Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableePoster Mathematics and assessment in early childhood education( 2017)https://vimeo.com/230711323/44d98316b5
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ItemNo Preview AvailableHow to assess four-year-old children's number knowledge in a play-based program(Beyond Tomorrow ECME Melbourne, 2014-06-17)Assessment is “the process of observing children in everyday experiences, analysing those observations and recording the information” (DEEWR, NQS PLP, 2012, p.1). Assessment in early childhood needs to be real and relevant to children’s everyday experiences, informed by context, and personal and meaningful (Carruthers & Worthington, 2006). Mathematics assessment needs to be connected to each child’s prior knowledge and grounded in social contexts, such as play, to support the further learning of mathematical concepts and strategies (Carruthers & Worthington, 2006; Perry et al., 2006; Perry & Dockett, 2002; Sun Lee & Ginsburg, 2009; van Oers, 2009). Numerals and quantity are one of the earliest mathematical concepts children learn (Clements & Sarama, 2009). Authentic insight into the knowledge that children have about numerals and quantity is imperative to inform our teaching practice. We present findings from a study in which children’s representations of number and children’s talk whilst representing numbers were analysed to determine whether this approach would be an effective way for early childhood educators to assess mathematical understandings and to inform contingent scaffolding for ongoing learning within play-based contexts (Fleer, 2008).
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ItemThirty-one is a lot!: Assessing four-year-old children's number knowledge during an open-ended activity(SAGE Publications, 2015)In Early Childhood Education, formative assessment should be ongoing and include multiple sources of evidence of children's existing knowledge. Children's understanding of mathematical concepts is highly diverse from a very early age, yet practical strategies to assess children's individual understanding are not always child centred and strengths based.This study explores the diverse ways in which 47 four-year-old children at three different early learning centres in metropolitan Melbourne demonstrated their number knowledge while they traced around wooden numerals, drawing and discussing values of quantity. Examples of children's representations of quantity are illustrated, accompanied by extracts of transcribed conversations. Findings demonstrate that this formative assessment strategy, through attuned prompts and skilled inquiry from the teacher, elicits children's complex understanding of number, located in the everyday experiences of their lives. Embedded in play-based activity, this assessment strategy is both engaging for children and highly productive for educators in documenting children's learning.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSpatial reasoning and mathematics in early childhood education(Early Childhood Australia Inc, 2017)Spatial reasoning is a set of cognitive functions, processes and skills that enable us to understand and describe representations and spatial relationships between objects, ourselves and our environment—it is a life skill. Spatial reasoning is at the core of mathematical thinking. There are three key areas of spatial reasoning associated with mathematics ability in early childhood: perspective taking, mental rotation and spatial visualisation.
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ItemAssessing spatial reasoning during play: educator observations, assessment and curriculum planning(Springer, 2020-06-12)Children are innately mathematical and explore mathematical concepts through play. However, educator beliefs about mathematics can impact the inclusion of mathematics in early childhood education (ECE). Recent research has suggested that spatial reasoning is a key concept which forms the foundations of mathematics learning. The theoretical argument underpinning this research is that young children benefit from intentional teaching specifically focused on supporting the development of children’s spatial reasoning skills during play. This mixed-methods research project investigated the effects of the implementation of a suite of play-based, spatial reasoning activities on educators’ teaching practices—including observations, assessment and evidence-based planning—and educator beliefs about mathematics in ECE. Twenty-seven participants were educators from 15 early childhood centres for children age 3–5 years, based within culturally and socio-economically diverse populations. Participant qualifications included diplomas, graduate and postgraduate degrees in early childhood and primary education, with teaching experience ranging from 6 months to 35 years. The investigations found reciprocal influences between the three key areas of the research project which included: the implementation of the activities by educators, educator beliefs about mathematics, spatial reasoning and mathematics teaching practice. The findings have implications for further research and curriculum design and practice. These include the need for research methodologies which contribute to sustained professional learning outcomes and the uptake of research findings in practice, play-based spatial reasoning assessment strategies and the contribution of a focus on spatial reasoning to early childhood curricula.