FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

SEMESTER JANUARY 2011

HBMT 2203 : TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN YEAR THREE

NAME : LIM HONG SHYUAN

MATRICULATION NO : 810211-10-5166-002
IDENTITY CARD NO. : 810211-10-5166
TELEPHONE NO. : 012-6702545
E-MAIL : lim_shyuan@gmail.com
LEARNING CENTRE : SHAH ALAM LEARNING CENTRE

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Philosophy and Purpose

Historically, the relationship between 'play' and 'school learning' has not been well
recognized. In fact, the 1983 Webster's Dictionary defines 'play' as 'moving aimlessly about.'
Learning, on the other hand has been equated with words like 'drill' and 'work'-workbooks,
drill sheets, worksheets and homework. More recently, a rationale of incorporating play into
the classroom has evolved as research findings have shown that children benefit from
creative teachings as they learn while they play.

1.2 Overview

This assignment focuses on the use of play as a natural and effective means for
expanding the learning opportunities in Mathematics for the children in Year Three. The first
part of the content includes the detailed descriptions on two teaching activities which
illustrate the use of play to teach mathematical concepts and skills in any of the two
mathematics Year 3 topics. Themes, resources and props are carefully selected to ensure that
the topics are taught in a meaningful and stimulating context as it employs the philosophy of
"learning through play." The second part of the content will highlight the benefits of learning
mathematics through play and the possible experiences which the pupils will encounter
through the play. The final part of this assignment will be the conclusion where this paper is
summarized.

1.3 Defining Play

Although most professionals speak about play as though it were a single entity, play
has been defined and theorized in many different ways. For instance, Fromberg (1992)
suggests that play is characterized by thinking and activity that is symbolic, meaningful,
active, pleasurable, voluntary, rule-governed and episodic. Bateson (1972) suggests that play
is evident when participants frame events, through attitude, pretence, vocalization and other
meta-communicative cues. On the other hand, Piaget defined play as a natural and inherent
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characteristic of individuals across cultures, asserting that children respond spontaneously to
game-like activities (de Menlendez & V. Osterbag, 1997). These examples illustrate the
diversity of views on how play is defined. In essence, play could be viewed in its broadest
sense as describing almost all the activities that young children engage in. This literature
suggests that there is no standard definition for play, and that most of the behaviours and
activities young children engage in can be termed as play by one theorist or another.

1.4 DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLAY

Children engage in different types of play that have potentially different for learning
and development. Among the typical play in children classroom are shown as below:

• Dramatic play. This is a type of play where the child is involved in make-believe or
imaginative situations. They may wish to play house, doctor, office, bank, or
restaurant. This play is important in the development of a child because it teaches
about real life situations and problem solving. It also teaches social interactions and
behaviors. The child is able to express him/herself in a different role, which allows
him/her to release pinned –in emotions. During dramatic play, children may act out
things they have experienced such as happy moments, sad moments, fears or
anxieties.

• Role-playing refers to the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either

unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the
Oxford English Dictionary defines role-playing as "the changing of one's behaviour
to fulfill a social role.”

• Small World Play is a type of imaginative play, which enables children to be creative
and spontaneous in dramatic as well as mundane life situations which interest them. It
is closely related to puppet play and story-telling. This type of play is similar to role
play put different in that the child creates the small world and transfer their thoughts

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 and feelings onto the objects. The thoughts and feelings then belong to the object not
to the child.
• Constructive Play involves building and making things creatively. As children fiddle
with, sort and arrange materials, ideas and imaginations begin to flow. Questions will
arise naturally: "What will happen if I put it here? How tall will it go? Where did the
bubble come from?" Through all these, constructive play serves to focus the minds of
children through their fingertips and leads them to invent and discover new
possibilities, to fulfill their sense of purpose.

1.5 WHY PLAY?

Play is one of the most powerful, motivating contexts for mathematics learning. It is
undoubtedly enjoyable for children due to the freedom it facilitates, the sense of ownership it
promotes, and the self-esteem it encourages. Through play, children can repeat, rehearse and
refine skills, displaying what they do know and practicing what they are beginning to
understand. Some theories of play stated that it had particular impact on the learning of
mathematics.

According to Piaget's Constructivist Theory ( cited in Lindon, 2001), active learning,

first-hand experience and motivation are the catalysts for cognitive development. Learning
develops through clearly defined ages and stages—a continuum from functional play, through
symbolic play to play-with-rules. Vigotsky (1978), unlike Piaget, emphasizes the significance
of social interaction, in particular the use of language, which assist learning and development.
He believed that by playing with others, children can learn in meaningful and motivating
social contexts.

