members do, during one week. Some parents noticed a great deal of mathematics in
everyday experiences such as birthdays, sharing food and counting pocket money.Talking mathematics
High levels of talk about numbers in the home through everyday language has been
documented by Durkin and Shire (1991). Adults also help children focus on specific
numerical goals and these will aid them in understanding basic quantitative tasks
(Saxe, Guberman and Gearhart, 1987). The data collected in Sovay’s mathematical
development were largely through her talking (Carruthers, 1997c).
In this study with parents, most of the mathematical events that Rose and Ben’s
father noted included adults talking. This has the effect of alerting the children to
the mathematics in what they are doing and also scaffolds their learning (Bruner,
1971). In many of the families in this study, talk was a significant feature:- ’Jack is always asking “how many minutes before we get there?” when we’re in the car.’
- ’Talked about changing the clocks.’
- ’We discussed the price of a scooter as Daniel would like one.’
In some families parents also capitalised on incidental opportunities to help their
children explore mathematics at a deeper level, within contexts that were meaning-
ful to their child. ‘James said he could “eat a hundred roast dinners in a week” and
we talked about how long between meals he would need and how long it would take
to eat one hundred dinners.’
In the ‘mathematics at home’ study a great deal of informal mathematics talk
occurred in families. Most parents also played mathematics games and sang number
songs and rhymes. Television programmes with a mathematical focus and, for a few
children, mathematical computer software provided additional opportunities for
mathematical talk. Only three parents referred to any direct teaching: ‘I’m trying to
teach Jack how to tell the time on his watch’, ‘we’re learning the numbers on the
new music organ’, ‘adding numbers together; 2 + 2 etc.’. These can sometimes be
valid activities on which to focus, but lack the real contexts and purpose for mathe-
matical understanding.Shopping, cooking and household tasks
Family activities provided many opportunities for mathematics: I noted, for
example, that parents listed 17 responses referring to these types of activities. These
included ‘using a tape measure to check length of knitting’ and ‘discussing the
choice of sandwich – 4 squares = 1 round of bread. Adam spread two squares with
“Marmite” and two with jam.’
The examples noted by the parents in this study indicate the rich socio-cultural
themes that influence and guide young schoolchildren’s understanding and knowl-
edge of mathematics within their families. Similar rich themes are highlighted in the
study of Sovay long before she started school. When adult family members and older222 Children’s Mathematics8657part 2.qxd 04/07/2006 17:40 Page 222