A Little More on Number

This is Ritchiel, the author of our second and final entry on chapter 3, and her sisters. She said, "This picture was taken in the Philippines. I believe I was six years old." She explained that she wishes she had more pictures, but her mom told her that most of them are still in the Philippines. Her second oldest sister, Cherry Ann, is on the far left; Lorely, the oldest, is in the middle; Raciel, the third oldest, is on the far right; and Ritchiel is "last, but not least." Enjoy reading Ritchiel's take on what Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff had to say in chapter 3.

The authors did an amazing job in this chapter describing how toddlers learn how to do addition and subtraction. As soon as I began reading the passage, I realized how children learn differently and that much of the time, they will not give the right answer.

In the beginning of the passage, Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff told a little story about a mother who was reading the newspaper and discovered that, “infants can perform addition and subtraction” (p. 38). As soon as I read the passage, I read it again just to make sure I read it right, and I did. I stopped and thought, how can an infant learn to do addition and subtraction at such a young age? How is it even possible for them to process that in their brain when they’re barely learning how to suck their thumb or their bottles? When you think about it, it would be good if it were true that an infant can perform at such a young age. Of course we all want our children to be smart and give them the best path to succeed in their education (I don‘t have children yet), because if we don’t we’re the ones to blame.

As the chapter continues, it begins discussing the results from some research, and some ideas for helping children learn how addition and subtraction work. Studies show that children can learn how to do addition and subtraction. Professor Janellen Huttenlocher did a study with toddlers, and it was a success. The same success occurred when she did her studies on monkeys. I thought it was a brilliant idea to use an object instead of using flash cards to show a child how the equation works. But, I still disagree with Professor Janellen Huttenlocher’s research, because I do believe that children tend to memorize a word, such as three, as the “name” for everything, and would do the same with color. For instance, a child might think “red” is the name for all colors. The child needs to learn through experience that three don’t mean that every item is going to be three.

I began reflecting on my former job as a preschool teacher three years ago. The first time I started working at the preschool, I was very surprised that children who were 5 and/or about to start kindergarten must learn their ABC’s, numbers to 30, shapes, sight words, and must know how to write their name. I felt really bad for the children, because they were loaded with a ton of homework and they’re not even in grade school. It seemed to me like they were not given the time and space to enjoy their childhood. It seemed to me like they skipped the childhood stage and jumped into the adult stage. When I was in preschool in the Philippines, I remember just playing a lot and of course learning my ABC’s, numbers, etc. As a child, I learned by playing. I’ve never seen children put under pressure as much as I saw it while working at the preschool for three years. Preschool should be fun for children, which is the way I remember it. You can always combine learning and playing at the same time. Hirsh- Pasek and Golinkoff wrote that, “Children learn much better through play” (p.58). I think this is the most important part of learning.

Reading this passage has made me realize more about how children are put under pressure to learn. I think it’s great that school has high standards for their students because it will benefit them later as they go on with their schooling. But you can’t forget that children are still children, they’re not robots. Children cannot program themselves to learn something in a second once the teacher explains it once. Children need different objects to manipulate, so the children will have a better understanding of what is happening. Also children need to learn to communicate with their peers or others, and their motor skills needs to be practiced as well. Make learning fun for children. Throw in some fun activities that you could do with them; in that way you will meet your goal as a teacher, and of course your children will be having fun and not stressing out about learning new things.