Embodied collaboration for concept development: How teachers can support children’s spatial thinking

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    Abstract

    We aimed to identify the teaching practices that foster kindergarten children’s understanding of spatial orientation. Early childhood educators recognize the importance of children learning concepts of number, shape, measurement and geometry, but low self-144 efficacy in mathematical literacy can prove challenging to purposeful pedagogy (Opperman, Anders & Hachfeld, 2016). Grounded in ethnomethodology, Goodwin’s (2018) concept of environmentally coupled gestures is used to frame a teacher’s use of shapes on a lightboard and children’s gaze and bodily orientation and to make the concept of symmetry visible. Conversation analysis (Sidnell and Stivers, 2013) reveals the coordinated practices of pedagogy (Church, Bateman and Danby, 2022). Participants provided assent and consent to use the video data for the purposes of teaching and research, and video data are anonymised using filters and audio deletion of names. Knowledge-in-interaction is a collaborative achievement: children and teacher’s mutual monitoring of gaze, gesture and talk scaffolds the concept of bilateral symmetry. Pedagogy is not simply sequential (i.e. the teacher does something and the child does something else next), but shaped and moderated as the child and teacher ‘inhabit the actions of the other’ (Goodwin, 2018). Findings from this research demonstrate how effective, responsive engagement depends on the teacher’s close attunement to what the child is paying attention to, and how early mathematics learning can be mobilized through the use of typical, play opportunities
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEarly Mathematics and teacher's role
    Publication statusPublished (VoR) - 1 Sept 2023
    EventEuropean Early Childhood Education Research Association - Estoril Congress Centre, Cascais n. Lisbon, Portugal, Lisbon , Portugal
    Duration: 30 Aug 20232 Sept 2023
    Conference number: 31st
    https://www.eecera.org/conference/31st-eecera-conference/

    Conference

    ConferenceEuropean Early Childhood Education Research Association
    Abbreviated titleEECERA
    Country/TerritoryPortugal
    CityLisbon
    Period30/08/232/09/23
    Internet address

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