Content area
Full Text
Math Ed Res J (2011) 23:2742
DOI 10.1007/s13394-011-0002-7
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Amy MacDonald & Tom Lowrie
Received: 7 March 2011 /Accepted: 7 March 2011 /
Published online: 19 April 2011# Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Inc. 2011
Abstract This article presents data gathered from an investigation which focused on the experiences children have with measurement in the early years of schooling. The focus of this article is childrens understandings of length at this early stage. 32 children aged 46 years at an Australian primary school were asked to draw a ruler and describe their drawing, once in February at the beginning of school, and again in November towards the end of their first year of school. The drawings and their accompanying descriptions are classified within a matrix which, informed by Bronfenbrenners ecological theory and literature regarding the development of length concepts, considers conceptual understanding and contextual richness. The responses revealed that children have a good understanding of length at the start of school, but that as their ability to contextualise develops so too does their conceptual understanding. This article suggests that participation in tasks such as these allows children to create their own understandings of length in meaningful ways. Additionally, the task and its matrix of analysis provide an assessment strategy for identifying childrens understandings about length and the contexts in which these understandings develop.
Keywords Young children . Measurement . Representations . Context
The intuitive mathematics that students learn through personal experiences is the most influential connection for early mathematics development and supports the conceptual development of mathematics introduced in school contexts (Clements and Sarama 2000). As mathematics becomes more abstract the relationship between school and
A. MacDonald (*)
Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE), Charles Sturt University, P.O. Box 789, Albury, NSW 2640, Australiae-mail: [email protected]
T. Lowrie
Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE), Charles Sturt University, Locked Bag 588, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia e-mail: [email protected]
Developing measurement concepts within context: Childrens representations of length
28 A. MacDonald, T. Lowrie
out-of-school mathematics tends to become less tangible (Lowrie 2004a). Schoenfeld (1989) argued that mathematics is an act of sense making and consequently involves cultural, social, and cognitive phenomena that are essentially interwoven. It is often difficult for...