Books

Interestingly, as adults we often don’t recognize that any time we are dealing with measurement, we actually rely on a great deal of mathematical thinking. We are so used to the chain of reasoning involved that we overlook how complex a process it actually is for young children. For example, as natural as it is for us to express measurements in numbers of standard units such as inches or pounds, young children often aren’t ready for the kind of abstract thinking that gives such units meaning. Instead, their conviction that one thing is “bigger” or “biggest” is quite likely to depend on perception – if it looks bigger, it must be bigger. Books and activities related to them are a great way to pick apart such abstract ideas as “bigger” and other measurement concepts related to them.

Copyright: Erikson Institute’s Early Math Collaborative. Reprinted from Big Ideas of Early Mathematics: What Teachers of Young Children Need to Know (2014), Pearson Education.