This study examines the solutions of 34 kindergarten children as they create equal groups from n bottle caps, where n was equal to 8, 9, 22, and 23. For each n, children were asked to find as many different solutions as possible. The number of solutions they found, i.e., children's fluency, as well as the strategies used to create equal groups,…

Previous studies have emphasised that play can promote children's learning of mathematics. However, little research has been directed towards understanding how collective imaginary play motivates children's mathematical learning. Informed by the cultural-historical conception of play and motives, this paper examines how Conceptual PlayWorld (CPW)…

In this article, we draw on assemblage theory to investigate how children aged 5 engage with different material surfaces to explore ordinal and relational aspects of number. The children participate in an activity in which they first interact with a strip on the floor, then with a multi-touch iPad application, to work with numbers in expressive…

Student engagement in math and science courses decreases starting in middle school and continues throughout high school (Museus, et al., 2011). This lack of engagement results in students taking only the required math and science coursework and not advanced coursework that would help prepare them for future careers in science, technology,…

In this paper, motivated in part by evidence that Swedish teachers are sceptical of parents' abilities to offer appropriate support, we present an exploratory investigation of the activities Swedish parents initiate to facilitate their year-one (first grade) children's learning of mathematics. Data, derived from 25 semi-structured interviews…

This study investigates kindergarten children's mathematics learning with a focus on the role of teachers' mathematics education and readiness beliefs, and home learning environment. Using structural equation modeling to estimate the individual differences in early mathematics learning, data from 5,845 kindergarteners was evaluated. Findings show…

This article encourages approaches that develop children's understandings of data representations. In particular, when children develope flexibility in their approaches to data representation and understanding, the same data can be represented in different ways. Flexible and adaptive use of representations is part of mathematics competence which…

Many elementary schools across the nation are scaling back or cutting arts curriculum altogether. This article presents classroom teachers with an activity for integrating art with mathematics. Through a three-phase exploration of reasoning with shapes and their attributes, students will get to know a classmate better, work with defining and…

The study of functions has traditionally received the most attention at the secondary level, both in curricula and in standards documents--for example, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSI 2010) and "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM] 2000). However, the…

Do you want your children to be financially and mathematically savvy? This resource for grades preK-2 is a must-have for parents and teachers. It provides more than forty activity-rich lessons to help children be financially and mathematically savvy at a young age. The activities embrace the following questions: (1) What is money?; (2) Where do we…

Usually, multiplication is introduced to students to represent quantities that come in groups. However there is also rectangular array model which is also related to multiplication. Barmby et al. (2009) has shown that the rectangular model such as array representations encourage students to develop their thinking about multiplication as a binary…