A longitudinal study to explore pre-school children’s understanding of the cultural rules and meanings of written numerals in their everyday environments.

Project overview

This project addresses a research gap by exploring the development of preschool children’s understanding of the cultural rules and uses of written numerals in everyday environments and contexts, alongside the development of their own production of written numerals. Qualitative data will be collected from a group 3–4-year-old children, in 3 phases, over one year. Participatory data-collection tools are used to involve the children in the study and place their perspectives at the centre. The findings will help educators connect the cultural knowledge of number that children bring to school with classroom-based mathematics.
Research Objectives:
1. To explore how preschool children today interpret the social and cultural uses and meanings of written numbers in their everyday environment and activities.
2. To analyse and trace the development of young children’s understanding of the cultural rules and uses of written numerals in everyday contexts longitudinally.
3. To examine young children’s own production of written notations for varied purposes and for communicating ideas related to order, measures and quantity in the context of a card game.
4. To trace the development of young children’s own written production of mathematical notations and numerals longitudinally.