Preschoolers’ reasoning about numbers in picture books

The purpose of this study is to broaden the understanding of the opportunities children have to ponder over and learn about numbers through reading picture books. The research questions are: 1) How does the content of picture books direct children’s attention towards numbers in the book? 2) What kind of numerical reasoning does reading books entail?

The results show that when the kindergarten teacher took the initiative to talk about the numbers and the mathematical aspect, the children followed up and made their own observations. When the teacher took the initiative, twice as many children drew parallels with the mathematical aspect. The study shows that the use of picture books to promote mathematical awareness among children is not very effective, unless the kindergarten teacher initiates conversations about numbers during the reading session. When the kindergarten teacher took the initiative, a process of synchronous and diachronic experiences was initiated in the child.

In this study, 19 children aged three to five and three kindergarten teachers participated. The method is an educational design research study. The observation involved filming individual reading sessions. The picture book was read aloud to each child individually. Firstly, the kindergarten teacher should not hint at or guide the child to the mathematical aspect of the book. When they read the book again, this was done in a more educationally oriented manner, where the kindergarten teacher talked about what happened in the book. This became a natural approach to the mathematical aspect. The book that was read was designed specifically for this study, with the intention of promoting mathematical awareness.

Björklund, C. & Palmér, H. (2020). «Preschoolers’ reasoning about numbers in picture books». Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 22(3):195-213.