Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/assessing-mathmatical-learning-observing-and-listening-to-children/5015147/
"Donnie, come show Miss Nita how good you are at numbers!" Donnie's parents smiled broadly in expectation as their four-year-old son took a deep breath and began an addition recitation in a sing-song voice, "One plus one is two. Two plus two is four. Three plus three is six. Four plus four is eight . . . . " Young Donnie continued the addition fact recitation with very little error until he ended triumphantly with "Ten plus ten is funny!" The listening adults all laughed appreciatively; however, their perceptions of Donnie's mathematical learning were very different. Donnie's parents had taught their son to recite the basic facts after listening and memorizing a song. Miss Nita, on the other hand, wondered how much Donnie understood about the words he had memorized and later, while playing store, discovered that his concept of numbers was quite incomplete.The assessment of young children's mathematical learning has become increasingly more important over the past few years. Because of a consensus from researchers and practitioners that early childhood is a critical period for school readiness, early childhood educators believe that mathematics learning is essential. When those beliefs are combined with the new accountability standards for national ...