EDU20002 Mathematics in Practice-Explaining and Playing

Context and activity:

I spotted Xi playing with her toys; mimicking her mum making tea; to be served to ‘visitors’. Later I noticed her sister, Chi coming out of the house and join her younger sister.

I knew this would offer a perfect opportunity to observe the various Bishop’s category as exhibited by Xi. Hence the purpose of this; is to establish a contrast and comparison between the numeracy and mathematics ability exhibited by the child, Xi.

Date/time/place: 18^th March 2017; 2.13 p.m ; Front Veranda of Xi’s family house

or

Date of video/URL: None

Age of child: 4 years

Running record

Time: 2.13 p.m

Xi: I saw her comfortably arranging her toys, ready to start preparing her ‘tea’. She selects the number of cups she is going to use and places them on a tray.

At 2.17 p.m:

Her elder sister, 6 years now, joins her.

Ch: Hello, what are you doing

Xi: I am preparing tea for you ( she points at one of her toys)

Ch: It will not be enough for all of us!

Xi : ( I see her counting), This is for you, that is mine. I am going to pick 2 cups for mum and dad ( she goes and comes back almost immediately)

At 2.22 p.m:

Xi: (Smiling) You have mixed them again! (Notably, the toys are of different colours). Let us arrange them again, ok.

(They coordinate perfectly. I see Xi directing Ch on how the cups are to be arranged; There are blue, red, yellow, green and purple cups. The purple one seems to be discarded).

Ch: (I see her standing akimbo) Where is the milk, Xi?

Xi: Mummy promised to bring. But mum left some in the kitchen. I am going to pick it (She goes back to the house, and returns with a bottle which is half full of milk).

Ch: Xi, this (pointing at the milk) will not be enough.

Xi: No, Chi. It will be enough. Look, I am filling them (She pours the milk into the arranged cups but one remains unfilled).

At 2.26 p.m

Chi: Xi, let us mix with water. That is how mum prepares tea. (Chi goes to the house and comes back with a bottle full of water).

(Xi, seems to be happier now. She grabs the bottle and starts mixing).

Xi: Now, we are going to make the tea. The visitors are about to come, Chi. (She is done with mixing. I can see her arranging some plastic toys; they seem to be the ‘chairs’ that the visitors will use ( she seems to be counting them, and turns to Chi)

Chi: How many are they?

Xi: Five! The chairs will be enough, I guess ( This time round, Xi gets the number right)

At 2.30 p.m

(Their dad gets back from work, but uses the back door. I had tipped him of the deliberate activity and we both agreed to observe the children. But he had to go for work first. Now, he is back. Meanwhile, the children are unaware of their dad’s presence)

Xi: Everything is now set, Chi. ( Cindi, their dog is barking, and they both look at each other. I can see Xi placing her arm around her sister). Chi, they have come! Let me welcome them...

At 2.33p.m

(I can see their mum (my sister) actually coming with 2 visitors. The children were just playing, not knowing there were going to be real visitors!)

Mum: Hello kids, mummy is back!

They abandon what they were doing and run to their mum. Mum hands them a pack of candy and Xi is the first to grab.

Mum: Xi, share the candy, will you?

Xi: Mum, I want to open first and see how many they are. (She unpacks and realises 3 pieces).

Mum: How many are they, Xi?

Xi: Three, mum! One for me, another for Chi and remaining one for my daddy!

( Their dad and I come out and all the adults clap to congratulate the kids for preparing the ‘tea’ for us : the ‘visitors’)

Analysis

Xi: She is exhibiting creativity and orderliness.

Therefore, she was able to show her designing and Locating skills (SwisburneOnline, 2015). She also seemed to have exhibited counting abilities.




Chi was displaying curiosity and interest to join her sister and learn together. Hence, she was expressing confidence which is critical in learning maths (Macmillan, 1995).

She was also able to recognize quantities. This signals that the child is developing measuring skills. Additionally, Xi was able to exhibit her counting abilities. Besides, she seemed to have some spatial sense. This is exhibited by being able to locate the missing toys.

She also recognised a problem and instantly offered a solution by rearranging the toys. Besides, she exhibited some sense of orderliness and coordination. She ensures her sister is involved in solving the problem hence Xi displays team spirit, critical for problem solving (Stephens, 2009).

Furthermore, she was able to exhibit some spatial sense, as she arranges the cups on the floor.

Again, here, she was able to depict measuring ability, as she believed the milk would be enough. But actually, she realised her mistake and instead, Chi offered solution to the problem. They are able to apply the common knowledge obtainable from their mother to creatively realize their intended outcome.

As expected, Chi, was ahead of her sister in logical reasoning but Xi seemed to be catching up very first. She displays great interest to develop her maths and numeracy skills. Additionally, she displayed hands-on attitude as she did not just sit and let her sister do the work.

Here, Chi was explaining to her sister how tea was made. She recognises their teacher (their mum) as the driver of their learning (McDonald, no year). Once again, Xi displayed her locating ability as she was able to spot the bottle and came back almost immediately.

Xi was now exhibiting her estimating prowess. It was likely her mum came around such a time. Therefore, she not only recognised the essence of time but also displayed her numeracy skill by indicating a possible pattern brought by the parent’s routines. Additionally, she displayed her counting prowess as she was able to recognise the number of chairs.

Xi realized someone was coming when the dog barked. Of course, she was expecting visitors and barking of the dog was a conditioned response to that. Therefore, it indicated that the child identity development was right on course.

Xi was exhibiting her numeracy skills when her mum assigned her the responsibility to share out the candy. Besides, she also proved her estimating capabilities.

However, the dominating feature in this scenario is the fact that the children were able to creatively design and perfectly implement what they learnt from their mother, that is: making tea and welcoming visitors to partake of the same.

Therefore, Xi and Chi displayed all the six Bishop categories, namely: counting, locating, measuring, designing ,explaining and playing ( Macmillan, 1995).