Guided Mathematical Discovery in Early Childhood Education

Teaching aimed at discovering mathematics is not a new methodological solution, albeit still unpopular in modern educational practice. Lessons built on this approach are wholly focused on pupils’ actions. Through working on problems, the learners discover laws and rules of mathematics, relationships and dependencies between mathematical objects and formulate mathematical concepts. The proposed method is characterised by the reversal of active roles between lesson participants. The pupils are the ones more engaged, while teachers accompany them in the learning process. The construction of this paper leads the reader through three chapters, focusing consecutively on children’s cognitive abilities and different views on their development, the act of discovering mathematics itself, and finally on a description of teaching methods that favour children’s discoveries. Besides the theoretical basis of teaching aimed at discovering mathematics, the paper lays down advantages and disadvantages of the practice that appear in the subject’s literature. It also proposes a construction of a lesson in this method, illustrated with examples of mathematical classes for pupils in primary education.