TY - JOUR
T1 - The contribution of external representations in pre-school mathematical problem solving
AU - Shiakalli, Maria Angela
AU - Zacharos, Konstantinos
PY - 2012/12
Y1 - 2012/12
N2 - Could problem solving be the object of teaching in early education? Could appropriate teaching interventions develop to scaffold children's efforts to solve problems? These were the central questions of this article. The sample consisted of 18 children attending public pre-school in Cyprus. The problem they were asked to solve was to find all solutions of the pentomino. The children's problem solving was supported by graphically representing their solutions on squared paper. The findings show that children responded positively to the problem and were successful in finding all solutions for the specific problem. The graphical representation of the solutions and the forms of teacher-children and children-children interactions played an important role in the positive outcome of the activity.
AB - Could problem solving be the object of teaching in early education? Could appropriate teaching interventions develop to scaffold children's efforts to solve problems? These were the central questions of this article. The sample consisted of 18 children attending public pre-school in Cyprus. The problem they were asked to solve was to find all solutions of the pentomino. The children's problem solving was supported by graphically representing their solutions on squared paper. The findings show that children responded positively to the problem and were successful in finding all solutions for the specific problem. The graphical representation of the solutions and the forms of teacher-children and children-children interactions played an important role in the positive outcome of the activity.
KW - graphical representations
KW - pentomino
KW - pre-school education
KW - problem solving
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84871219458&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09669760.2012.714992
DO - 10.1080/09669760.2012.714992
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84871219458
SN - 0966-9760
VL - 20
SP - 315
EP - 331
JO - International Journal of Early Years Education
JF - International Journal of Early Years Education
IS - 4
ER -