Children\'s Mathematics

own meanings of mathematics on paper at home and continue to build on this, pro-

vided it is recognised in school. Children have been observed to struggle with a for-

mally presented mathematical concept at school, yet have worked out their own way

of solving the calculations, outside school (Carraher, Carraher and Schleimann,

1985; Nunes and Bryant, 1996).

What mathematics do parents notice at home?

As part of our research into young children’s mathematical understanding and

marks, we wanted to explore the home’s socio-cultural influence on children in

school. One of us made this study whilst teaching a class of 4–6-year-olds. This

builds on the study of Sovay in the home (Carruthers, 1997c). Clearly such work

with a group of parents has the potential to provide a variety of information: this

can help teachers build on children’s understanding.

The most positive outcome was the rich information it provided from the chil-

dren’s families, in terms of their mathematics experiences at home and their parents’

perspectives. The children attended a small village school with about 70 pupils from

4 to 8 years who came from all social backgrounds, with a mix of children who were

living in the village and others from the nearby city. Fathers and mothers were

invited to participate and 31 separate questionnaires were returned completed. Some

of the data collected is explored below.

Awareness of early understanding of mathematics

At what age do parents believe that children begin to learn mathematics? This ques-

tionnaire revealed that a common perspective was that counting and numbers – the

visible evidence of mathematical knowledge – were signs that children had begun to

show an awareness or knowledge of mathematics. For example, one parent com-

mented that her child’s early number development began when she did ‘basic count-

ing such as counting stairs and fingers and knowing how many sweets she had’.

Above all, counting and numbers were identified as evidence of early mathemati-

cal development. Whilst a few parents believed that children started to learn math-

ematics from birth – a fact supported by research (e.g. Karmiloff-Smith, 1994) – the

majority had identified signs of early mathematical development as beginning

between the ages of 2–3 years: this is a time when children are very vocal and phys-

ically active. A few parents suggested that mathematical understanding began as late

as 4 years. The audible language of counting as children climbed stairs or the visible

actions of sharing combined with ‘one for you, one for me’ talk appeared to confirm

that their child was developing mathematical understanding. An example of this is

given on p. 219 when Sovay was discussing with her mother about her age.

Mathematics events within one family

What is viewed as mathematics in early childhood behaviour and activities at home?

I invited parents to make a note of the children’s involvement in anything that

involved mathematics, or anything mathematical their child saw or heard other family

Involving parents and families 221

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