I have decided I ought to collect together all my most recent pieces of writing for various organisations, that are available online, to stop me (and you!) having to search for them!
Here they are, under two main headings, General pieces and Research articles; including my doctoral research into role play and mathematics.
Scroll down and see if there is anything of interest.
GENERAL
The most recent is listed first, with a brief description of each.
This article discusses the importance of shape, space and measures in the early years and gives practical example of how to integrate the statutory Characteristics of Effective Learning and Teaching (Department for Education (2017). Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage, setting the standards for learning development and care for children from birth to five. London: Crown. DFE-00169-2017)
Guidance written to both support and stimulate schools in thinking about the mathematics we offer our youngest children, now and going forward, as the schools return. Written for the reception teacher in mind, KS1 colleagues, maths leads, and head teachers to support decision-making for September 2020.
This piece, written during the Covid19 UK lockdown, spring 2020, is aimed at families:
‘Making Maths at home more enjoyable’.
A podcast interview recorded in April 2020 with @MrBartonMaths examines these issues in more detail, here:
Written for the peer reviewed @CharteredCollege journal ‘Impact’, January 2020.
It summarises developments in our understandings of how young children learn mathematics, both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’, and pinpoints two issues for educators to consider.
This ‘opinion piece’ was written for Early Years Educator in December 2019. It focuses on the review of the EYFS and in particular, concerns over the mathematics ELGs:
Here is a TES article (Dec 2019) about concerns over the make-up of the advisory group to the DfE on the mathematics ELGs.
This podcast interview recorded in December 2018 with @MrBartonMaths, explores the teaching and learning of early years mathematics more generally:
This article for the TES was my November 2017 response to the release of the controversial Ofsted report ‘Bold Beginnings’ (https://schoolsweek.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/28933-Ofsted-Early-Years-Curriculum-Report.pdf )
This is a 2015 article, jointly authored with Dr Sue Gifford, looking at the issues surrounding ‘baseline testing’ 4- and 5-year-olds on the first weeks of arrival in Reception classes at that time. Some of these issues remain problematic.
RESEARCH
In 2019 Dr Ruth Trundley (@RuthTrundley ) and I received a grant from BERA (British Educational Research Association @BERA ) to investigate how variation theory can be applied to the use of manipulatives to support understanding of early number. We worked over three terms in three Y1 classrooms and here are the links to the articles stemming from that work.
The full (downloadable) report into the study.
A short blog on the research process.
Our article for ‘Mathematics Teaching 270’, February 2020.
ROLE PLAY and MATHEMATICS
This was the focus of my doctoral research.
‘The relevance of role play to the learning of mathematics in the primary classroom’.
- A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD, School of Education, University of Roehampton, 2014
ABSTRACT
This thesis reports on an investigation into the relevance of role play to the learning of mathematics in a primary school in the South West of the United Kingdom. It is a case study of mathematical role play in one Reception and one Year Four class during the academic year 2011-2012. The focus of the study was a school’s attempt to tackle both pupil attainment and attitude using role play as a space for children to explore some mathematics that, in Donaldson’s words, ‘made human sense’ (Donaldson 1978).
This study is grounded in social constructivist theories of learning where learners’ intellectual achievements, rather than being seen as solely the product of individual discovery, are viewed in terms of something created and shared amongst members of communities, the product of interaction in a cultural context. This thesis takes the theoretical perspective that play is a key medium for children’s learning, drawing on a body of literature positively linking play to young children’s cognitive, social and emotional development. In addition, it takes the view, from accumulating research into mathematics education, that discussion and social interaction between peers are significant in learning mathematics. There exists no substantive body of research into play and the learning of mathematics across the primary years and despite national evidence of all ages of learners’ disengagement from mathematics, educational initiatives remain focussed on pupil attainment at the expense of nurturing enjoyment and involvement in the subject.
The ontological position of this study considers participants’ interactions and behaviours and their interpretations of these as central to understanding a situation. Rather than unearthing ‘truths’, knowledge involves judgements and decisions we make as social beings constrained by time and place.
The following questions were posed in this study:
What mathematics can be learned through role play?
What does mathematics learning look like in different role play contexts?
To what extent might role play affect the development of mathematical resilience, involvement and a positive attitude to the subject?
What particular classroom conditions positively affect mathematics learning through role play?
What adult intervention helps or hinders such mathematical learning?
In order to address these questions and reflect my views on knowledge and learning, a qualitative, interpretative methodology was adopted for this study in a school I considered to be one ‘case’ of my research focus.
The findings suggest that there are elements of role play that are useful for mathematics and that it is possible to engage in complex mathematics through role play. I argue that the potency of role play is its ability to suspend belief and engage children as members of a social group, as participants in a community of learners. Role play provides an opportunity to engage in a parallel world allowing for the display of knowledge in a non-threatening situation. This ‘suspension of reality’ might be particularly important for mathematics learning, where worry over correct answers can stop children taking the risk of answering.
This study also concludes there is potential for supporting and developing children’s mathematical awareness and metacognition through reflecting on role play. Whilst the importance of reflection on learning is well-established, how a child learns about themselves as a mathematician is under-researched. This study begins to consider this issue and finds that encouraging reflection on role play in particular is useful for such discussions.
- The best summary of my research is my podcast interview with Lucy Rycroft-Smith (@honeypisquared) recorded at the end of 2019 for the TES: https://www.tes.com/news/why-role-play-crucial-early-maths
- This Summer 2015 piece for the Mathematical Association (@Mathematical_A ) journal ‘Primary Mathematics’ explores some issues from my doctoral research and is entitled: ‘Role Play and Mathematics, A problem or a solution?’
- In September 2013, I wrote about my research in a R classroom for the Association of Teachers of Mathematics (@ATMMathematics ) journal, ‘Mathematics Teaching 236’:
An earlier piece for ‘Mathematics Teaching 230’ (September 2012) discussed my early findings in a Y4 class (this is paywalled for non-ATM members, DM me for a copy if you are interested)
In November 2011 the British Society of Research into the Learning of Mathematics (@BSRLM_Maths ) published its proceedings, which include my paper into my research as it begun entitiled: “To what extent might role play be a useful tool for learning mathematics?”
This article written for ‘Mathematics Teaching 217’ in March 2010, pre-dates my PhD research and describes a pilot project into role play and maths:
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