In order to create and foster learning spaces that build upon children's knowledge and experiences, we must respect and value their ways of knowing and being, including their play. Accordingly, this study highlights the ways that young children (re)imagined spaces, materials, and identities through their digital play in an analog (containing no…

In 'The role of play', the fifth article we are highlighting from the extensive "FORUM" archive available online, Maggie Gracie draws on material and observations she had collected during a year of study in an infant and reception class in the mid-1970s to develop ideas about the need to enable pupils to develop genuine autonomy of…

Learning progressions have become increasingly prevalent in mathematics education as they offer a fine-grain map of possible learning pathways a child may take within a particular domain. However, there is an opportunity to build upon this research in ways that consider learning from multiple perspectives. Many current forms of learning…

Play is considered an important aspect of Early Childhood Education and Care. However, the relationship between play and learning is often taken for granted both in research and praxis. In this article, we study our own research group's empirical work over a 40-year period, and how we have used the concepts of play and learning. We observed that…

We build on mathematicians' descriptions of their work and conceptualize mathematics as an aesthetic endeavor. Invoking the anthropological meaning of practice, we claim that mathematical aesthetic practices shape meanings of and appreciation (or distaste) for particular manifestations of mathematics. To see learners' spontaneous mathematical…

Children have mathematical understanding beginning from the early years of life. Mathematics education during these years has a significant effect on children's future lives. Play is a significant issue in children's lives and can be used as a way for teaching and learning. It presents a rich learning environment. In this study, therefore, we…

In an environment that encourages co-construction and participatory practices, and especially in an educational environment saturated with media and images in which children are considered to be valid and competent contributors to knowledge construction, children's visual literacy becomes increasingly important to the development of educational…

This paper explores one child's use of their schema to construct their knowledge and understanding within the early years curriculum for Wales -- the Foundation Phase (FP). It considers how a knowledge of schemas can facilitate practitioners in supporting children along their learning continuum and inform classroom pedagogy. This paper explores…

This position paper proposes that a relationship between young children's embodied mathematical concepts and their awareness of mathematical pattern and structure (AMPS) (Mulligan & Mitchelmore, 2009) develops through play. Theoretical perspectives on the development of schematic patterns, the embodiment of mathematical understandings, and the…

This paper draws on observational studies of three young children in order to demonstrate firstly, their intrinsic motivation to explore systematically through repeated patterns of action or 'schemas'; secondly, how those repeated actions appear and are explored in their emerging language demonstrating their increasing construction of and…

In early childhood education and care, Nordic social pedagogy approach is challenged by a learning orientation that often results in unproductive "either/or" thinking. Therefore, based on the two approaches and by analysing several dimensions of Froebel's ideas and prevailing social-historical activity (play) theory, the author deduces…

"Improving Mathematics in the Early Years and Key Stage 1" reviews the best available evidence to offer five recommendations for developing the maths skills of 3-7-year olds. Recommendations include integrating maths into different activities throughout the day -- for example, at registration and snack time -- to familiarise children…

This article reports on a small-scale investigation of how teachers organise goal-oriented learning in Swedish preschools. The revised Swedish curriculum (National Agency for Education 2011) highlights the need for children to develop their mathematics skills through activities that integrate play and learning. This study investigates how…

Water is fascinating, fun, and multifaceted. Children can play with it endlessly. But play, for play's sake, is not water's only value (Crosser, 1994, Tovey, 1993). Indeed, water play is a compelling focus of study for young children (Chalufour & Worth, 2005). The concepts that young children learn from water play are essential for early childhood…

The international trend to increase the cognitive achievement of early childhood children has generated a need for better understanding how concept formation occurs within play-based programs. Yet the theories of play for supporting early childhood professionals were originally not conceptualized with this need in mind. In this article, concepts…