Publication date
An organic beginning
Young Minds Big Maths began in October 2020 in a relatively unconventional way. Kathryn and Sarah from Houghton Community Nursery School (HCNS) contacted Rachel, a mathematician at Durham University (and a nursery parent), because they felt less confident in identifying and extending mathematical learning within play.
At HCNS, staff strive to listen to every child’s unique voice and to support them in their own enquiries and curiosities. They do this by exploring the children’s ideas in an open way as co-researchers, naturally touching on all areas of the EYFS curriculum—and more besides. When it came to maths, however, staff found it less instinctive to recognise mathematical concepts in children’s play or to build on those explorations. They often remained within familiar mathematical territory or shifted focus to other areas of play. They felt that collaborating with mathematicians could help build their confidence and enhance their approach to supporting mathematical learning.
A first meeting
Kathryn, Sarah, Rachel and a group of other mathematicians from Durham University decided to meet online before the start of term to discuss how they might explore maths through the planned focus of Patterns in Nature. The mathematicians prepared by identifying possible areas of mathematics connected to the topic, and the group discussed these ideas for an hour.
The range of ideas was vast: symmetry in snowflakes and flowers, shapes that enable flight or falling, data about rainfall or temperature, spirals and the Fibonacci sequence in sunflowers, categorising natural objects by their properties, and many more.
As the children began exploring patterns in nature, they became fascinated by an area we hadn’t even mentioned—concentric circles!
It seemed to us that the collaboration could have real value, and so we decided to meet every half term.
Establishing a pattern
The rhythm of meeting every six to eight weeks enabled us to be more responsive to the children’s evolving interests. Kathryn and Sarah sent regular updates about what particularly engaged the children, and the mathematicians reflected on the mathematical thinking visible in these updates, drawing connections to mathematical ideas.
To our amazement, the fascination with concentric circles continued for most of the first year, producing some astounding examples of mathematical thinking. We saw children debating the precise definition of concentric circles, exploring the differences between concentric circles and spirals, and experimenting with ways to find the exact centre of a circle. We wrote this up in a paper for Mathematical Thinking and Learning, and a shorter article for Mathematics Teaching.
Through regular discussions, early years educators developed greater confidence in recognising and scaffolding mathematical explorations, thoughtfully extending children’s learning with purposeful questions and carefully chosen materials.
After two years, we decided to open this up to more settings, and in October 2022 eleven new early years settings joined Young Minds Big Maths. We recruited lots more mathematicians, including some undergraduate students, so that we could meet in smaller groups.
Initially we were nervous about whether YMBM would ‘take off’ with this wider cohort. Would we be able to recreate the magic of the first two years? Thankfully, this collaborative, child-led way of working continued to work well. Educators from the new settings later told us
“YMBM has helped enthuse staff and children about maths. It has given me many new and excellent ideas to incorporate into our provision and maths teaching.”
“Participating in YMBM has shown us that children are able to understand and retain mathematical knowledge way beyond the small remit that the EYFS curriculum outlines. …. The children have had a vibrant mathematical education this year thanks to participating in the project.”
Why does YMBM work?
Young Minds Big Maths has surprised us (perhaps especially the mathematicians) by making an impression on the early years practitioners. At the time, it simply felt like we were doing what made sense, but it has turned out to be a fresh and innovative model for professional development. So what makes YMBM work?
Experts working together
In the YMBM model, everyone plays to their strengths. The mathematicians are adept at noticing mathematical thinking in the observations shared by practitioners and connecting it to broader mathematical ideas. However, they are not experts in working directly with young children—that is the educators’ domain.
The early years educators, meanwhile, are skilled observers. They recognise when to step in with a resource or question, how to introduce new ideas, and how to use their relationships with children to tailor their approach.
This non-overlapping expertise means that there is a general feeling of equality and collaboration in the meetings. Everyone’s skills and knowledge are needed, and neither group could do the job of the other.
