The aim of this study is to deepen the understanding of how preschool teachers can use representations of different kinds to bring fore the mathematical content that may be afforded in pictures and narrative designed for numerical learning purposes. Seventy-three video documentations of reading sessions with 27 toddlers (1-3 years of age) over the…

This paper reports on a combined research-development project conducted in collaboration between researchers and preschool teachers in three Swedish preschools. The aim is to investigate how ongoing preschool activities may become the starting point for mathematics teaching in which toddlers are given the opportunity to distinguish necessary…

The study set out to explore different mathematical difficulties among 877 second-grade children and to test the effect of memorization versus conceptual practices with number combinations. It used a latent profile analysis of baseline measurements of digit writing speed, number combination fluency, multidigit calculation, and number sense skills…

In this paper we direct attention to 5-6-year-olds' learning of arithmetic skills through a thorough analysis of changes in the children's ways of encountering and experiencing numbers. The foundation for our approach is phenomenographic, in that our object of analysis is differences in children's ways of completing an arithmetic task, which are…

When a number sentence includes more than one operation, students are taught to follow the rules for the order of operations to get the correct result. In this context, brackets are used to determine the operations that should be calculated first. However, it seems that the written format of an arithmetical expression has an impact on the way…

This study analysed how preschool teachers differently enacted the same mathematical activity for preschool children to discern numbers, and how this affected the children's learning opportunities during the activity. The analysis was based on variation theory and Chi's taxonomy of learning activities. Two Swedish preschool teachers' enactment of…

Background: Children's numerical and arithmetic skills differ greatly already at an early age. Although research focusing on accounting for these large individual differences clearly demonstrates that mathematical performance draws upon several cognitive abilities, our knowledge concerning key abilities underlying mathematical skill development is…

The present study focuses on challenges to the work of teachers as a result of a Swedish educational reform that mandates schools guarantee pupils receive early learning support concerning reading, writing, and number sense. The outcome of reforms is connected to how teachers achieve agency in their work , and we use the ecological model of…

In this paper, differences in the implementation of a number activity called the snake game are studied. Nine Swedish preschool teachers worked in collaboration with a research team, enacting the same activity with their groups of 5-year-old children over a 3-month period. Variation theory forms the basis for the analysis of 67 videorecorded…

A study of pre-service primary school teachers' content knowledge regarding real numbers related to infinity, i.e., division by zero and denseness of the real number line, was conducted at a Swedish university. Data were collected twice during the respondents' teacher education using questionnaires and interviews on both occasions. The data were…

Few research studies within the field of mathematics education have focused on the ability to recognize quantities quickly and accurately without counting (i.e. subitizing). The aim of this research was to empirically explore the role of conceptual subitizing activities for enhancing preschool class children's learning of the part-part- whole…

We report here on an intervention implementing a structural approach to arithmetic problem-solving in relation to learning outcomes among preschoolers. Using the fundamental principles of the variation theory of learning for developing the intervention and as an analytical framework, we discuss teaching and learning in commensurable terms. The…

Mathematically speaking, a "difference" is the result of a subtraction. However, when the number domain is extended from natural numbers to integers, the separation of the magnitude of a number from its value creates "different differences," where the connection to subtraction is no longer straightforward. Based on…

This study investigated if developmental dyscalculia (DD) in children with different profiles of mathematical deficits has the same or different cognitive origins. The defective approximate number system hypothesis and the access deficit hypothesis were tested using two different groups of children with DD (11-13 years old): a group with…

This study examined cognitive precursors of hierarchical mathematical development. Six-year-old children (n = 258) were assessed on number skills, cognitive skills, and arithmetic 1 year prior to school entry. Skills in advanced arithmetic and advanced mathematics were assessed in Grades 3 and 6, respectively. Path analyses were computed and…