In both the Birth to 5 Matters and Development Matters they make explicit reference to mark making: I would argue that varied opportunities need to include opportunities for children to record their thoughts and reasoning through mark making. It does however state that: “By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding, children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built.”
The new statutory Early Years framework for mathematics doesn’t explicitly mention mark making or recording. Like all areas of development, children’s mark making is an essential skill that we must learn because mark making can be refined and developed into writing and drawing, both of which are a way of recording our explorations, thoughts, and interpretations about the world around us. No, I don’t feel we encourage or appreciate the importance of pictures in mathematics and yes, this is necessary. (For more about developing mathematical play, see my previous blog, Let’s talk about play.) But do we give young children enough time, space and encouragement to develop the pictorial aspect of CPA and is this necessary? With our younger pupils, it is also important that the children get time to explore and play with a wide range of resources. See Rachel Rayner’s blog, The CPA approach, to find out more. I am a great believer in the importance of using Bruner’s Concrete, Pictorial, Abstract approach to support the conceptual development of mathematics with pupils of all ages.
Do we encourage young children to draw pictures when engaging with the CPA approach? Are these pictures important?