ECUR302 Mathematics in the Early Years Report Sample
Assignment Details
For this assessment task you will need to construct a report that examines contemporary approaches to mathematics in the context of learning provision and pedagogical practice in early childhood contexts.
Ensure your report addresses the following:
Part A: Early childhood mathematics and numeracy education (650 words)
• Define and describe the following in relation to early childhood contexts:
o Mathematics
o Numeracy
• Discuss the historical and contemporary approaches to mathematics education in early childhood
• Outline the mathematical competence of young children
Part B: Theoretical foundations and development of mathematics thinking and concepts (750 words)
• Provide an overview of the following theoretical approaches and discuss their significance to the development of mathematics in young children.
o Behaviourism
o Nativism
o Constructivism
o Socio-cultural theory
o Constructionism
Solution
Introduction:
Mathematics in early childhood education resembles the opportunity for an individual to learn and develop knowledge related to mathematics and complex thinking it is known to be the domain of knowledge that ensures enhancement of skills associated with representation generalization as well as relationship. It is known to provide children with the ability to logically think, enhancement of fluency, cope with different challenges, develop their ability to learn the language, problem-solving skills as well as active communication. In the following assessment, early childhood mathematics and its different approaches will be evaluated and analyzed in order to acknowledge its positive as well as diverse impact on the well-being and learning outcome of the children
Part B: Early childhood mathematics and numeracy education:
Mathematics
Mathematics has been considered one of the important aspects of learning in children during their early years of development as it sustains a significant role in enhancing a wide range of skills. Mathematics is known to be a domain of knowledge which focuses on relationship representation patterns generalization abstraction as well as symbols (AAMT, 2023). Mathematic education during early childhood years implements different activities as well as provides the children with a learning environment which stimulates the skill and concepts associated with mathematics. It has been found that mathematical pedagogy during the early years of development helps a child sustain the skills to measure, solve problems, critical think and enhance awareness. It has been also identified that children explore the surrounding environment with the help of a mathematical point of view which they sustain due to everyday experiences play and games as well as interaction with the people around them. The foundational skill to understand and evaluate mathematics are often divided into different categories which include number sense representation shape and spatial relationship, measurement, pattern as well as problem solving (AAMT, 2023).
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Numeracy
Numeracy is also known by the term number sense which often includes activities such as writing numbers, recognizing or counting numbers of objects, presenting, pronouncing or saying different number words as well as counting numbers. Numeracy is also accounted as the skill or capability of a child to identify as well as implement different mathematical concepts within their daily routine (Australian Government Department of Education, 2023). According to the Early Years Learning Framework For Australia, numeracy and literacy are accounted as capabilities which implement a major aspect in initiating active communication and also serve as a significant aspect of successful learning in children during their early years of development for university assignment help. It also considers numeracy as the confidence capability as well as the deposition of a child to use mathematical concepts in their daily life (EYLF Australia, 2022). Numeracy has a direct association with mathematical understanding as it provides them with the capability to engage and acknowledge different problems solving capabilities and critical thinking skills. There are different stages of learning and understanding numeracy during the early years of development which often include concepts such as emergent, perceptual, figurative, and counting along with facile.
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The Historical and contemporary approaches to mathematics education in early childhood
One of the historical approaches to mathematics accounts for empiricism which states that knowledge and learning within an individual is sustained through observation and experience. According to the concept, the mind of an individual is a blank slate which can acquire different understanding and knowledge through experience (Delaune, 2020). It has also been found that developmentalism states that children during the early years of development must be thought according to the natural order of their early years of development. It is thus necessary that mathematics must be introduced to children at a very early age in order to provide them with the experience to obtain knowledge regarding the curriculum as well as promote the ability to evaluate and implement their understanding and concepts. Whereas the contemporary approach to mathematics focuses on different theoretical foundations which include different theories such as nativist theory, sociocultural theory, behaviourism theory, constructionism theory as well as constructive theory.
