Different learning possibilities from the same activity—Swedish preschool teachers’ enactment of a number relation activity.

The study investigates various aspects of how the number activity called ‘The Snake Game’ was implemented in a Swedish kindergarten, seen in light of variation theory. The research questions were: 1) What learning aspects are constituted through the snake game activity? 2) What are the different learning opportunities about part-whole relationships offered in the activity?

The results showed that the kindergarten teachers carried out the same activity in different ways, even though they had planned it together. Some taught the children numbers using finger gestures and pictures, which helped the children understand numbers and how they are put together. The study also shows that it is important to learn mathematics in a structured way. Some of the kindergarten teachers varied their teaching, which helped the children better understand mathematical principles.

Nine kindergarten teachers, in a kindergarten in a major city in Sweden, worked in collaboration with a research team, where they carried out the same activity, ‘The Snake Game’, with groups of five-year-old children (65 children in total) over a period of three months. A total of 67 video recordings were made, and variation theory forms the basis for the analysis of the recordings.

Ekdahl, A. L. (2021). “Different learning possibilities from the same activity—Swedish preschool teachers’ enactment of a number relation activity”. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 65(4):601-614.