The drip-drip-drip effect
When young children encounter a new idea, they need time—time to process, reflect, and make sense of it in their own way. Because educators work with the children day-in, day-out, they can facilitate learning over a long timescale. They might revisit an idea weeks later, or allow a child to return to the same resource every day to pursue their enquiries. Once a new resource has been added to the environment it is not removed for the remainder of the school year. This allows children to really understand a concept, develop a skill and ultimately become a more confident mathematician.
As children’s focus shifts, the mathematicians continue to notice mathematical thinking and make connections to new concepts. The regular discussions equip educators to enrich these explorations at the right pace.
Ramp play: the next big thing
If the first year of YMBM was all about circles, the next became the year of the ramp. Making objects move quickly is inherently exciting, and throughout 2021–22, ramp play was a constant feature at HCNS. As new settings joined, we continued to see children across the cohort spending long periods building and experimenting with ramps.
This gave us scope to talk about a wonderful range of mathematical ideas. So much of the time, the children were instinctively thinking mathematically about their ramps already: wondering what happens if they change the slope of the ramp, thinking about how to make objects roll faster (and how to quantify this) and comparing different ramp set ups. The YMBM meetings enabled us to identify and extend this mathematical thinking so that their ramp play was enriched, without diverting them from their natural playful curiosity.
Angles
We spent time thinking about the angles the ramp makes with the ground and with the support: exploring what angles are, and where else we see them; thinking about what happens if we change the angle (if we adjust the slope of the ramp). Educators were able to introduce terms like right angle and acute, and the children started to use these while talking about their ramps in their play.
Introducing variables
Thinking about the speed of the object introduced ideas around mathematical modelling, which led us to think about the different variables involved. You can think of variables as a set of numbers that summarise the situation. The angle of the ramp is one of these, but you could also include the length of the ramp, the weight of the object and so on. These variables all interact to determine how fast the object rolls, and the children loved exploring this idea.
Working with data
Although the concept of speed is exciting, it’s hard to measure (even for grown-ups) – everything happens very quickly, and it’s difficult to make a judgement of which thing went faster, especially if they’re rolling at different times. It’s easier (though not exactly equivalent) to measure how far the object travels along the ground. This idea really grabbed the children, and we saw many fantastic examples of data collection and handling.
The children show an instinctive understanding of measurement, even though their methods are often somewhat unorthodox. A girl measures distance with her shoes, but stops another child from using their shoe since it’s not the same showing a fundamental grasp of units of measurement. Two boys work together to make sure their measurement, made using a short home-made ruler, is accurate. Some children mark the floor itself, creating ranking systems for distance.
The Ramp Play booklet
What we’ve described is just a tiny excerpt of the ramp play explorations that took place, but it was agreed that this combination of expertise from EY educators and mathematicians was special. Since ramp play was such a common and mathematically rich activity, we chose this as the topic for our first book.
You can download Ramp Play (for free) or order copies (at the cost of P&P) from:
🎧 Hear us delve deeper into this topic by listening to the podcast episode
See the YouTube video below ⬇️ or click on the link at the top of this article
Key takeaways
- Insight from mathematicians and expertise from EY educators can combine to give young children a rich mathematical education.
- Children are instinctive mathematical thinkers, and the YMBM project equips educators to support and enrich their thinking.
- Ramp play is an area rich in mathematics, as our ramp play booklet
Critical considerations
- Why not try building a simple ramp and leaving it for your child to play with? Step back and see what changes they make, or what actions they repeat. What questions seem to be interesting them? Perhaps step in with a question or a new resource if it seems appropriate.
- What other areas of play do you see children engage in in this deep, exploratory way? Do any of the ideas relating to ramps translate to these areas?
Explainer
- Variable: a number (usually) that describes some aspect of a situation. In a ramp play context this could be the length or height of the ramp, for example.
- Mathematical model: a way of using variables (see above) to estimate something we want to know. In the ramp play booklet we use the example of a satnav using variables like distance, speed limit, traffic and mode of transport to estimate the time a journey will take.
Watch the full podcast episode
About the authors
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