Teaching the F-2 ACARA Math Learning Intentions Through Play
Our young children need to learn through play. They learn best through play. So how can we effectively teach all the F-2 ACARA math learning intentions the most effective way? Through play!!
As an early years teacher, you know early numeracy has nothing to do with rote memorization. It has everything to do with hands-on experiences, conversations, thinking, and problem solving.
Our goal in teaching maths is to create opportunities where our early years students are enjoying their math learning journey by using hands-on materials to build deep conceptual math understanding through play.
We are building the foundational math concepts and understandings children will base all their future math learning on, so we need to get it right. We need to focus on teaching mathematical concepts and strategies through age-appropriate math play.
And perhaps most importantly, we need to provide real world hands-on opportunities of math experiences in a fun and playful way so we can effectively nurture our children’s love of maths.
So let’s look a little closer at our F-2 ACARA Math Curriculum and discover ways we can teach ALL the math learning intentions through play.
The Australian Math Curriculum
The Australian math curriculum has 3 overarching aims.
To create students who are confident, creative users and communicators of mathematics, able to investigate, represent and interpret situations in their personal and work lives and as active citizens.
To develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of mathematical concepts and fluency with processes and are able to pose and solve problems and reason in number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.
To recognise connections between the areas of mathematics and other disciplines and appreciate mathematics as an accessible and enjoyable discipline to study.
ACARA builds on the key learning outcomes of the national Early Years Learning Framework. Both these guidelines acknowledge the power of play. They state play to be the most useful and most age-appropriate tool for literacy and numeracy learning.
After teaching in the F-2 grades for many years, I have noticed the way this age group learns best is not the same as for children in the upper grades. It is one of the reasons I support play-based learning in early childhood.
When we provide opportunities for children to investigate and learn through play, we are fostering authentic literacy and numeracy.
Teaching Numeracy
Understanding what numeracy is and what it should look like in our classrooms is the first step in teaching math through play-based learning.
‘Numeracy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in daily life. Children bring new mathematical understandings through engaging with problem solving. It is essential that the mathematical ideas with which young children interact are relevant and meaningful in the context of their current lives. Educators require a rich mathematical vocabulary to accurately describe and explain children’s mathematical ideas and to support numeracy development. Spatial sense, structure and pattern, number, measurement, data argumentation, connections and exploring the world mathematically are the powerful mathematical ideas children need to become numerate.’ (EYLF, 2009, p. 38)
So, if we are to teach math authentically and provide relevant and meaningful experiences, we must deliver a rich range of learning opportunities that provide experiences for children to be creative, to think, and to problem solve. And on top of that, these experiences must be ‘meaningful’ to the child.
It seems there is no better way to teach numeracy than through the rich range of learning opportunities we provide in our intentionally designed and purposeful investigation areas. Children exploring our play based investigation areas are consistently creating, thinking and problem solving.
The most significant strategies to promote early literacy and numeracy are in fact through play because it is clear that in the early years, children learn numeracy best through hands-on investigative play experiences.
So now let’s look at the content strands of the Australian curriculum because they describe the content we need to be teaching to our F-2 grades.
The Three Content Strands of ACARA
The Australian Mathematics Curriculum is organised around the interaction of three content strands and four proficiency strands.
The content strands are
Number and Algebra
Measurement and Geometry
Statistics and Probability
Number and Algebra
Number and algebra are developed together, as each enriches the study of the other. Students apply number sense and strategies for counting and representing numbers. They explore the magnitude and properties of numbers. They apply a range of strategies for computation and understand the connections between operations. They recognise patterns and understand the concepts of variable and function. They build on their understanding of the number system to describe relationships and formulate generalisations. They recognise equivalence and solve equations and inequalities. They apply their number and algebra skills to conduct investigations, solve problems and communicate their reasoning.
