Educare (Sep 2014)
Children's Use of Everyday Mathematical Concepts to Describe, Argue and Negotiate Order of Turn
Abstract
In this paper expressions that children themselves use to describe relationships between phenomena in the world, is - when placing a mathematical gaze on them- viewed as everyday mathematical concepts. The aim of the paper is to illuminate children´s use of everyday mathematics in their social interaction. More specifically, the aim is to show in detail how four- to five-year-olds use everyday mathematical concepts to describe, argue and negotiate order of turn, in this case in their interaction around a computer at a Swedish preschool. The case study is based on five 4 to 5 year old children´s activities involving a computer at a municipal preschool in Sweden. The children´s interaction around the computer was video recorded and analyzed in detail from a participant-oriented perspective on interactional conduct. The analysis shows that the children use various expressions that can be interpreted as everyday mathematical concepts as communicative cultural tools in their social interaction. Furthermore, the results show that the children have actual use for these concepts in their argumentation for order of turn, and that the concepts they use seem to be most sufficient in their argumentation in this situated activity. A conclusion is that the everyday mathematical concepts used in the analyzed activity can form a foundation for developing more formal mathematical concepts.
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