Exploring Children’s Grasp of Addition: The Big Impact of Small Changes

Abstract

For some decades there has been interest in how children’s mathematical thinking changes and develops over time. Studies have shown that analysis of children’s talk can provide helpful insights into how they learn mathematics. This study explored young children’s thinking in addition-focused activities. In particular, coming from the commognitive standpoint, the research focused on the observable similarities and differences in children’s discursive activity after subtle changes in the task situation. The study analysed the communication of two children in lessons that had comparable task situations. The commognitive apparatus was employed to make sense of the children's discursive routines, with attention to process-oriented (ritualistic) and outcome-oriented (explorative) aspects. Overall the findings show that subtle changes in a task situation can produce qualitative differences in young children’s communication. Additionally, subtle changes in task situations can also produce socially motivated actions even in children who objectify numbers. I argue that to encourage student participation and learning, teachers may need to take into account multiple aspects of task design. This study contributes to commognitive research conceptualising learning as a movement from ritualistic routines to explorative routines by providing empirical evidence that objectification and bondedness are distinct and the presence of one does not guarantee the presence of the other.