Measurement and Geometry
Measurement and geometry are presented together to emphasise their relationship to each other, enhancing their practical relevance. Students develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of size, shape, relative position, and movement of two-dimensional figures in the plane and three-dimensional objects in space. They investigate properties and apply their understanding of them to define, compare and construct figures and objects. They learn to develop geometric arguments. They make meaningful measurements of quantities, choosing appropriate metric units of measurement. They build an understanding of the connections between units and calculate derived measures such as area, speed, and density.
Statistics and Probability
Statistics and probability initially develop in parallel and the curriculum then progressively builds the links between them. Students recognise and analyse data and draw inferences. They represent, summarise, and interpret data and undertake purposeful investigations involving the collection and interpretation of data. They assess likelihood and assign probabilities using experimental and theoretical approaches. They develop an increasingly sophisticated ability to critically evaluate chance and data concepts and make reasoned judgements and decisions, as well as building skills to critically evaluate statistical information and develop intuitions about data.
The Australian Mathematics Curriculum is organised so that these three content strands are intertwined and integrated with the key ideas and understandings of four proficiency strands.
This integrated approach has been adopted to ensure students’ proficiency in mathematical skills develops throughout the curriculum and becomes increasingly sophisticated over the years of schooling.
The Key Ideas and Understandings of ACARA Maths
The key ideas and understandings of the ACARA Math Curriculum are closely integrated and should be taught in an integrated way. Play based investigations are ideal for integrating the content strands and the key ideas.
In Mathematics, the key ideas are the proficiency strands of understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning. The proficiency strands describe the actions (or the doing) in which students can engage when learning and using the math content.
Not all proficiency strands apply to every content description, but they do indicate the breadth of mathematical actions that teachers can support through play based learning.
Understanding
Students build a robust knowledge of adaptable and transferable mathematical concepts. They make connections between related concepts and progressively apply the familiar to develop new ideas. They develop an understanding of the relationship between the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of mathematics. Students build understanding when they
· connect related ideas
· represent concepts in different ways
· identify commonalities and differences between aspects of content
· describe their thinking mathematically
· interpret mathematical information
Fluency
Students develop skills in choosing appropriate procedures; carrying out procedures flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately; and recalling factual knowledge and concepts readily. Students are fluent when they
· calculate answers efficiently
· recognise robust ways of answering questions
· choose appropriate methods and approximations
· recall definitions and regularly use facts
· can manipulate expressions and equations to find solutions
Problem-solving
Students develop the ability to make choices, interpret, formulate, model, and investigate problem situations, and communicate solutions effectively. Students formulate and solve problems when they
· use mathematics to represent unfamiliar or meaningful situations
· design investigations and plan their approaches
· apply their existing strategies to seek solutions
· verify that their answers are reasonable
Reasoning
Students develop an increasingly sophisticated capacity for logical thought and actions, such as analysing, proving, evaluating, explaining, inferring, justifying, and generalising. Students are reasoning mathematically when they
· explain their thinking
· deduce and justify strategies used and conclusions reached
· adapt the known to the unknown
· transfer learning from one context to another
· prove that something is true or false
· compare and contrast related ideas and explain their choices
The key ideas and math understandings children develop through play-based investigations give them the tools they need to achieve a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts.
The 4 proficiency strands of understanding, fluency, problem-solving and reasoning are an integral part of mathematics content across all three content strands: number and algebra, measurement and geometry, and statistics and probability.
These proficiencies describe how the content can be explored or developed through play-based experiences. They also provide the language we need to use and teach in the mathematical conversations we have with our children.
The Australian Curriculum provides us with even more detailed descriptions of the proficiencies for each level from Foundation Stage to Grade 2.
Foundation Year Level
understanding includes connecting names, numerals, and quantities
fluency includes readily counting numbers in sequences, continuing patterns, and comparing the lengths of objects
problem-solving includes using materials to model authentic problems, sorting objects, using familiar counting sequences to solve unfamiliar problems, and discussing the reasonableness of the answer
reasoning includes explaining comparisons of quantities, creating patterns, and explaining processes for indirect comparison of length.
