Children, Mathematics, and Videotape: Using Multimodal Analysis to Bring Bodies Into Early Childhood Research

• In Event: Documenting and Researching Early Childhood Practices

Abstract

Despite increased use of video for data collection, most research in early childhood education relies upon the analysis of linguistic data, ignoring children’s bodies. This trend is particularly troubling in studies of marginalized children because transcripts limited to language can make it difficult to analyze embodied power relations between majority researchers and minority children. This proposal responds to this problem by outlining a theoretical position recognizing bodies as a source of knowing, describing multimodal analysis strategies, and using these strategies to analyze a mathematical assessment interview with a preschool child. This study found that representing data in multiple modes allowed researchers to consider silences and embodied resistances as data and allowed researchers to make richer judgments about children’s mathematical knowledge.

Authors

• Amy Noelle Parks, University of Georgia

• Mardi Schmeichel, University of Georgia