A brief history of teaching math to children shows that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young children were not considered as cognitively capable of understanding mathematical thinking. Considered as incompetent, it was generally accepted that no mathematics should be introduced to children before second grade.
A shift in this thinking happened in the 1960’s, when more developmental psychology research by Piaget explored children’s cognitive abilities before they entered elementary school. Children were now seen as mathematically curious, actively thinking “mathematically” by interacting with their physical and social surroundings. However, it was still widely accepted that children could not think abstractly or logically until about age seven. This greatly influenced and set the tone on how and when American children are introduced to mathematical thinking and instruction. Basically, the researchers stated that young children couldn’t benefit from early instruction.
Towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, a new radical and revolutionary set of research findings surfaced. The focus has shifted from what children cannot do to what they can and are already doing naturally, intuitively and spontaneously: thinking mathematically.
Much research is being done on early home interactions (or lack of), their link to future academic success in mathematical thinking, differences in socio-economic environments, political implications (state educational standards), economic implications (one’s ability to be more marketable in the national and international workforce stage ), and professional (professional development and current teacher’s hesitancy to accept and apply research findings in the classroom--and the importance of this knowledge in preservice teacher training) and especially the growing market of picture books.
The picture book cycle starts with the author/illustrator, on to the publisher/editor, then to professional book reviewers, bookstores, libraries and schools, and into the hands of children via teachers, librarians, caretakers and parents and family/friends.
Unfortunately, hardly any part of this cycle has kept up with recent research findings from Early Childhood Mathematical Education (ECME). When assessing picture books, it takes a trained eye to critically spot problematic, limiting, inaccurate or misleading information in picture books, especially in those on shapes.
References
Hachley, A. (2013). The Early childhood mathematics education revolution. Early Education and Development, 24, 419-430.
Hachley, A. (2015). Introduction to the special issue on Early Childhood Mathematics Education. Early Education and Development, 26. 315-318.