An Early Mathematical Patterning Assessment: identifying young Australian Indigenous children’s patterning skills

Journal article


Papic, Marina. (2015). An Early Mathematical Patterning Assessment: identifying young Australian Indigenous children’s patterning skills. Mathematics Education Research Journal. 27(4), pp. 519-534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-015-0149-8
AuthorsPapic, Marina
Abstract

This paper presents an Early Mathematical Patterning Assessment (EMPA) tool that provides early childhood educators with a valuable opportunity to identify young children’s mathematical thinking and patterning skills through a series of hands-on and drawing tasks. EMPA was administered through one-to-one assessment interviews to children aged 4 to 5 years in the year prior to formal school. Two hundred and seventeen assessments indicated that the young low socioeconomic and predominantly Australian Indigenous children in the study group had varied patterning and counting skills. Three percent of the study group was able to consistently copy and draw an ABABAB pattern made with coloured blocks. Fifty percent could count to six by ones and count out six items with 4 % of the total group able to identify six items presented in regular formations without counting. The integration of patterning into early mathematics learning is critical to the abstraction of mathematical ideas and relationships and to the development of mathematical reasoning in young children. By using the insights into the children’s thinking that the EMPA tool provides, early childhood educators can better inform mathematics teaching and learning and so help close the persistent gap in numeracy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

Keywordsearly mathematics assessment; early numeracy; Indigenous education; patterning
Year2015
JournalMathematics Education Research Journal
Journal citation27 (4), pp. 519-534
PublisherSpringer Netherlands
ISSN1033-2170
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-015-0149-8
Scopus EID2-s2.0-84948450058
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range519-534
FunderAustralian Research Council (ARC)
Publisher's version
License
All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online22 Aug 2014
Publication process dates
Accepted06 Aug 2015
Deposited11 Nov 2021
ARC Funded ResearchThis output has been funded, wholly or partially, under the Australian Research Council Act 2001
Grant IDARC/LP110100553
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