Early Math in a Preschool Context: Spontaneous Extension of the Digital into the Physical

Abstract

The paper presents a systematic examination of data from two early math interventions, involving 188 children aged 3,5-6,5 and their teachers. The aim is to cast light on how a digital early math game can be spontaneously extended into the physical environment by children and by teachers. Questions were: i) how the math content was extended to the physical room, ii) which elements of the game and the interventions inspired and provided affordances for the extensions iii) implications for children’s learning of early math. The analyses revealed a great variety of ways in which children and teachers – acting on their own or together – brought the game out to the physical room. Among the underlying factors for this were everyone’s experiences with the game, familiar narratives, and simple game design in terms of rules and visual features. Finally, positive influences on early math learning from the extensions were identified.