The mathematical competence of young children
According to MacDonald (2021), children during their early years of development often have the curiosity and urge to understand the surrounding environment and acknowledge mathematical concepts. It has also been found that children develop and promote the skills to understand mathematics and implement them within their general life at a very younger age. It has been found that during the early years of development, children engage in mathematical processes and concepts with the help of 3 factors which include Noticing, Exploring as well as Talking. Noticing is considered to be a collective practice learn from living as well as learning from any experience and further implementing the collective information in their practice (MacDonald, 2018). Exploring identifies and accounts for the concept of implementing the acquired mathematical knowledge in practice. Often children implement their knowledge by exploring the surrounding environment while playing which includes crawling or climbing and the condition often reflects the capability to navigate space. Further talking about mathematics also plays a significant role in enhancing the opportunity to learn mathematics. Often includes conversations regarding different mathematical concepts such as shape pieces of rude size as well as quantity (MacDonald, 2018).
Part C: Theoretical Foundations and development of mathematical thinking and Concepts:
Behaviourism Theory:
The behaviourism theory is considered to be a learning-based theory which focuses on the concept that every behaviour within an individual is sustained and acquired due to certain conditions and experiences which includes interaction with the surrounding environment. According to the theory, actions and skills are often developed and shaped by the stimuli occurring within the surrounding environment and the life of an individual. Behaviourism theory has been considered to be a dominant theory in the field of teaching mathematics for several years (Knaus, 2015). It is considered to be a direct approach to accounting mathematics as a collective skill which has a significant role in children during the early years of development. Mathematics can be guided as well as thought to the children with the help of different behaviours which includes preparing education involving children with different activities and plays as well as including daily concepts such as the shape of the surrounding instruments, number, size and other factors (Montilla, 2019).
Nativism Theory:
The Nativist Theory by Chomsky State that the ability to understand and evaluate the law of different language is an innate ability that has been sustained by children since birth. It helps the children to understand and evaluate and learn their native language during their early years of development. The theory of nativism states that sustains the language-specific skills which help them in progressing and obtaining a native language compared to the other. It has also been found that Children focus on understanding a significant language and its structure as they use them in order to develop their sentences. In the case of the native language, they do not intend to focus on memorizing the phrases or series of words instead evaluate and understand the language further (Aprianto & Zaini, 2019). It has also been found that mathematics is considered to be a resemblance of innate ability and knowledge sustained by children since birth. It has also been found that children learn a specific language during the first eight years of development and it is thus necessary that mathematics must be introduced to the children from an early age in order to help them attain the knowledge and concept of mathematics in a much easier manner (Alam, 2020).
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Constructivism Theory:
Constructivism theory of Piaget stated that children during the early years of development develop knowledge and understanding by structuring and building their own ideas with the help of collaboration and interaction with the surrounding environment. According to the theory, children construct understanding and knowledge by interacting with people and their surroundings rather than acknowledging information in a passive manner (Knaus, 2015). Mathematics is considered to be an active process which can be attained and acknowledged with physical manipulation as well as constructing new understanding from the knowledge that has been obtained prior. It has been found that during the early years of development, teaching mathematics with the help of constructivism theory provides the children with better knowledge regarding the curriculum as well as promotes active participation in the learning process (Thompson, 2020).
Socio-cultural Theory:
Vygotsky's Social cultural theory proposes that the development of a human is focused on the social process which accounts for belief in cultural values as well as problem-solving capabilities sustained through collaborative association with the surrounding people. According to the theory, communication plays a significant role in enhancing an individual's ability to understand and evaluate mathematics (Das, 2020). It has been found that children when sharing and listening to different ideas views and concepts of mathematics develop their own potential to create a respective understanding of the subject. Vygotsky With the help of social-cultural theory stated that children learn mathematics by defending their concepts as well as explaining their values and thinking of the subject which altogether serves as a constructivist idea. In order to provide mathematical learning to children during their early development years, it is necessary that role modelling is initiated where people with significant knowledge of mathematics play a crucial role in providing better understanding and knowledge to the children (Darmayanti et al., 2023).
