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This too is math : making sense with a pre-schooler

University of British Columbia

This thesis focuses on a mother's perceptions of her younger daughter's mathematical activity and thought, and how this view affects other areas in the mother's life. I am the mother, and Jaclyn (Jackie) is my daughter. How, when, and what mathematizing occurred in our home-life interactions is explored through the use of ethnographic case study methods. The data collection started when Jaclyn was three-and-a-half years old and continued until she was five-and-a-half, during which time I was a full-time teacher of 8- to 10-year-olds. The analysis, interpretation, and author reflections began immediately and continued long after the anecdotes were recorded. I provide explanatory glimpses of the mathematical relationships developed and explored by myself and my daughter as we created our ways of relating to each other and the world we both inhabit, particularly our home environment. I reflect upon these incidents to interpret them and to highlight the mathematical thinking and ways of mathematizing inherent in them, as well as to examine the mathematics that can develop out of them. This work offers an in-depth look at what 'found' mathematics is like in one child's home. Because the whole context of learning is a factor in how and what people learn, I provide descriptions of the learning situation and the relationship between myself and my daughter. Jaclyn's developing awareness of a social and mathematical world is communicated through her words and actions. These are described and interpreted through my perceptions. This study also looks at the multiple, and often invisible, interactions among the roles of mother, teacher, and researcher. I am all three, in different ways, at different times. Mediation strategies in the home usually reflect my sense of mothering, but on many occasions it is possible to see my sense of both teaching and researching informing the role of mother. On other occasions, the mother influences the thinking of the teacher/researcher. The reciprocity of attentive educational functioning in the home and in the school is worthy of notice. On many occasions, reflections about Jackie's words and/or actions elicited self-reflection on my teaching practice, and such reflection comprises one central element of the study.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-03-13

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6029

Curriculum Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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