Maths Assignment 1: What do children know about numbers?

Reporting Emma displayed a wide array of abilities ranging from simpler skills in number and place value to advanced skills in counting and recording of numbers. Working with the number five seemed anything but a challenge for Emma. She excelled in her ability to write the symbol and demonstrate the concept using real objects. As depicted in Figure 1.0 it appears that when it came to illustrating a picture representing the number five Emma produced a very artistic piece that contained seven items, rather than five. Whilst watching Emma draw it was noticeable that she wanted to make the picture look like a garden, questioning if her desire to produce a beautiful picture was overpowering the task to accurately demonstrate the number. Emmas story provided little comprehension and understanding of a stories structure, however she did manage to accurately demonstrate her understanding of how to use the number five. Emma demonstrated her understandings with a story about the number five walking through a forest and coming upon many different items all in groups of five. Emma had very few problem with the number five, however some work on being able to model the number through different modems (including drawing) might be advantageous to ensure she has achieved the correct understanding. When working with the number seventeen Emma once again displayed her ability to easily write and comprehend the symbol. This is illustrated in Figure 2.0, which demonstrates her ability to accurately draw the symbols in an upright controlled manner. Emma was also very efficient in being able to draw seventeen faces as her picture. Emma displayed very interesting behaviour when it came to representing the number seventeen in the real section. She started counting seventeen individual counters to place on the picture. However after running out of different coloured pencils, she sat thinking of the options she could use to represent the number. After a while Emma verbally demonstrated that she wanted the yellow pencil to be ten counters, which meant she had enough other coloured penicils to represent the other seven units. Figure 2.0 accurately shows this through the distinct separation of the tens (yellow) and one units (seven individual colours). Unfortunately her story again lacked any structure and used the number to represent seventeen bugs that ran into seventeen cars. Overall Emma once again had very few problems with the number seventeen. She was even able to partition numbers using place value. Emma however has demonstrated through verbal and non-verbal cues that she is still trying to grasp the concept of partitioning. In particular Emma needs to practice and demonstrate her understanding of the importance of grouping numbers into tens. Having witnessed the ease at which Emma completed the first two numbers a more challenging number was chosen. This number was thirty. It appeared that having to write, comprehend and acknowledge the zero in the ones column was not anymore challenging than the previous numbers. Once again she breezed through writing the symbol, as depicted
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in Figure 3.0. Emma drew a picture that displayed understanding but perhaps a poor choice of drawing to accurately portray the number thirty. She proceeded to draw spirals in which she counted the lines from the centre out on only one side. This seemed to make perfect sense to Emma and she continued until she had counted to thirty lines. Upon recounting the way Emma had, she appears to have two extra lines that she seems to have miss- counted. Within Emmas real situation she displayed little understanding of partitioning of numb ers by using place value, as depicted in Figure 3.0. This Figure also shows that the placements of the bears is scattered and unorganised, illustrating her method of counting the bears by ones. Emmas story involved the number thirty as the subject whom was able to achieve various tasks all involving the number thirty. Upon observing Emma it appears she needs more practice in understanding and demonstrating partitioning of numbers greater than seventeen using place value. In particular she needs practice in demonstrating and understanding the importance of representing two digit numbers as being comprised of tens and ones. Emma could also benefit from revising how to accurately display a number through models, drawings and words. Part D: Recommendations and Rationale. Plan of action: Emma was overall very efficient at completing the Think Boards task. This indicates that she has clearly grasped the more basic concepts required for successful completion of the boards. However Figure 3.0 provides explicit evidence that Emma has been unable to grasp the higher end concepts such as partitioning using place value. Based on this information it is therefore my recommendation that she requires work in areas of partitioning numbers, in particular she should concentrates on partitioning using place value of numbers between twenty and ninety- nine, due to the teens being harder number to comprehend. Although Emma had some difficulties in other areas of this Think board task, Emma seems to have gathered the overall concepts and therefore requires little more than tweaking of those skills. By working on partitioning of numbers using place value, Emma will indirectly be working on those other areas.