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2.0 CONTENT

2.1 ACTIVITY 1: MONEY

Children receive and spend money at early ages. By school age, many children would
have experience the use of money in their daily life, for instance, buying food from the school
canteen during recess. As children grow, they learn the value of each coin and bill. By the
time these children enter Year Three, they know how to do simple manipulation of the
'ringgit' and 'sen'. Nevertheless, some of the children encounter difficulties when bigger sum
of money is involved. Therefore, the objective of this activity is to engage pupils in real life
situations where money up to RM100 is involved. Hopefully, the fun and simulating
experience that the pupils gain from this activity help them to develop useful everyday skill.

Theme : Dramatic Play / Role Play

Scene Setting : Before the play, pupils set up a small departmental store in the corner
of the classroom with the help of the teacher.
Topic : Money
Subtopic : Solving Story Problems in Real Life Situations for Money Up To
RM 100
Learning Outcome : Pupils will be able to solve daily problems involving money up to
RM 100
Materials :
• Various notes and coins of Malaysian Ringgit (play money)

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 • Toy cash register

• Manipulative / real objects with price tags ( some examples as below)

Procedure:

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 i. Divide the class into groups of four.
ii. Each group will consist of 4 different roles, for example mother, son, daughter
and cashier.
iii. Each role will be given a mixture of coins and notes to the amount of RM100.
iv. Pupils who act as customer can use their money to buy things they want.
v. After choosing the things they want to buy, they need to complete Form A to
find out the total sum of purchase and to ensure that the total amount spent
does not exceed RM 100. The example will be shown below:

Form A
No. Items Price (RM)
1 Faber Pen RM 39.90
2 Dictionary RM 55.80
Total Sum RM 95.70

vi. The customer will then pay at cash register.

vii. The pupil who act as the cashier will complete Form B to ensure that the
change given is of the correct amount. The example is shown below:

Form B
No. Items Price (RM) Change
1 Faber Pen RM 39.90 Paid by RM 100.00
2 Dictionary RM 55.80 Total Sum of RM 95.70
Purchase
Total Sum RM 95.70 Difference RM 4.30

vii. Customer will check whether the change given is correct. If it is not correct,
the cashier will have to recalculate again.
viii. Teacher summarizes the lesson on solving daily problems involving different
combinations of notes and coins.

2.2 ACTIVITY 2: DIVISION

Teaching division to young children can be a challenging task. Traditionally, children

first learned multiplication by memorizing the time-tables before hopping on to the topic of
division. This is because division is the inverse of multiplication. However, some children

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might find it hard to grasp the concept of division. Thus, this activity is designed to help
pupils understand the concept of sharing equally in the topic of division.

Theme : Small World Play

Scene Setting: Five good friends prepare food for a birthday party.
Topic : Division
Subtopic : Division as Sharing Equally
Learning Outcome: Pupils will be able to describe division as sharing equally and to write
relevant division sentences.
Materials :
• Plastic plates / trays
• Manipulative objects
• Story cards
• Finger puppets

Procedure:
i. Divide pupils into groups of five.
ii. Each pupil in the group represents a puppet character and they can name the puppets
according to their liking. For example:

STORY CARD STORY CARD

iii. Each group is given a pack of story cards. Each character will be assigned to a card.
An example is shown below:
There are 12 cupcakes on the
tray. Share the cupcakes with
6 people. How many
cupcakes can each person
get?

Division sentence:
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÷ =
(FRONT) (BACK)
 iv. Pupils will then act out each story with the given manipulative objects according to
the character and complete the division sentence. For example, pupils who act as
"Lion" will model the story with the toy cupcakes as below:

12 cupcakes share equally among 6 person:

v. After each group has completed the task, teacher checks the answers.
vi. Teacher summarizes the lesson on division as equal distribution or equal sharing.

3.0 THE IMPACT OF PLAY TO PUPILS' LEARNING AND POSSIBLE

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 EXPERIENCES ENCOUNTER THROUGH PLAY

3.1 Activity 1 – Learning To Solve Money Problems through Dramatic Play

In order to enhance pupils' understanding to the topic of money and help them to
make connections to real life situations, I have incorporated dramatic play into the lesson. In
dramatic play, children break through the restrictions of reality. They pretend to be someone
or something different from themselves and make up situations and actions that go along with
the role they are given. When children engage in dramatic play, they deepen their
understanding and develop skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.

