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Mathematical Understanding in Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School: Play as Bridge Between Two Educational Institutions

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Mathematics Education in the Early Years

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Abstract

German kindergarten and Grundschule (“primary school”) are characterized by different conditions concerning the organization of learning processes. This situation places particular demands on the arrangement of linked and coherent mathematical learning environments in transition from more informal to formal learning situations. Particularly the relational understanding of numbers is one important objective for mathematical learning during the transition. In our qualitative study, we developed three “complementary playing and learning environments” (CLEs) and observed how 20 children explored and discussed relationships between numbers in the last year of kindergarten and the first year of school. We focus on the institutional similarities and differences and discuss them with regard to the arrangement of playing and learning environments in kindergarten and primary school.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ginsburg (<CitationRef CitationID="CR8" >2006</Citation Ref>, p. 152) mentions a third type “play with the mathematics that has been taught” which is not important here because it seems to concern another aspect: This type describes children’s role-play of “teacher.” By playing “mathematics lesson,” children also “play” with mathematical contents.

  2. 2.

    School usually starts in August. The experiments in kindergarten were carried out in the period from March to July, in primary school from October to February.

  3. 3.

    The whole German transcripts are available from the authors.

  4. 4.

    The highlighted disparities of playful mathematics in games and mathematical play can be seen in other playing and learning environments of the project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany

    Dorothea Tubach & Marcus Nührenbörger

Authors
  1. Dorothea Tubach
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  2. Marcus Nührenbörger
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Correspondence to Dorothea Tubach .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway

    Tamsin Meaney

  2. NCM, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ola Helenius

  3. Luleå Technical University, Luleå, Sweden

    Maria L. Johansson

  4. Bergen University College, Bergen, Norway

    Troels Lange

  5. Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden

    Anna Wernberg

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Tubach, D., Nührenbörger, M. (2016). Mathematical Understanding in Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School: Play as Bridge Between Two Educational Institutions. In: Meaney, T., Helenius, O., Johansson, M., Lange, T., Wernberg, A. (eds) Mathematics Education in the Early Years. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23935-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23935-4_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23933-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23935-4

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