Proceedings of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education · Volume 1
Camilla Björklund, Hanna Palmér
University of Gothenburg
⬇ Download PDFIn this paper, we present the ways in which fingers are used as representations in teaching the basic meaning of numbers to young learners, and what learning opportunities the different ways entail. This is done through an analysis of 38 video recordings from authentic Swedish preschool teaching situations. Three ways of using fingers as representations were identified in the observed interactions: Fingers as countables, as symbols, and as bridging tool. Different finger-use opened for different meaning to be discerned; cardinality as a novel notion was made discernible when fingers were used as bridging tool, connecting different quantities but also different modes of representation. The results provide empirical evidence for how fingers are used as primary to if fingers are used in early number teaching.
early childhood educationnumbersrepresentationsfingersteaching