What?
· For this week the reading I chose to read that
was related to numeracy in early childhood was Engaging Indigenous children in mathematical learning in an early
childhood setting (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011). I chose to read
this reading as in the previous weeks I read another reading that was about how
to engage Indigenous children in numeracy-related activities and from reading
this I wanted to research a bit more on how Indigenous children’s mathematical
learning in Australia can be supported and how these children can be engaged.
· The reading I chose that was related to literacy
in early childhood was Multiple
Literacies: The Whole Mind at Work (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999). I chose to
read this reading this week as I was interested and curious to find out about
what multiple literacy was as I hadn’t really heard of it before. I also wanted
to look at a reading that focussed on the Reggio Emilia teaching approach as
once on my placement I went to an exhibition that was about the Reggio Emilia
teaching approach and I found it very interesting. I also enjoy the arts and I
wanted to look at a reading that talked about how literacy can be taught using
the arts.
So What?
The main arguments I found to be important from Engaging Indigenous children in mathematical
learning in an early childhood setting (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011)
are:
· According to research young children in early
childhood do have the capabilities to be able to take part in learning
experiences that use more challenging mathematical concepts (Warren, Thomas
& DeVries, 2011, p. 97).
· For young children who are from disadvantaged
backgrounds, it is significantly important that they are able to learn
mathematics (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p. 97). According to
statistics at the end of their first year in primary school, only 37% of
children from disadvantaged and low-income families had a strong understanding
of the mathematical concepts that they had learned (Warren, Thomas &
DeVries, 2011, p. 98). This can show that it is important to teach mathematics
in early childhood settings so that children are able to have a greater
knowledge of mathematical concepts when they do begin primary school.
· Early childhood educators can be fearful of
mathematics or not have a great understanding of mathematics themselves and
therefore they find it hard to be able to teach it in early childhood settings
(Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p. 98).
· Australian Indigenous children from birth to
four years old do learn their own mathematical concepts in their culture that
is different to Western Mathematics (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p.
98). Parents of Indigenous children do want to be able to have their children
learn both mathematical styles from Western and their culture (Warren, Thomas
& DeVries, 2011, p. 98). This is something for early childhood educators to
know so that we will know how to be able to facilitate in their learning and
understanding of mathematical concepts in both their culture and the Western
culture.
· In a study conducted, the early childhood
teachers were trying to be able to change how they taught mathematics through
play so that the children would be confident in being able to use mathematics
while playing (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p. 102). The children
eventually were able to use mathematical knowledge in different contexts
(Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p. 102).
· The more children engage in numeracy-related
activities the more confident that they become in using mathematical concepts
(Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011, p. 102).
· The teachers helped to scaffold the children’s
learning and thinking by directing conversations when they needed to talk to
the children about the mathematical concepts they were using and the teachers
were able to expand the children thinking of these concepts (Warren, Thomas
& DeVries, 2011, p. 104).
The main arguments I found to be important Multiple Literacies: The Whole Mind at Work
(Nelson & Zobairi, 1999) are:
· Music can be a tool for children to be able to
gain different literacy skills as children can listen to music that represents
different sounds or movements of objects and then they could draw the sounds on
paper using pencils, textas or crayons (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.82). This
can be a part of children making meaning of different sounds and objects.
· Through listening to music, children can also
listen to the different rhythmic sounds, instruments being used and they could
draw pictures to represent the different instruments (Nelson & Zobairi,
1999, p.82).
· The different art literacies include language,
visual and musical and all of these literacies can inter-connect (Nelson &
Zobairi, 1999, p.83).
· Children can gain literacy skills through
interpreting hand and body gestures, through creating sculptures and music and
emergent literacy is shown through each of these factors (Nelson & Zobairi,
1999, p.83)
· Through using multiple literacies teachers need
to be aware of the different elements of each art form to be able to really
help children to develop different emergent literacy skills (Nelson &
Zobairi, 1999, p.83). Through teaching different art forms children will be
able to make meaningful connections to help with the stimulation of their
emotional and language development (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.83).
· Children can communicate using a variety of
languages such as stories, paintings, drawings, music, movement as well as
conversation (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.84).
· Through the Reggio Emilia approach, children are
able to develop literacy skills through showing their ideas through different
artistic forms such as drawing, painting, clay, shadows and verbal
communication (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.84).
· Pictures are important in supporting children
literacy development as children as young as 18 months old are able to take
notice of and start to interpret the pictures in books if they are frequently
shown these pictures (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.84).
· Emerging cultural literacy can also be developed
through reading stories as children can understand how literacy elements are
supported by visual elements through for example light and dark or shadows and
how these can connect to people of different cultures (Nelson & Zobairi,
1999, p. 85).
· Cultural and art literacies can also be
supported through foods in stories as food can also be sung about or drawn and
children can learn about food from different cultures (Nelson & Zobairi,
1999, p.85).
· Children can be encouraged to make meaning
through creating artworks as they can talk about themselves and their families
and they can learn to express themselves and their feelings through their
artworks and through verbal communication (Nelson & Zobairi, 1999, p.87).
Now What?
The implications I have been able to make from Engaging Indigenous children in mathematical
learning in an early childhood setting (Warren, Thomas & DeVries, 2011)
are:
· As an early childhood educator I will need to
understand that young Indigenous children do learn mathematical concepts in a
different way and I will need to be able to know how to teach them in their
learning and understanding of mathematical concepts so that they will be ready
for primary school.
· I need to understand that the more children are
being engaged in different numeracy-related activities they will become more
confident with using mathematics. Through being able to achieve this I will
need to make sure that when I am a teacher I will need to provide many numeracy
enriched experiences for the children to take part in.
· I need to make sure that I am confident in
teaching maths and have a strong understanding of different mathematical
concepts so that I will be able to help the children learn the best they can.
· I will need to take every opportunity to be able
to scaffold children’s thinking and understanding of mathematical concepts so
that they can expand their knowledge of these concepts.
· I will also need to know how to integrate the
learning of numeracy concepts into play-based activities so that the children will be able to enjoy learning while playing.
The implications I have been able to make from Multiple Literacies: The Whole Mind at Work
(Nelson & Zobairi, 1999) are:
· As an early childhood educator I will need to be
able to provide learning experiences that encourage children to use multiple
literacies through the arts so children will be able to gain a variety of
different skills.
· I will be able to use music as a teaching tool
for children to be able to develop their literacy skills.
· I can provide many story books for children to
be able to make meaning from and from reading these stories I will be able to
scaffold the children’s understandings of different objects and expand
children’s ideas through providing more experiences that are connected to the
stories.
References
Nelson, J. A. N.,
& Zobairi, N. (1999). Multiple literacies: The whole mind at work.
International Journal of Early Childhood, 31(2), 82-90. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/194799695?accountid=10910
Warren, E.,
Thomas, L., & deVries, E. (2011). Engaging indigenous children in
mathematical learning in an early childhood setting. International Journal
of Pedagogies & Learning, 6(2), 97-107. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1022282846?accountid=10910
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