Activities: An activity that would introduce the concept of place value in an informative and exciting way for a year one such as Emma would be to experience the enjoyment of a book that touches on the concepts of place value. Preceding the book would be an activity that uses the concepts from the story, but also the concepts of partitioning numbers using place value. For example an activity preceding a book like A grain of rice by Helena Clare Pittman, called wealth. Within this activity the teacher would need to provide some dried coloured noodles (as rice would be too small) and a tens one board for the materials (see appendix 1). Each different coloured noodle would represent a different power of ten. For example the blue noodles will represent the ones units and the pink noodles will represent the tens
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units. Although this book goes into detail about hundred and thousands it would be far too complex for year ones. The children would then be required to use their noodles and tens and one boards to make a number between twenty and ninety-nine. The teacher chooses the number that is chosen. For example I might say using your boards and noodles show me two tens and six ones. Making sure that teachers use this sort of language will not only help ensure the children accurately demonstrate the number, but it will also ensure that the children get used to hearing how the numbers can be broken into powers of ten. Proceeding checking the children have the accurate model, the teacher is to always confirm the symbol and the correct way of saying the number, for example two tens and six ones makes twenty six. This activity would aim to teach the children to think of the numbers as separate units that join to make a two-digit power of ten number. Another activity that would specifically target this plan of action is called Numbers. Using an activity such as Numbers will allow Emma to understand that numbers are made of two parts, the tens and the ones units. It will also provide Emma with an opportunity to practice using the concept of a number line to effectively complete this activity. Numbers is an activity that involves at least two children, two ten sided dice and a score sheet (see appendix 2) Within this game one child at a time is to roll the dice and see which number combination will allow them to be the closest to the number on the score sheet. That child is to then record that closet number on the sheet. For example if a child rolled a 3 and 4 and the number of the score sheet was 50, the child would pick the combination to make 43 which is only seven away from the number. This activity will continue until all boxes on the score sheet are filled out. An activity like this will require the child to have some basic understandings of numbers, a sound understanding of number placement in relation to number sequences and number lines and an ability to understand that a number is made up of a ten and a one unit, which combine to make a two digit number. Rational: Choosing to introduce partitioning of numbers using place value so early in year one is due to Emmas display of advanced skills. These skills indicated in section C are indicative of her readiness to move onto these complex skills. According to Siemon et al., (2011) a child needs to be able to successfully demonstrate their understanding of the concept that 10 is an abstract composite unit before being ready to move onto place value. Emma has displayed this understanding that 10 is both a unit of ten, and ten ones at the same time. She has displayed this through her work with the number seventeen, counting ten and then interchanging that for a single pencil representing ten. Another indicator that Emma is ready for an introduction into place value comes from the book First Steps in Mathematics (Willis, 2005 ). Within this book is an outline of key understandings that children should have developed throughout the year. Having indicated her ability to achieve key understanding 4 and 5 from the book First Steps in Mathematics (Willis, 2005 ), Emma is ready to move onto key understanding 6 which is place value helps us to think of the same whole numbers in different ways and this can be useful (Willis, 2005 ) For these reasons the plan of action has been devised to focus on the stated recommendations. Research has shown that a key understanding to mastering place value is a concept known as scale (Clausen-May, 2005_ENREF_2). Scale is a visualised representation of the powers of ten (Clausen-May, 2005), meaning that no matter how big the number it can always be
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broken up into its powers of ten. For example 45 can be broken down into 4 X 10 and 5 X 1. Foreseeing that this concept would be of great value for Emma, both my recommended activities, outlined above, are conducted in such a way as to incorporate the learning of this concept. Activity one uses the power of ten terminology and activity two uses the idea that combining two numbers together is like joining a ten and a one unit. Recommending two activities that are very similar in their concepts and are seen to be very primitive ideas of place value is due to research suggesting that place value needs to be taught in a very specific way. Prof. Sullivan & Millsom (2009) suggests that the need to see ten ones as one ten is the first step in teaching place value. This research coincides with Siemon et al. (2011). However Siemon et al. (2011) articulates that a child needs to be able to successfully demonstrate their understanding of the concept that 10 is an abstract composite unit before being ready to move onto place value. Once this understanding is met then the child needs to be taught to visualise the two-digit pattern. An example of teaching a child to visualise the two-digit pattern is asking a child to show all the 7s in the tens places in a series of numbers. Likewise in activity two the child is required to see a number that is made up of 5 tens and 0 ones. Following this step, open-ended place value questions are taught. According to Prof. Sullivan & Millsom (2009) the jump between these two stages is vast, so before proceeding it is vital that the child has grasped all the concepts of the previous stage before proceeding. It is for this reason that the recommended activities are so similar in concepts. Research by Siemon, et al (2011) it has been shown that in order for children to understand the concept of numbers being units of tens and units of ones, they need to appreciate that counting by tens is a sensible thing to do. In light of this it is recommended that children undertake activity one because it provides a platform for teachers to demonstrate how easy it is to count by tens and how much more effective this method is, thus demonstrating their reasoning as to why it is the most sensible thing to do. Using activity one will help children build this appreciation as they will be asked to physically show a large number with only a few noodles and limited time. Having recommended two hands on activities is due to the research shown by Clausen-May (2005). This book stated that for children who struggle with writing and printing symbols, a visual representation should be used. Visual representations not only simplify the task, but it will also allow the teacher the opportunity to see how capable the children are at visually learning a new skill. Although Emma doesnt struggle with printed symbols and numerals, my recommendation would be to still emphasise the usage of models and mental images to help grasp the concept because it eliminates having to concentrate on more than one thing at a time. Purposefully both activates shown above use this idea to help convert symbols and words into an image that they can understand and later recall. Both recommended activities outlined above fit into the Australian curriculum: Maths which states that children at the end of year one should be able to achieve partitioning of numbers using place value up until 100. ("The Australian Curriculum: Maths," 2012) Although the Australian curriculum: Maths includes the teens in that sections stated above, starting without these complicated numbers will build confidence and a sound
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understanding for tackling these numbers later in the program. Both activities also build on prior skills listed under the content descriptors by the Australian curriculum: Maths. In particular activity two allows the children to work on their prior knowledge of number lines and number sequences. Part E: Personal Reflection. After completing this assignment I am now aware of just how different the levels of learning are. I had no idea that a class could have such a wide range of abilities. Despite what people tell you experiencing things first hand just changes your views and this is exactly what this assignment has done for me. This assignment has challenged the way I view students and the way I treat students. I assumed going into this assignment that all the children would be around the same level and that each lesson the children would be learning the same thing. To my surprise the child that I worked with was far beyond what I could have ever imagined a year one would be like. I went into this assignment with the idea that the child would be learning very basic things and I would have to try and get into the mindset of a child that only knows such a limited amount of information, although having done this assignment I can no see how wrong I was to think this. This assignment made me realise that even if a child has a very limited amount of knowledge, they will still understand and relate to you. I realised that you dont have to dumb it down for them to understand. As a result of this knowledge I feel that my own mathematical teaching practice has dramatically change already. I will no longer assume that each child is learning at the same pace and I will no longer assume that they havent previously had experience with the concepts about to be taught in a lesson. This knowledge has influenced the way that I think around children and I feel like I will now treat the children with a more sophisticated attitude, I will respect and admire the idea that they are never a blank sheet of paper.

