Teachers' Understanding of Young Children's Mathematical Thinking

Kyoung-Hye Seo

Preschool mathematics has gained increasing attention in recent years. In its position statement, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics includes preschools for the first time and suggests the mathematical content to be taught in preschools. One major argument for preschool mathematics is that children learn mathematics long before they enter school. Educators argue that preschool education nurture children’s mathematics learning by capitalizing on their everyday mathematical interests, questions, and behavior and help them abstract and formalize mathematical ideas from their experiences. To do so, teachers must understand children’s mathematical thinking. They should be able to recognize mathematical ideas emerging from the child’s experience, interpret behavior, and make conjectures concerning the child’s thinking about such mathematical ideas. In this respect, teachers’ understanding of children’s mathematical thinking is crucial for the success of preschool mathematics education. Nevertheless, little is known about preschool teachers’ understanding of children’s mathematical thinking. The proposed research will closely examine teachers’ understanding of young children’s mathematical thinking. The research will investigate: (a) how preschool teachers interpret children’s mathematical thinking; (b) what kinds of interpretive frameworks they use in their making sense of children’s mathematical thinking; and (c) how teachers’ understanding of children’s mathematical thinking is related to mathematical content and teaching experience. Thirty teachers from public school K4 and K5 programs located in the city of Milwaukee will participate in the proposed study. Individually administered interviews will be conducted with 30 teachers. Teachers will be presented with video episodes of 4- and 5-year-old children spontaneously engaging in mathematical activities. The interview will be then used as a tool for eliciting teachers’ interpretations of the video episodes and probing their understanding of children’s mathematical thinking. Teachers’ recognition and interpretations of children’s mathematical thinking and the conceptual structures underlying teachers’ interpretations will be analyzed. The results will be compared across mathematical topics and teachers with different levels of teaching experience. The findings of the research will enhance the knowledge base concerning teachers’ understanding and result in implications for teacher education and professional development.

About Kyoung-Hye Seo

Kyoung-Hye Seo is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She earned her Ed. D degree at Teachers College, Columbia University. She was a 1999-2000 Spencer Dissertation Fellow. She has conducted research on children’s mathematics learning in and out of school. Her recent research focused on young children’s everyday mathematics. At UWM, she teaches courses in early mathematics and research on curriculum and instruction. Her current research interests center on teachers’ knowledge including teachers’ knowledge of children’s mathematical thinking, mathematics, and mathematics teaching.