EDF2034 Assignment 2, Penelope Kalogeropoulos 1

Alexandra Wicks (26011565)

EDF2034 Assignment Two: Case Study
IMPLEMENTATION OF PHYSICAL RESOURCE:
Context of Implementation:
The implementation of the physical resource unifix blocks, was also observed
in the home environment of four and a half year old Kates house. Kate
currently attends a four year old kindergarten three days a week and spends
the rest of her time at home. Kate is the middle child in her family, with an
older brother in grade two and a younger sister, aged two. The
implementation of the unifix blocks resource was performed in the lounge
room at Kates house.
Description of Implementation:
I was very open ended with the approach to the implementation of the use of
unifix blocks. I began the activity by putting the unifix blocks on the table and
asked Kate, What do you want to do? Kate responded, Lets build different
coloured castles! She then proceeded to sort the unifix blocks into colour
groups and made a castle out of each colour. While Kate was building the
castles, I asked her How many different colours were there? She pointed at
each colour, One, two, three, four, five! There are five different colours!
While Kate built the blue castle, I asked her, How many levels are there on
the tower? She counted how many blocks were used to make the castle by
pointing at each block. She answered Six! I then asked Kate How many
blocks were used to build the red castle? Kate answered, There are five red
blocks! I then joined the red and blue castle together and asked Kate, How
many blocks are there now? Kate then pointed to each block as she counted
and answered One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
ELEVEN! There are eleven blocks! I then responded, So, six plus five
equals? Kate just looked at me confused. I re worded my sentence and said,
So, six blocks and five blocks makes? Kate responded Eleven!
Analysis:
During this activity it was observed that Kate has the ability to count from one
to ten in the correct order. Being able to count in the correct sequence is
known as The stable order principle. This is when children begin to realise
that the counting sequence stays consistent and does not change (Knaus,
2013). Kate also had a strong understanding of the order of the numbers one
to ten, counting the total number of red and blue unifix cubes with ease and
without hesitation. It was observed that Kate was able to count with one-toone correspondence when each object being counted is given one count and
only one count by matching a counting word to an object (Knaus, 2013, p.
36). This was seen when Kate counted the red and blue castles as she
pointed to each individual cube when saying each individual number. Kate
was also aware that the last number in a count represents the answer of the
total of objects counted. This understanding is known as the cardinal principle
(Knaus, 2013). Kates understanding of the cardinal principle was observed
when Kate was counting the total of red and blue unifix cubes, shouting the
total number of cubes One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,

ELEVEN! There are eleven blocks!. It was interesting that the first thing Kate
wanted to do with the blocks was sort them into colour order. As objects are
sorted, children are learning about grouping and classifying, which are
important skills for number and algebra (Knaus, 2013, p. 10).
During this observation, I asked Kate, How many blocks are there? as I
joined the blue and red castles together. I asked this question to check
whether Kate understood the beginning concepts of addition. Kate was able to
successfully count the two castles to find the total number of unifix cubes.
This is known as a join problem when quantities are physically being brought
together (Van de Walle, Lovin, Karp & Williams, 2013). When I worded what
Kate found in addition terms of five plus six equals? Kate became confused
and didnt understand the wording I had chosen. This showed that Kate
understood how to find the answer of an addition question when the objects
were present but was confused by particular addition wording.
In relation to the Early Years Learning Framework, this activity focused on
Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners (Department of
Education, Employment and Workplace [DEEW], 2009). In relation to the
foundation level of the Australian Curriculum, this activity focused on the
strand number and algebra, sub strand of number and place value focusing
on representing practical situation to model addition and connecting number
names, numerals and quantities (Australian Curriculum and Reporting
Authority [ACARA], 2015). I used the Numeracy Matrix to link the Early Years
Learning Framework and the Australian Curriculum to this activity Outcome 4:
Children are confident and involved learners and Number and Algebra.
What opportunities do we provide for each child to accept new challenges,
make new discoveries and celebrate effort and achievement? (Perry, Dockett,
Harley, 2012, p. 165). Within this activity I made the play experience very
open ended with how the unifix cubes resource were implemented into Kates
play. Kate had the opportunity to make her own decisions on how she wanted
to play with the blocks and I worked with these ideas to pull out mathematical
concepts within her play. Within this, I challenged Kate to add the two castles
together, to begin introducing the concept of addition within the play situation.
Recommendations:
The mathematical potential of Unifix blocks that I spoke about in assignment
one, was correct for this activity as the implementation provided a practical
situation for addition (ACARA, 2015). However, this implementation did not
meet the full mathematical potential that I spoke about in assignment one as
my approach to implementing this resource with Kate was more open ended
than the activity I explained in assignment one. In assignment one, I spoke
about students being able to connect written numerals to quantities of unifix
blocks. This section of the mathematical potential was not met as I chose for
Kate to lead the play situation in which I implemented the resource and this
section was not present in the play situation. I would recommend using unifix
cubes again but next time I would like to implement the planned mathematical
experience I spoke about in assignment one. I would also have more structure
towards the implementation of the activity and not be as open to play
situations.

