Amy MacDonald

EARLY CHILDHOOD MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

During the review period, there has been unprecedented political interest in early childhood education in Australasia (taken to be education of and for children aged between 0 and 8 years old). In New Zealand a review of the implementation of the respected prior-to-school curriculum framework Te Whariki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996) has been recommended. For schools, the New Zealand Curriculum (MoE, 2007) was introduced in 2007. In Australia, the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (Department of Education, Employment and Workforce Relations [DEEWR], 2009) was implemented from 2010 and Phase 1 of the implementation of the Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2010), including mathematics, has begun.

Young children’s photographs of measurement in the home

This article explores the use of children’s photography as a method for conducting mathematics education research with young children. Collected as part of a study focusing on the experiences with measurement children have at the start of schooling, the photographs presented here were taken by children aged five and six years, from two Australian primary schools. The children took a digital camera home and were asked to photograph things that they considered to be related to measurement. While the intended use of the photographs was to provide insight into the types of experiences children have with measurement in the home context, an additional outcome to emerge from the research was a deeper understanding relating to the strengths and weaknesses of using children’s photography and photo elicitation as a research method with young children. This article presents some of the insights gleaned from this mathematics education research, and examines the use of children’s photography and photo elicitation as a research strategy for working in early years research contexts.

Mathematics and Transition to School

1 Mathematics and Transition to School: Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Implications Bob Perry, Amy MacDonald, and Ann Gervasoni Part I The Mathematics Young Children Bring to the First Year of School 2 Swimming Upstream in a Torrent of Assessment Anita M. Wager, M. Elizabeth Graue, and Kelly Harrigan 3 Assessing Young Childrens Mathematical Understanding: Opportunities and Expectations at the Transition to School Barbara Clarke 4 Childrens Mathematical Knowledge Prior to Starting School and Implications for Transition Ann Gervasoni and Bob Perry 5 Transition to School: Prior to School Mathematical Skills and Knowledge of Low-Achieving Children at the End of Grade 1 Andrea Peter-Koop and Sebastian Kollhoff 6 Lets Count: Early Childhood Educators and Families Working in Partnership to Support Young Childrens Transitions in Mathematics Education Amy MacDonald 7 The Role of the Home Environment in Childrens Early Numeracy Development: A Canadian Perspective Sheri-Lynn Skwarchuk and Jo-Anne LeFevre 8 Mathematics Teachers Responding to Childrens Resources to Create Learning for All Jonina Vala Kristinsdottir and Hafdis Gudjonsdottir Part II Continuity of Mathematics Curriculum and/or Pedagogy as Children Begin School 9 The Relationship Between Policy and Practice in the Early Mathematics Curriculum for Reception-Class Children in England Carol Aubrey and D nd Durmaz 10 Scaling Up Early Mathematics Interventions: Transitioning with Trajectories and Technologies Julie Sarama and Douglas H. Clements 11 Partnerships that Support Childrens Mathematics During the Transition to School: Perceptions, Barriers and Opportunities Wendy Goff and Sue Dockett 12 The Culture of the Mathematics Classroom During the First School Years in Finland and Sweden Kirsti Hemmi and Andreas Ryve 13 A New Zealand Perspective: Mathematical Progressions from Early Childhood to School through a Child Centred Curriculum? Shiree Lee and Gregor Lomas 14 The Impact of a Patterns and Early Algebra Program on Childrens Learning in Transition to School in Australian Indigenous Communities Marina M. Papic, Joanne T. Mulligan, Kate Highfield, Judith McKay-Tempest, and Deborah Garrett 15 Preschool Mathematics Learning and School Transition in Hong Kong Sharon Sui Ngan Ng and Jin Sun Part III Informal and Formal Mathematics and the Transition to School 16 Early Mathematics in Play Situations: Continuity of Learning Hedwig Gasteiger 17 Mathematical Conversations that Challenge Childrens Thinking Jill Cheeseman 18 Transition to School: Supporting Childrens Engagement in Mathematical Thinking Processes Liz Dunphy 19 Listening to Childrens Mathematics in School Elizabeth Carruthers

Educators’ expectations and aspirations around young children’s mathematical knowledge

Let’s Count is a mathematics professional learning programme for preschool educators in Australia, managed by a prominent non-government organisation and sponsored by industry. It has been implemented in both face-to-face and online modes over 2013/14. Let’s Count is based on the constructs that all young children are powerful mathematicians and that children should be given opportunities to access mathematical ideas through play and interactions with peers and adults, including family members. In this paper, we report on an evaluation of the impact of Let’s Count on the educators’ beliefs, expectations, aspirations and practices around preschool mathematics education. The evaluation utilises a mixed-methods approach in which educators have responded to brief written surveys as well as email and telephone interviews. The main findings from this research are demonstrable shifts in educators’ beliefs and attitudes about, expectations of and aspirations for the mathematical learning of young children. These shifts have resulted in rich mathematical learning opportunities for children and conversations with both children and adult family members in preschool settings. Findings from this research suggest that Let’s Count, in both of its modes, has had a positive impact on the children’s mathematical learning as well as the educators’ beliefs and practices.

