The Worrying Consistency of Young Children's Mathematical and Social Positioning Across Three Years of Schooling

• In Event: 66.080 - Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: 66.080-10 - Possibilities and Vulnerabilities in Early Childhood Education STEM

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of young children’s social and mathematical positioning over three years. The research team videotaped the mathematical experiences of a cohort of children as they moved from prekindergarten to first grade and focused their analysis on the mathematical opportunities to learn and the relational interactions between the teachers and children in each of the three classrooms, highlighting the experiences of three focal children. The study found that while the three classroom teachers differed in significant ways, the focal children in the study were positioned in similar ways in each of the three classrooms, resulting in consistently reduced opportunities to engage with mathematics through the primary grades for two of the focal children.

Authors

• Amy Noelle Parks, Michigan State University

• Chang Liu, University of Georgia - Athens

• Rachel Monette, University of Georgia