EDF2034 Assignment 2, Penelope Kalogeropoulos 3

Alexandra Wicks (26011565)
The recommendations I would make for Kate to extend her current knowledge
of number and addition would be to continue to participate in activities that
include join problems of addition and to introduce new language relating to
addition into Kates vocabulary it was observed that Kate is beginning to
understand concepts of addition. This recommendation focuses on the
foundation year curriculum section of represent practical situations to model
addition (ACARA, 2015).
IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOURCE ICT RESOURCE:
Context of Implementation:
The implementation of the information and communication technology
resource of Number balloons was observed in the home environment of
three year old Lilys house. Lily is three years old and currently attends a three
year old kindergarten, two days a week and spends the rest of her time at
home. Lily is the oldest child in her family, with a younger sister aged two. The
online game Number balloons was implemented on the home computer at
Lilys house.
Description of Implementation:
The information and communication technology resource of online computer
game, Number balloons was implemented at Lilys house. I began the
implementation of this resource by explaining to Lily how to play the game
demonstrated how to pop the balloons by selecting the number from the
bottom of the screen to the corresponding number on the balloon. Once I had
finished demonstrating how to play the game, it was Lilys turn to play
Number balloons, When Lily first began to try and pop the balloons, she was
verbally saying the numbers that she was trying to pop. Lily began to try and
pop the balloons but was forgetting the key step of selecting the
corresponding number from the bottom of the screen to pop the balloons. I
reminded Lily of this step and said to her, Dont forget to press the matching
number at the bottom. Once I reminded Lily of this step she began to
successfully pop the balloons. As Lily was trying to press the numbers to pop
the balloons, she continually pressed the wrong side of the computer mouse
and kept saying, I cant do it! I showed Lily that she was pressing the wrong
side of the mouse and camly said to her, You can do it you are just pressing
the wrong button! When Lily was popping the balloons, I would ask her
Which balloon are you going to pop next? Lily would respond, yelling the
numbers out correctly. When Lily was trying to pop the balloon with the
number nine on it, she pressed the number six on the bottom of the screen
and then tried to pop the number nine balloon. When the balloon didnt pop, I
asked Lily, Why didnt the balloon pop? She responded I forgot it was
number nine. I thought it was six! Lily then proceeded to correct her error and
popped the balloon successfully. Lily successfully popped all the balloons and
verbalised all of the numbers that she popped by yelling out each number, for
example, I popped number five!
Analysis:

During the implementation of this ICT activity, it was observed that Lily has the
ability to visually recognise the number symbols of one to ten and verbalise
what the numbers are. This was shown when Lily was verbally saying which
numbers she was aiming to pop as she was playing the computer game. This
activity showed that Lily has a strong understanding and ability to recognise
single digit numbers one to ten. During this activity Lily practised the skill of
matching. This is an important skill for one-to-one correspondence (Knaus,
2013). Lily was able to successfully match all of the numbers to pop the
balloons in the game.
At the beginning of this activity, it was observed that Lily had trouble using the
computer mouse. This is one issue that occurred using the ICT resource as I
assumed that Lily had the previous experience of using a computer. As an
educator I need to be more aware of the childs previous experience with
technology. Not all children will have prior experience with technological
products and processes. Consider childrens home experience with
technologies and how that may influence the technological learning provided
(Knaus, 2013, p. 91).
In relation to the Early Years Learning Framework, this ICT resource focuses
on Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners and Outcome 5:
Children are effective communicators. The Numeracy Matrix Outcome 4 was
met in this activity, What opportunities do we provide for each child to accept
new challenges, make new discoveries and celebrate effort and
achievement? (Perry et al, 2012, p.165). During this, activity I allowed for Lily
to experiment by trial and error to pop the balloons. This was demonstrated
when Lily got confused with the numbers 9 and 6 but fixed her error. This
activity also uses positive reinforcement when the child matches numbers
correctly (through the popping of the balloon when a answer is correct). Lily
had the opportunity to be challenged and try the domino version of this
game, but chose not to. Outcome 5 of the Early Years Learning Framework
and Numeracy Matrix, How do we encourage children to talk about and
represent their findings? (Perry et al, 2012, p.166), In this activity Lily was
encouraged to talk about what she was doing and how she knew which
balloon to pop. Lily only played the game once but if she had played it multiple
times, we would have had conversations about the reduction in the time it
took to complete the game each time and how this meant she was improving
her matching and number recognition skills.
Recommendations:
The mathematical potential of the computer game, Number balloons that I
spoke about in assignment one was correct as Lily was able to practise the
skill of matching and reading numbers one to ten, in the pop the digits
section of this game. I would recommend using this ICT resource again as it
tests each childs understanding of numbers, one to ten.
The recommendations I would make for Lily, is to next time try the second
section of the computer game and see if she is able to subitiise the dots
presented on the balloons to successfully pop the spots on the balloon. This
will allow for Lily to practice linking numerals to quantities of single digit

EDF2034 Assignment 2, Penelope Kalogeropoulos 5

Alexandra Wicks (26011565)
numbers. It will also strengthen Lilys understanding of quanties of numbers.
This is an essential skill to develop before learning addition and subtraction.
This recommendation would meet the Foundation year of the Australian
Curriculum through strengthening the skills to subitise small collections of
objects and connect number names, numerals and quantities (ACARA,
2015).
References:
Australian Curriculum, Assessment And Reporting Authority. (2015).
Foundation to Year 10 Curriculum: Mathematics. Retrieved from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace. (2009). The Early
Years Learning Framework for Australia: Being, Belonging & Becoming.
Retrieved from https://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/families-andchildren/publications-articles/belonging-being-becoming-the-early-yearslearning-framework-for-australia
Marianne Knaus. (2013). Maths is all around you: Developing mathematical
concepts in the early years. Teaching Solutions.
Perry, B., Dockett, S., & Harley, E. (2012). The early years learning framework
for Australia and the Australian curriculummathematics: linking
educators practice through pedagogical inquiry questions. Engaging the
Australian curriculum mathematics: perspectives from the field, 153-174.
Van de Walle, J. A., Lovin, L. A. H., Karp, K. H., & Williams, J. M. B. (2013).
Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate
Instruction for Grades Pre K-2 (Vol. 1). Pearson Higher Ed.