Learning through play – pedagogy and learning outcomes in early childhood mathematics

Whilst research underlines the importance of early mathematics in kindergarten, practitioners need effective and innovative approaches to pedagogy. Currently, very different approaches are deployed from an instructional, educator-led approach based on training programmes to a play-based approach. This intervention study examines the effects on the mathematical competency of these two pedagogies. Thirty-five kindergarten educators and 324 six-year-old children were randomly assigned to either a training programme, a play-based approach with card and board games or to the control group. Educators’ views on the interventions were gathered in semi-structured interviews. The results indicate higher learning gains overall for the play-based approach. Differentiated effects were found as tendencies: children with low competencies tend to gain more from training programmes compared to no intervention; children with high competencies gain more from the play-based approach than the training. Educators evaluated the play-based intervention with card and board games as better suited to children’s diverse needs

Play-Based Mathematics in Kindergarten. A Video Analysis of Children's Mathematical Behaviour While Playing a Board Game in Small Groups

Kindergarten children enjoy playing games, as games bring motivation and active learning. Many board and card games require mathematical competencies and, therefore, carefully selected board and card games could be used as meaningful learning tasks for mathematics education in early childhood. With this in mind, several games for fostering quantity-number competencies have been implemented in an intervention study. The study included 6 years old children and three conditions: training program (n=110), play-based intervention (n=89) and control group (n=125). For this article, videos involving 21 children in ten teams from one of the most widely played games in the play-based intervention were selected for in-depth analysis: the board game Shut the Box. This explorative analysis of children's mathematical behaviour and peer support whilst playing a board game allows researching in what way a specific game provides a meaningful learning task for early mathematics. The results show that children employ several mathematical skills while playing, depending on their individual quantity-number competencies. As the game can be easily repeated several times, the children practise and shape mathematical skills and monitor and support their co-player in order to increase their chances of winning the game. It is suggested that the board game provides an adaptive and motivating setting, which can meet the learning needs of low as well as high achieving childre

"It should not have happened": metaphorical expressions, idioms, and narrative descriptions related to trauma in an indigenous community in India

Purpose: Psychological trauma can be viewed as a metaphor which originates from somatic medicine and comes from the Greek word "wound". To gain a better understanding of trauma in a culturally sensitive way, the present project aimed to explore alternative metaphors used to describe extreme aversive or catastrophic events. Methods: This ethnopsychological study was carried out among the Adivasis indigenous people in tribal communities in Pune, India. We performed 28 interviews with lay persons and key informants, focusing on collectively shared metaphors. The data were examined using systematic metaphor analysis. Results: While the most prevalent metaphorical concepts found related to shock and wound, we also identified culture-specific idioms and common themes in the descriptions related to trauma. The most predominant expression, which was used by all of the participants, was "this should not have happened" (asa nahi vhayala pahije hota). These findings indicate that metaphorical concepts reflect implicit worldviews and beliefs in the community under study. Conclusion: The main implication of the results found is to increase awareness of different expressions in clinical settings, pointing to potential approaches to the cultural adaptation of clinical interventions in general

Regelspiele entwickeln

Hauser, B., Rathgeb-Schnierer, E., Stebler, R., & Vogt, F. (2016). Mehr ist mehr. Mathematische Frühförderung mit Regelspielen. Seelze: Kallmeyer, S. 46-55

Frühe Mathematik: Geführtes Spiel oder Training?

4 bis 8, Nr. 5 (2011, Mai), S. 28-30Die Pädagogische Hochschule des Kantons St.Gallen untersuchte in einem Forschungsprojekt mit 324 Kindern, ob geführte spielintegrierte Mathematikförderung ebenso wirksam ist wie entsprechende Trainingsprogramme

Geführtes Spiel oder Training? Förderung mathematischer Vorläuferfertigkeiten

Die Grundschulzeitschrift, Heft 258.259 (Oktober 2012), S. 8-1

Workshop „Mathematik im Kindergarten: Spiel oder Training?“ Effektive Lernzeit bei spielintegrierter versus trainingsnaher Matheförderung im Kindergarten

Beitrag an der SGL-Tagung „4- bis 12-Jährige – ihre schulischen und ausserschulischen Lern- und Lebenswelten“ am 25./26.08.2011 in Ber

Frühe Mathe-Förderung im Kindergarten: Ergebnisse aus der Elternbefragung bezüglich dem Freizeitverhalten und der Migration

Beitrag an der SGL-Tagung vom 26. September 2011, Bern: Frühe Mathe-Förderung im Kindergarten. Ergebnisse aus der Elternbefragung bezüglich dem Freizeitverhalten und der Migratio