How can parents and elementary school teachers promote resilience in young children through mathematical conversations?

ABSTRACT

This manuscript elaborates on the construct of mathematical resilience and the importance of engaging children in mathematically rich conversations from the earliest age. We begin with a review of the existing literature addressing these issues. Since little has been written thus far on how exactly the early childhood facilitators, such as parents and pre- or elementary school teachers, could support the growth of these competences in young children, we give examples of several everyday life situations and a mathematical puzzle that can be used for the purpose of enhancing mathematical discussions with young children. We argue that mathematical richness can be extracted from seemingly ordinary situations and give some practical hints on how parents and pre- and elementary school teachers could make a use of them in order to foster (not only mathematical) resilience in young children.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematical resilience
• resilience
• communication skills
• mathematical conversations

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Barbara Pieronkiewicz works at the Institute of Mathematics. Her research interests include transgressions in mathematical education and prospective teachers’ subject-specific knowledge.

Monika Szczygieł works at the Chair of Psychology. Her research interests focus on predictors of mathematical achievements of children at early school age.

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of the article was supported by the National Science Centre [Poland; grant number 2015/19/N/HS6/00791].