Grade 1 Level
understanding includes connecting names, numerals and quantities, and partitioning numbers in various ways
fluency includes readily counting number in sequences forwards and backwards, locating numbers on a line and naming the days of the week
problem-solving includes using materials to model authentic problems, giving and receiving directions to unfamiliar places, using familiar counting sequences to solve unfamiliar problems and discussing the reasonableness of the answer
reasoning includes explaining direct and indirect comparisons of length using uniform informal units, justifying representations of data, and explaining patterns that have been created.
Grade 2 Level
understanding includes connecting number calculations with counting sequences, partitioning, and combining numbers flexibly and identifying and describing the relationship between addition and subtraction and between multiplication and division
fluency includes readily counting numbers in sequences, using informal units iteratively to compare measurements, using the language of chance to describe outcomes of familiar chance events, and describing and comparing time durations
problem-solving includes formulating problems from authentic situations, making models and using number sentences that represent problem situations, and matching transformations with their original shape
reasoning includes using known facts to derive strategies for unfamiliar calculations, comparing and contrasting related models of operations and creating and interpreting simple representations of data.
When you dive deep into the content of the F-2 ACARA Math curriculum, there sure is a lot we must cover. I have designed some illustrated learning intentions for Foundation stage. There are 159 of them!
Designing this math resource made me painfully aware how crammed our curriculum is.
Use these illustrated learning intentions to help you explicitly teach the key understandings and math content for the Foundation level. I love these for the younger students.
Written learning intentions can be somewhat ineffective because little preppies are just not confident readers yet. When you refer to the written learning intention on display, all your little ones see is a collection of letters.
For this reason, I like to use illustrated learning intentions in my classroom. These learning intentions with the pictorial representations help students remember and understand their learning goals. The pictures act as a visual prompt and help them remember and better understand their WALT goals.
There’s just not enough hours in the school day to effectively cover all those learning intentions – unless you implement a play based learning pedagogy.
Teaching Math Through Play Based Learning
A play-based pedagogy is grounded in experiences where children can explore, investigate, create, talk about, negotiate, discover, sort, count, measure, estimate, problem solve and think.
Open ended play-based learning experiences give children the chance to learn maths in a hands-on way. All teachers know there is no better way to teach math in the early years than through hands-on learning experiences.
A play-based curriculum reflects a hands-on approach to learning where children are immersed in authentically rich experiences which promote numeracy.
The Box Construction Area or Makerspace is a great example of how children can experience a rich range of numeracy learning experiences through play.
Many math skills are developed in the process of working in this space. First of all, the child has to make the decision to go to this area to work and then decide what they can construct with the resources there. (problem solving) They need to negotiate and find a space at the table to work. (spatial awareness)
Then the child needs to make a series of mathematical decisions about their construction. She will estimate, sort, count and problem solve as she conceptualises the construction.
You might notice her measuring the size of the boxes, sorting shapes, estimating, or measuring out lengths of tape and string, experimenting with positioning and developing mathematical language.
Providing a range of play experiences in your classroom can promote numeracy skills like
Reasoning and Problem solving
Classifying, Grouping and Sorting
Patterning and Counting
Estimating and Measuring
Recognising, Distinguishing and Symbolising
Comparing and Contrasting
Representing their thinking mathematically
Teaching math through playful learning experiences doesn’t need to be difficult. Play based learning is automatically differentiated, engaging and purposeful. Children will develop and learn math concepts and skills naturally through play.
All you need to do is provide open ended resources and the time and a space for your children to explore and investigate. Trust your children.
Math Resources for Play Based Learning
I have designed a number of hands-on play based math resources you might be interested in. From investigation prompts to signs and posters, you will find a great selection to help you teach math sklls and concepts HERE.
Remember numeracy is supposed to be meaningful and a relevant part of everyday life for children in the F-2 grades. Our role is to not only teach maths but to build positive attitudes about numeracy.
Our children need and deserve to have the opportunity to learn through playful experiences that support and promote numeracy and all other aspects of their learning and development. Please don’t rely on formal and structured numeracy lessons alone.
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