Constructionism Theory:
The Constructionism Theory of Seymour Papert states that learning and developing knowledge becomes more effective and useful when children are involved in practical evaluation of the concepts. According to the theory, knowledge can be constructed within the mind of a child through active participation which helps in generating and developing new concepts and ideas (Papavlasopoulou, Giannakos & Jaccheri, 2019). It is necessary to provide a child with experimental or physical activities which will help them learn more about the concept of mathematics such as shape size as well as different numbers.
Conclusion:
After evaluation of the understanding of early childhood mathematics, it has been found that mathematics and associated numeracy has a significant range of benefits and well-being for the growth and development of children during their early years of growth. It has been found that the contemporary and historical approaches to mathematics have been assisting and guiding educators to provide a well-structured mathematical curriculum. Also been found that there are different theories of learning and education that guide and assist the process of teaching and learning mathematics during the early development years.
References:
AAMT. (2023). Position Paper on early childhood mathematics. Position paper on early childhood mathematics. https://aamt.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/AAMT-ECA-Mathematics-Position-Paper-FINAL.pdf
Alam, A. (2022, March). Educational robotics and computer programming in early childhood education: A conceptual framework for assessing elementary school students’ computational thinking for designing powerful educational scenarios. In 2022 International Conference on Smart Technologies and Systems for Next Generation Computing (ICSTSN) (pp. 1-7). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSTSN53084.2022.9761354
Aprianto, D., & Zaini, N. (2019). The principles of language learning and teaching in communication skill developments. VELES: Voices of English Language Education Society, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.29408/veles.v3i1.1281
Australian Government Department of Education. (2023). Educators’ guide to the early years learning framework for Australia. Department of Social Services, Australian Government. https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-and-children/publications-articles/educators-guide-to-the-early-years-learning-framework-for-australia
Darmayanti, R., Usmyatun, U., Setio, A., Sekaryanti, R., & Safitri, N. D. (2023). Application of Vygotsky Theory in High School Mathematics Learning Material Limit Functions. JEMS: Jurnal Edukasi Matematika Dan Sains, 11(1), 39-48. Retrieved from: http://e-journal.unipma.ac.id/index.php/JEMS/article/view/14099/4608
Das, K. (2020). Realistic Mathematics & Vygotsky's Theories in Mathematics Education. Shanlax International Journal of Education, 9(1), 104-108. Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1278172.pdf
Delaune, A. M. (2020). Attention and early childhood education. http://dx.doi.org/10.26021/9914
EYLF Australia. (2022). Acecqa. BELONGING, BEING & BECOMING. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-01/EYLF-2022-V2.0.pdf
Knaus, M. (2015). Maths is all around you. Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LYCKBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Maths+Is+All+Around+You&ots=TVcb-30ke1&sig=16jYlfNWePvSQ2J8nqmidavy7xg#v=onepage&q=Maths%20Is%20All%20Around%20You&f=false
MacDonald, A. (2018). Mathematics in early childhood education. Oxford University Press Australia and New Zealand.
Montilla, J. R. (2019). (PDF) behaviourism: Its implication to Mathematics Education - Researchgate. BEHAVIOURISM: ITS IMPLICATION TO MATHEMATICS EDUCATION. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338149249_BEHAVIOURISM_ITS_IMPLICATION_TO_
MATHEMATICS_EDUCATION
Papavlasopoulou, S., Giannakos, M. N., & Jaccheri, L. (2019). Exploring children's learning experience in constructionism-based coding activities through design-based research. Computers in Human Behavior, 99, 415-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.01.008
Thompson, P. W. (2020). Constructivism in mathematics education. In Encyclopedia of mathematics education (pp. 127-134). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_31
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