Reflecting on Young Children’s Mathematics Learning

This chapter reports on one of the major outcomes from a long term mathematics education professional development project involving educators from preschools and the early years of school in the state of South Australia. Using the constructs of powerful mathematical ideas, pedagogical inquiry, and learning stories, the educators have developed Reflective Continua which use children’s work samples to map the development of the powerful mathematical ideas represented by the strands and competencies of the new Australian Curriculum—Mathematics and the outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. This is the first such Australian tool for use in the mapping of mathematics education across both the preschool and first years of school years.

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