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Primary School Year 1 students (2012)

Childs name: Lila (pseudonym) Think Board Number: 5 Teacher:

What the child demonstrated: Working with the number five seemed anything but a challenge for Lila. She excelled in her ability to write the symbol and demonstrate the concept using real objects. However when it came to illustrating a picture representing the number five Lila produced a very artistic piece that contained seven items, rather than five. Whilst watching Lila draw this task it was noticeable that she wanted to make the picture look like a garden, questioning if her desire to produce a beautiful picture was overpowering the task to accurately demonstrate the task. Lilas story provided little comprehension and understanding of a stories structure, however she did manage to accurately demonstrate her understanding of how to use the number five. Lila demonstrated her understandings with a story about the number five walking through a forest and coming upon many different items all in groups of five. Where the child has problems/misunderstandings: Lila had very few problem with the number five, however some work on being able to model the number through different modems (including drawing) might be advantageous to ensure she has achieved the correct understanding.

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Primary School Year 1 students (2012)

Childs name: Lila (pseudonym) Think Board Number: 17 Teacher:

What the child demonstrated: When working with the number seventeen Lila once again displayed her ability to easily write and comprehend the symbol of the number seventeen. She was also very efficient in being able to draw seventeen faces as her picture. Lila displayed very interesting behaviour when it came to representing the number seventeen in the real section. She started counting seventeen individual counters to place on the picture. However after running out of different coloured pencils and her determinedness not to use the bear counters she discovered a plan to make the pencils work. She verbally demonstrated that she wanted the yellow pencil to be ten counters, which meant she had enough other penicils to represent the other seven. Unfortunately her story again lacked any structure and used the number to represent seventeen bugs that ran into seventeen cars. Where the child has problems/misunderstandings: Overall Lila once again had very few problems with the number seventeen. She was even able to partition numbers using place value. Lila however has demonstrated through verbal and non-verbal cues that she is still trying to grasp the concept of partitioning. Lila needs to work on being able to partition numbers using place value, in particular understanding the importance of representing two digit numbers as being comprised of tens and ones.

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Primary School Year 1 students (2012)

Childs name: Lila (pseudonym) Think board Number: 30 Teacher:

What the child demonstrated: Lila seemed discerned with the number thirty. Once again she breezed through writing the symbol and being able to comprehend how many thirty was. Lila drew a picture that displayed understanding but an inability to accurately show the number thirty. She proceeded to draw spirals in which she counted the lines from the centre out on only one side. This seemed to make perfect sense to Lila and she continued until she had counted to thirty lines. Upon recounting the way Lila had, she appears to have two extra lines that she seems to have miss- counted. Lilas story involved the number thirty as the subject who was able to achieve various amount of tasks all involving the number thirty. Where the child has problems/misunderstandings: Upon observing Lila it appears she need more practice in understanding and demonstrating partitioning of numbers greater than seventeen using place value. In particular she needs practice in demonstrating and understanding the importance of representing two digit numbers as being comprised of tens and ones. Lila could also benefit from revising how to accurately display a number through models, drawings and words.

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