In my readings, I came across this quote that said, “Mathematics learning builds on the
curiosity and enthusiasm of children and grows naturally from their
experiences.” - National Council of
Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM,) 2000 (Seefeldt, Galper & Stevenson, 2012,
p.3).
I found this quote to be very interesting and I agree with
it as I also too believe that mathematical skills do develop naturally in
children through the experiences that they take part in. I also agree with this
quote in that as children do learn new skills, it does help them to become more
curious and enthusiastic about their surroundings and what they are able to
learn. For me as an educator this would mean that I will need to be able to
provide children in my class with many different kinds of experiences for them
to develop different skills so that they will become more curious with their
surroundings and will know how to put these skills into practice in their
everyday lives.
I also read about a philosopher named John Dewey and I found
that he had an interesting philosophy of learning and teaching that I believe I
can put into practice when I teach children. Dewey says that through experiences
children are able to hold deep and personal meanings and make personal connections
(Seefeldt, Galper & Stevenson, 2012, p.3). This means that the different
literacy and numerical experiences that children participate in are experiences
that help to make up the children’s knowledge about their world (Seefeldt, Galper
& Stevenson, 2012, p.3). So as an educator I would need to be able to
provide experiences for the children that they will be able to make personal
connections with and also be able to use the skills gained from these
experiences.
Piaget also says that experiences should allow children to
be able to think and use the knowledge that they have gained through the use of
the materials and objects that they are provided with (Seefeldt, Galper &
Stevenson, 2012, p.4). So this means that children should be able to explore
and experiment with a huge variety of objects and materials so that they will
be able to develop literacy and numeracy skills. For example, in the kindergarten
I did my placement at, children were provided with natural materials such as
sticks, flowers and leaves from trees and they were given the opportunities to
explore these materials and create objects with these materials. This
experience helped these children to develop mathematical skills and literacy
skills such as learning about shapes, describing how the materials feel and
look, looking at the different sizes of the materials and through observing the
different materials, the children were able to gain knowledge of the physical
properties of the world we live in.
I think Dewey’s philosophies of learning and teaching give
children freedom in their learning as he supports the idea that children should
be given many different materials and objects to explore and learn with
including natural materials. I like his philosophies as I too believe that it
is good for children to be able to develop literacy and numeracy skills through
being creative and exploring different objects and materials, and using these
materials to create things and learn about different mathematical concepts. Also
through using these kinds of natural materials as well as artificial materials,
children are able to learn about the environment and also about how different
things are made. When I do become an educator I hope to be able to take into
consideration what some of the things Dewey has said and I do believe that it
is important to provide children with as many different experiences as possible
that will help support their literacy and numeracy development.
Seefeldt, C., Galper, A. & Stevenson, J. (2012).
Experiences and mathematics in early childhood: Theory into practice. In Active Experiences for Active Children:
Mathematics (3rd Ed., pp.3-4). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson
Australia.
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