Abstract
Recent research has shown that young children are capable of engaging in data modeling and making informed judgments, an aspect of the mathematics curriculum not previously considered integral to early numeracy. In an Australian study, a sample of 21 highly able Grade 1 students was engaged in a series of investigations where they developed their own ways of representing data they had collected themselves. Students made impressive progress in 1 year, partly as a result of students’ repeated critical reflection and refinement of their graphical representations, which enhanced a wide range of meta-representational competencies. The five structures inherent in the Awareness of Mathematical Pattern and Structure model supported the interpretation of their development of statistical concepts. The study indicates that student-led data modeling with an emphasis on pattern and structure can contribute to critical numeracy and enhance the early development of statistical concepts.
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Notes
All figures have been reproduced for clarity as an accurate version of the original drawings.
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Acknowledgments
This research project was funded by a 3-year Australian Research Council Discovery Grant Transforming children’s mathematical and scientific development: A longitudinal study (No. DP110103586). The author expresses her particular thanks to colleagues Michael Mitchelmore, Lyn English and Kerry Hodge, research assistants Susannah Hudson and Jordana Reid, and the teachers and school community that made this study possible.
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Mulligan, J. Moving beyond basic numeracy: data modeling in the early years of schooling. ZDM Mathematics Education 47, 653–663 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0687-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-015-0687-2