Provoking mathematical thinking - putting on our mathematics lenses

A provocation stimulates children's interest, imagination and engagement. The concept of the provocation comes from the constructivist and socio-constructivist theories of the Reggio Emilia approach to education. This inquiry-based philosophy emerged from post-war Italy based on the need for a progressive and democratic approach to teaching and learning. As part of this approach, children are encouraged to explore their environment and express themselves in many ways: expressive, communicative, symbolic, cognitive, ethical, metaphorical, logical, imaginative, and relational (Reggio Children, 2010, p. 4). The celebration of such knowledge systems, ways of understanding and expression of ideas is reflected in the '100 languages' poem by Loris Malaguzzi, the Italian teacher and guiding principal of the Reggio Emilia philosophy and its ensuing educational community. These 'languages' fit well with an emphasis on multimodality and its potential to reveal children's understanding (Macmillan, 2009).

Provocations focus on children's wonderings.  Adults and knowledgable others observe children immersed in such experiences, facilitating with challenging questions and group inquiries to deepen understanding of the phenomena (Edwards et al., 2012). The environment is acknowledged in this process, providing important potential for complex thinking. 

This is a great place for us to start this section.

Putting on our mathematics lenses

We are building a range of scenarios, they are summarised below in the numbered sections. These link to an explication of learning opportunities and sequences driven by putting on our mathematics lenses, allowing us to delve deeply and naturally into important mathematical concepts. These scenarios incorporate the mathematical processes of noticing and wondering, questioning, communicating, reasoning, reflecting and hypothesising. They connect to the Australian Early Years Learning Framework2.0 (AGDE, 2022) outcomes and planning cycle.