This is an assignment completed by one of my students in which she conducted a clinical interview exploring a young child’s mathematical knowledge, used the results of this formative assessment to guide teaching, and wrote up the whole experience.
This brief video shows a child’s understanding of spatial concepts such as in front of and behind. The video shows that taking the child’s point of view can lead us to appreciate how an apparently wrong answer can result from sound ideas.
Several different approaches to explicating the important mathematics that underlies the content area of spatial relations.
Although children accurately perceive shape and space in their everyday environments, preschool children need to learn to think about these topics. Our main goal should be to promote understanding of basic geometry.
An accessible overview of the mathematics of geometry and spatial relations. This article contextualizes this mathematics in children’s everyday lives and then provides a clear account of key concepts.
A useful reference of geometric terms and their definitions.
This article shows how different aspects of shape and space are fundamental to children’s lives. Educators can use many different activities and approaches, including intentional teaching, to foster learning of spatial relations.
Why learning to reason about space and spatial relations is crucial for children’s early mathematics learning.
This article asserts that flexible assessment plays a central role in successful education. Flexible assessment includes careful attention to each child's productions, close observation of their behavior, and flexible interviewing of individual children.
Additional readings about the development of and mathematics of counting. Download the articles directly from this page.