This paper introduces the term "explorative mathematical argumentation" (EMA), signifying a concept for describing and analysing learners' mathematical argumentation processes. Despite multiple recent empirical evidence for argumentation promoting learning in science education, still little is known about the development of early…

In this article, we direct attention to what becomes critical in teaching activities for toddlers (1-3-year-olds) to learn the meaning of numbers. One activity we thoroughly explore is interactive book reading, based on previous research indicating positive learning outcomes from this type of mathematical activity, as it has shown to…

The aims of this article are to document the types of signs that young children make to represent their mathematical thinking, and to determine the extent to which features of usage-based language acquisition are evident in children's early graphical communications made in mathematical contexts. Studies of young children's symbolic principles in…

This paper focuses on kindergarten teachers' interactions with young children during mathematical learning activities involving the use of digital tools. We aim to characterise the teachers' roles and actions in these activities and extend considerations of teachers' orchestrations current in the research literature with regard to agency and…

This paper deals with one aspect of the endeavor to generate a theory of the development of mathematical thinking of children in the early years ages 3 to 10. By comparing two scenes, one from preschool and one from a first grade mathematics class, the relationship between diagrammatic and narrative argumentations among children and teachers is…

Gender differences in mathematical achievement have been examined in a wide range of age groups but only a few studies addressed this issue in preschool children. We compared preschool girls (n?=?570) and boys (n?=?524) from Germany with regard to numerical competencies. Differences in overall group means and the frequency of representation at…

This study examines the beginning of the conceptual understanding of the first number-words and what role language can play in developing the notion of numbers. To that end, 2 1/2- and 3 1/2-year-old Basque and Spanish monolingual children's (N = 131) basic numeracy skills are analysed by means of two different experimental procedures: "Give-N"…

In this paper, we focus on Finnish pre-service elementary teachers' (N = 269) and upper secondary students' (N = 1,434) understanding of division. In the questionnaire, we used the following non-standard division problem: "We know that 498:6 = 83. How could you conclude from this relationship (without using long-division algorithm) what 491:6…

The aim of this study is to investigate the efficiency of cooperative learning on preschoolers' verbal mathematics problem-solving abilities and to present the observational findings of the related processes and the teachers' perspectives about the application of the program. Two experimental groups and one control group participated in the study.…