Young children’s mathematising during free play with ‘loose parts’

Marie Therese Farrugia (1)

1 Faculty of Education, University of Malta

‘Learning through play’ is an oft-quoted maxim for Early Years education. I was interested in investigating how free play with ‘loose parts’ (blocks, acorns, pebbles, etc.) might support children’s experiences of mathematics. In this paper I discuss the first part of a study carried out with four 4-year-old children in Malta. The children were presented with various loose parts and allowed to play freely without adult intervention. I noted whether the children gave mathematical interpretations as they played; my main interest was numerical/quantitative interpretations. As a theoretical framework I drew on Vygotsky’s theory of play and on the notion of ‘mathematising’ (Sfard), or participation in mathematical discourse. I considered this in terms of the relations set up by way of terminology (Walkerdine). My data showed that spontaneous mathematising during the free play was limited.

Mots clés: Mathematics and play; early childhood education; mathematising; loose parts

Domaines: Mathématiques [math]; Education

Marie Therese Farrugia. Young children’s mathematising during free play with ‘loose parts’. Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education, Utrecht University, Feb 2019, Utrecht, Netherlands. ⟨hal-02435272⟩