Children\'s Mathematics

Figure 10.2 Observation, assessment and planning cycle

Assessment needs to be manageable

Teachers cannot do this kind of assessment for every piece of written mathematics

all the time, however, it may be possible to assess all pieces of graphics from children

of 3 and 4, as they seem not to be so prolific in their mark-making. Young children

may be representing mathematics in multi-modal forms, for example through

schemas, art forms, construction and technology (see Chapter 6). They also produce

less at one time but their marks may be more complex and for some teachers less

easy to decipher. The explanations in Chapters 2, 3, and 6 may have helped explain

some of these very early mathematical marks and representations.

Looking at and assessing children’s graphical representations with another adult

gives a more objective assessment of the marks. We also appreciate how another

person views the children’s graphics and thus learn together: our understanding

expands upwards and outwards. Often another adult aids and challenges our think-

ing and the more we do this, the more proficient we become. We find ourselves

assessing more and more samples quite naturally. Some you will select for in-depth

analysis, others you might put in a file for children to look back at. Children may

want to take them home and, of course, photocopying is useful. We have found it

particularly helpful to look at what appears to be ‘growth points’ for the child: this

may be something that they have not done previously. In other examples you may

find the child has focused on more complex thinking than before.

Examples of assessment of children’s mathematics

We have selected three example of children’s mathematics to discuss. The samples

are from school settings and, like all the samples we have collected, they differ from

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