Elisabet Doverborg

Early Mathematics in the Preschool Context

In this chapter we will focus on some notions within early mathematics, and illustrate work with mathematics and these notions in the context of early childhood education, which means working with themes as well as with specific aspects of mathematics. Communication dialogues, learning processes, documentation, and evaluation are central notions in this chapter, but also the theoretical aspect of learning in terms of variation and developmental pedagogy. All is based on various research studies over a period of time.

To Develop Young Children's Conception of Numbers.

In a group of children, aged 2:7‐3:1* years, the teachers have systematically been working with developing the childrens conception of numbers. In the group there are eight children who are all fascinated by stars. The teacher takes this fascination as a starting point to develop the childrens conception of numbers. She makes cards with 1,2,3, 4, or 5 stars on. The cards are sorted with regard to the numbers of stars and kept in a box with five compartments, one for each number. When the group is gathered the teacher lets the children choose one “star‐card” each, which they are asked to put up on a board together with their name. The teacher works with the children in steps which have partly been developed with regard to the childrens comments. The children are invited to take a star‐card with a pattern which they think is nice. Furthermore, they are invited to match cards with the same number of stars and to count the stars on their cards. The children are also asked to compare the length of the rows of cards and to work out how many cards there are in the different rows. They are also asked to pick a card with a given number of stars. This article demonstrates how the work was carried out and how the children think and how they handle the different parts of the content. When the work is finished, another group of children of the same age is interviewed and the two different groups are compared with regard to the childrens conception of numbers. The comparison group, called reference group is meant to illustrate an ordinary way of working with numbers in preschool. *The numbers indicate the childs age in years and months.

Re-metaphorizing Teaching and Learning in Early Childhood Education Beyond the Instruction – Social Fostering Divide

In this chapter we present and argue for a “third way” for early childhood education, beyond the dichotomy of the social-pedagogical and the preparation-for-school approaches. On the basis of empirical research, conducted in preschools as well as other developmental research, and educational philosophy and theorizing, we argue that avoiding residing to one of the poles of this dichotomy can be achieved through examining and reflecting on the guiding metaphors constituting different perspectives on how to outline early childhood education and care practices, such as day care and preschool. A reconceptualization or re-metaphorization of learning, communication, and education is presented. We suggest that this perspective provides a way of construing central features of preschool – such as learning and caring, the social and the individual, and play and learning – as integrated, rather than disparate features that need to be related.