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Numeracy development beyond the kindergarten: Some guidelines for future numeracy practices in preschool
Citation
Sharpe, P. (2001). Numeracy development beyond the kindergarten: Some guidelines for future numeracy practices in preschool. The Mathematics Educator, 6(1), 42-54. https://math.nie.edu.sg/ame/matheduc/journal/v6_1/v61_42.aspx
Author
Sharpe, Pamela
Abstract
The study reported in this paper was based on the premise that a suitable syllabus for kindergarten may better serve children's numeracy development later on. This was a major conclusion from two earlier studies into children's early numeracy development (Sharpe 1998, 1999). These studies proposed the need for a numeracy programme in kindergarten with an emphasis on airing children's common misconceptions through questioning techniques and discussions which might enable them to negotiate their own meanings and understanding, to discover relationships for themselves, to learn rules, to ask their own questions and to select their own strategies for solving numerical problems. Furthermore, an emphasis on guiding teachers to provide for more problem solving opportunities in real life situations was proposed, where children might mentally rehearse and test strategies and where more group and oral work might be provided. The teacher's role would be to observe the various strategies children use and to direct attention their to more sophisticated strategies, through appropriate models and questions which might challenge understanding, following the sequence of number development such as that suggested by Bryant (1995). The realisation of these proposals was the source of an intervention programme for a group of kindergarten two children in Singapore, aged around six years.
Date Issued
2001
Publisher
Association of Mathematics Educators
Journal
The Mathematics Educator