Pāngarau
Maths
Practical ideas for viewing mathematics as a language that is enjoyable and has meaning and purpose.
Early years education plays a crucial role in the development of infants’, toddlers’, and young children’s maths proficiency because it is the time when attitudes towards maths are formed. Positive attitudes are more likely when children’s maths learning begins as informal and intuitive learning, influenced by the culture and experiences they are growing up in.
Maths helps children to think logically, strategically, creatively, and critically – skills and knowledge which are particularly valuable in today’s information and digital age.
What is maths?
Te Whāriki positions maths as one of the many forms of expression that children need to communicate successfully and widely. This view of maths as a language is embedded in the learning outcome: he kōrero pāngarau: recognising maths symbols and concepts and using them with enjoyment, meaning, and purpose.
Infants, toddlers, and young children become powerful and competent learners in the language and expression of maths ideas when:
- maths learning is grounded in their interests, abilities, purposes, and cultural understandings
- they are exposed to a diverse range of maths concepts, not just numeracy (Te Kākano outlines six strands – pattern, measuring, sorting, locating, counting, and grouping, and shape)
- learning to think mathematically is the aim of the curriculum, for example, through estimating, connecting, speculating, ruminating, problem solving, and playing with possibilities.
Early maths learning is a gradual process of moving from concrete to abstract understandings. To grasp abstract conventions such as number and measurement, children first need frequent and equal opportunities to:
- manipulate objects and make sense of the relationships between these
- hear maths concepts and vocabulary from kaiako and others around them.
Te Kākano
Te Kākano is a framework developed for early learning services in Aotearoa New Zealand to support the teaching and learning of maths ideas. Te Kākano is based on the metaphor of a seed, embedded in a cultural context.
This metaphor recognises that children do not arrive in early childhood settings as empty vessels – they bring knowledge and understanding with them. The metaphor also recognises that maths learning and development is influenced and nurtured by the “food” or “soil” (context) in which te kākano (‘the seed’) is embedded.
Te Kākano diagram
- The role of kaiako in maths practice
- Taking mathematics into the community – one service’s solution
- Useful links
Kaiako responses shape the development of maths in particular ways. Hands-off approaches and beliefs that “maths is everywhere” and that it does not require intentional planning or involvement, may limit children’s learning. While very structured, teacher-directed practices might raise the achievement of skills in the short term, they can lead to negative attitudes that are detrimental to children's enjoyment of maths and their progress in the long term.
Kaiako who facilitate positive knowledge and attitudes to maths, do so by:
- linking maths to children’s lived experience, cultural practices, and general interests – kaiako make a point of finding out what these are
- highlighting the purpose and usefulness of maths in daily life
- highlighting the potential of maths through maths-oriented actions and interactions while not “hijacking” the situation (for example, interrupting a child’s exploration of a complex science topic with an irrelevant “how many … ?” question)
- appreciating that maths is more than just numeracy by referring to wider frameworks (as in Te Kākano)
- putting the fun in maths through games, waiata, stories, and physical activities.
About this resource
Te Whāriki positions maths as one of the many forms of expression that children need to communicate successfully and widely. This resource provides practical ideas for viewing mathematics as a language that is enjoyable and has meaning and purpose.