Edward is 5 years old and is at school. This morning he tries to do a complete page
of addition sums in his mathematics lesson: then it is assembly time. He sits for 30
minutes learning about how God made the world and everything in it. Edward, like
all children, tries to make sense of his experiences. As he walks out of the school with
his mother, he turns to her and says: ‘Why does God make us do sums?’ (Adapted
from David, 1999.)Disconnections
Edward is in a state of disequilibrium, he cannot yet come to grips with the purpose
of school maths. ‘Sums’ for many young children just do not make sense even if, as
in Daniel’s example below, they can ‘do the sums’.Daniel’s (4:6) experience of ‘doing’ sums
1122 JJaann.. 11 FFeebb..
9 + 3 = 11 tt uu tt uu
6 + 8 = 41 2 5 3 5
7 + 4 = 11 6 0 4 2
8 + 9 = 17 8 5 7 722 FFeebb.. 88 FFeebb..
hh tt uu tthh hh tt uu
321 1 3 2 4
254 0 5 1 3
575 1 8 3 769
Bridging the Gap
between Home and
(^5) School Mathematics
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