Identifying opportunities for grade one children to acquire foundational number sense : Developing a framework for cross cultural classroom analyses

• It is known that an appropriately developedfoundational number sense (FONS), or the ability tooperate flexibly with number and quantity, is a powerfulpredictor of young children’s later mathematical achievement.However, until now not only has FONS been definitionallyelusive but instruments for identifyingopportunities for children to acquire its various componentshave been missing from the classroom observationtools available. In this paper, drawing on a constant comparisonanalysis of appropriate literature, we outline thedevelopment of an eight dimensional FONS framework.We then show, by applying this framework to three culturallydiverse European grade one lessons, one English,one Hungarian and one Swedish, that it is both straightforwardlyoperationalised and amenable to cross culturalanalyses of classroom practice. Some implications arediscussed.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Matematik -- Annan matematik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Mathematics -- Other Mathematics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Grade one mathematics

Number sense

Cross-cultural studies

Number competence

Mathematics instruction

matematikämnets didaktik

Mathematics Education

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

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