This study was conducted in a ‘pre-school’ in Malacca, Malaysia. Six children (aged six years old) from the same classroom were selected to participate in this study. The researcher worked only with this group of children throughout the study, and the teacher continued lesson with the other children. For the past two months, the children had been learning how to count. They had not been taught the concept of International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 9 , No. 8, August, 2019, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2019 HRMARS 5 addition. For this study, the researcher acted as the teacher to this focus group. At the beginning, the researcher introduced and modelled the addition processes using concrete materials. Then in the practice task, the children together with the researcher modelled addition situation using various objects. Next, the children were prompted to produce photographs that represent their ideas relating to addition concept. By prompting the children to represent their own meaning of addition through photographs, children were actively exploring and building their own understanding rather than passively receiving knowledge from the researcher. As Goldin and Shteingold (2001) state, internal and external represent