According to Charles (2002), dramatic play gives children the opportunity to

• Express themselves
• Explore language freely
• Explore feelings and find out about themselves and others
• Develop co-operation, care, consideration and control
• Exercise choice and make decisions
• Use mathematical language and develop mathematical concepts
• Develop a range of motor skills
• Explore a fantasy world of their own creation

In Activity 1, pupils are given the chance to role play different characters and act out
their specified task. Through this play, pupils explore various mathematical concepts related
to money and solve problem through imaginative play, e.g. how much money will I need for
this item? How many cups will I need for the family? Indirectly, they will learn to estimate,
count and predict.

Besides, one of the possible experiences which might be encountered by pupils during
the play activity is that they are able to play in a familiar environment (e.g. departmental
store) and adopt a role that reflects own experience, for instance, mummy, daddy, boy, girl,
etc. They are also given a chance to exploring roles and feelings. Subsequently, they are able
to progress and act in role from wider experience. Children have to be able to pretend to be

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someone or something else and mimic typical behaviors and verbal expressions. At a
beginning level of role-play, children simply imitate one or two actions of familiar people.
On an advanced level, children think of many different actions relevant to their chosen role
and expand the types of roles they play.

On the other hand, children also benefits through dramatic play by developing
manipulative skills in construction of props. Before the play, children are required to set up
the scene with appropriate props and materials. This encourages the pupils to decorate the
play area by choosing and making own props.

3.2 Activity 2 – Learning Division as Equal Sharing Through Small-World

Play

The environment plays a crucial role in a child's learning. It is important that

the teacher creates an environment rich in exciting opportunities for mathematical
activity. Therefore, I have chosen Small-World Play to boost pupils' interest and
motivation in learning the topic of division. This type of play provides a specific type
of role-play that allows children to engage in imaginary play on a miniature scale.
Play people such as finger puppets and mini manipulative objects are used in the
lesson to enable them to visualize the situations.

Small-World Play is beneficial to children's learning as it encourages them to

talk and listen when they play together. It also allows children to create stories around
things they know and fantasize experiences that they have not had before.
Furthermore, it promotes improvisation and the appropriate use of language including
fantasy language. Moreover, it permits children to communicate feelings in a safe way
and also exchange ideas among each other.

Additionally, Small-World Play also promotes personal, social and emotional

development. Through the play, children develop self-expression through
manipulating small pieces of equipment, e.g. finger puppets, in a variety way. They
tend to be more confident at developing ideas using small world resources, for
instance, mini toy cupcakes.
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4.0 CONCLUSION

The road to learning math is pitted with potholes full of students who could not grasp
the connecting links between math concepts. One reason for these students failing to
understand math was being peppered with concepts, similar to a pitching machine throwing
baseballs to a batter. The batter misses the first ball and while trying to discover why the first
ball was missed after swinging the bat, two more balls whiz by the batter's bat. Now this
student is becoming overwhelmed and lost.

The key to teaching math so that students internalize and transfer their knowledge is
to make learning math personal. No matter how many worksheets students complete, they
will never make the connection between math concepts until it is concrete and relates to their
personal environment. Math needs to be real and not just a set of numbers or endless
problems to calculate. Personal math allows students to link concepts as whole and not a lot
of independent ideas with no connection.

Thus, play is an essential component of the education curriculum. It allows children to

learn in a naturalistic setting while providing the teacher with unlimited teachable moments.
Through the integration of teacher-directed and child-initiated instructional approaches, the
teacher is able to provide the children with opportunities to master skills in all development
domains. However, these goals can only accomplished through the careful planning and
arrangement of the learning materials in the classroom as well as though ongoing evaluation
to ensure that the changing needs of all children are met.

Last but not least, teacher plays a vital role in preparing the environment for
mathematics learning in a fun and simulating way. Effective teachers will carefully plan and
design the lesson to meet the children's needs in learning mathematics. The teacher's overall
goal is to provide guidance and instructions in a safe, stimulating environment which
encourages children to question, create, explore, discover, organize, and express feelings and
ideas without the fear of failure.
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 ( Total: 2513 words )

REFERENCE

Bailey, C. M. (2006). Learning through play and fantasy, EC 1297E, Corvallis, OR Oregon
State University.

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Bodrova, E. & Leong D. (2005), The importance of play, why children need to play. Early
Childhood Today, 20 (3), 6-7.

Ginsburg, K. R. (2007). The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and
maintaining strong parent-child bond, Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics,
pg 183-185.

Isenberg, Packer, J. and Quisenberry, N. (2002) Play Essential for All Children, A Position
Paper of the Association for Childhood Education International, Retrieved from
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-93348877.html March 1, 2011.

Shipley, Dale. Empowering Children Play-Based Curriculum for Lifelong Learning, Second
Ed. Canada: International Thomas Publishing, 1998.

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