Let’s Count: Early Childhood Educators and Families Working in Partnership to Support Young Children’s Transitions in Mathematics Education

Let’s Count is an early mathematics program designed by The Smith Family and researchers from Charles Sturt University and the Australian Catholic University as a means of assisting parents and other family members to help their young children (aged 3–5 years) play with, investigate and learn powerful mathematical ideas. Let’s Count involves early childhood educators in the role of mentors to the parents and family members of the children in their settings, providing assistance in noticing and exploring mathematics in everyday life. In 2011, I was responsible for developing Let’s Count into the form of a distance education subject for offer to students enrolled in an early childhood teacher education degree at Charles Sturt University, as a means of sustaining the Let’s Count initiative and achieving a wider impact on the early childhood community. In this chapter, I report on a project which followed up with former participants in the subject, and the families with whom they have worked, to ascertain the success of the Let’s Count program in bringing together early childhood educators and families to support positive transitions in children’s mathematics education. This chapter explores the ongoing effects of educators’ and families’ engagement with the program, and shares examples of Let’s Count activities in prior-to-school, school, family and community contexts.

Mathematics Education in the Early Years

This chapter presents a synthesis of the Australasian early childhood mathematics education research which has been conducted during the review period 2012–2015. “Early childhood education” is taken to be the education of, and for, children aged between birth and 8 years old. The research canvassed in this chapter encompasses a range of early childhood contexts, including home, school, and early childhood education services. Similarly, the research presented in this chapter has been undertaken with a range of stakeholders in early childhood mathematics education, including early childhood and school educators, families, and the children themselves. Consistent with previous reviews, this chapter is structured according to four key themes which have emerged in canvassing the current research: curriculum in early childhood mathematics education; assessment in early childhood mathematics education; content of early childhood mathematics education; and contexts for early childhood mathematics education. This synthesis of research is then used to provide recommendations for future research in this field.

Parental influences on primary school children’s mathematics achievement: Insights from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC)

Results from international mathematics tests are focussing the attention of national leaders on the learning of mathematics in the primary years. With this attention, comes the need to explore the factors that contribute to and impede this learning. Though much of this focus is on classroom practices, it is timely to examine the important influence that parents have on their childrens achievement. This paper reports on a secondary analysis of data from a large longitudinal study in Australia; in particular, the effectiveness of Australian parents’ involvement in their childrens homework. The results suggest that the actual help with homework has, on average, a negative effect on childrens achievement even after controlling for earlier achievement. Significantly, however, the other types of involvement, such as provision of a good home environment, have positive effects on achievement. The implications of these findings are also discussed.

Mathematics and Transition to School: Theoretical Frameworks and Practical Implications

This edited book brings together for the first time an international collection of work built around two important components of any young child’s life—learning mathematics and starting (primary or elementary) school. The chapters take a variety of perspectives, and integrate these two components in sometimes explicit and sometimes more subtle ways. This chapter provides a theoretical framework for transition to school and investigates possible places for mathematics in that transition. It stresses the importance of considering the strengths of all involved in the transition to school and how these strengths can be used to assist children learn increasingly sophisticated mathematics. The chapter concludes with an analysis of each of the book chapters in terms of their links into the theoretical framework for transition to school and young children’s mathematics learning.

An analysis of Australian STEM education strategies

In December 2015 the Australian state and territory governments endorsed the ‘National STEM School Education Strategy 2016–2026’. Since then, the individual jurisdictions have released their own STEM education strategies that aim to improve student STEM capabilities and aspirations. This paper analyses the various Australian STEM education strategies in relation to six themes informed by research into effective STEM education: STEM capabilities; STEM dispositions; STEM educational practices; Equity; Trajectories; and Educator capacities. The analysis shows that Australia’s STEM education strategies focus on actions aimed at building student STEM capabilities, particularly through inquiry and problem-based learning, and enhancing educator capacity. The strategies recognise student STEM learning trajectories and pay particular attention to the importance of early childhood STEM education, as well as the ways in which students’ potential career pathways might be influenced. However, less emphasis is placed on supporting key transitions in STEM education, developing student STEM dispositions, and addressing equity issues in STEM.

Young children's mathematical learning opportunities in family shopping experiences

ABSTRACT This article reports on a qualitative pilot study which documented the ways in which young children and their families notice, explore, and talk about mathematical concepts and processes as they participate in family shopping experiences. Six families, with children ranging from 12 months to 10 years, were video- and audio-recorded whilst shopping at 1 of 2 large retailers. The data reveal that young children and their families notice, explore, and talk about a great deal of implicit and explicit mathematics whilst shopping together. All of the children displayed instances of mathematical noticing, with the children ‘marking’ what they had noticed in both verbal and non-verbal forms. Furthermore, all six families explored and talked about what was noticed whilst shopping together. This study contributes new knowledge about the ways in which children and families interact with mathematics in community contexts.