Through discussions with Thomas’s Mother, who liaised with his teacher, length was the chosen attribute to focus on. This was evident throughout the interview process as Thomas showed misconceptions throughout.
Building an understanding of length for Thomas, required the tutoring to start with comparisons and the need for activities surrounding perceptual, direct and indirect comparisons (Reys et al., 2012, p. 406). Thomas was asked to compare household items. He was reasonably successful, however, he did compare the height of the TV to the length of the TV cabinet, stating that the TV was bigger. When prompted to assess the height of both he was able to successfully recognise that comparing the height to height and width to width was important. Reys et al. (2012, p. 407) emphasises that developing the attribute as long, short, wide etc. produces a deeper understanding of length. Discussing the language and comparing further objects to ensure the same unit of length is compared, produced a better grasp of the concept for Thomas. Booker et al. (2014a) reiterates the use of correct language and children often pick this up quickly and shifts their …show more content…
Thomas was asked to measure some household items with things from the messy box. At first he grabbed several different things to measure the TV remote. He made sure he only used the one type of unit. When prompted why he chose the same unit, he explained that he wanted to get the same items to measure with. Again he was asked why that is needed and his response was “I guess so they are more correct” which underpins his understanding that a unit must remain constant (Reys et al., 2012, p. 412). He was able to use the constant unit through several different household items, although he didn’t vary a lot to what unit he used, nor did he choose the smallest possible unit. Using the smallest unit allows for a greater accurate measure (Reys et al., 2012, p.
Building an understanding of length for Thomas, required the tutoring to start with comparisons and the need for activities surrounding perceptual, direct and indirect comparisons (Reys et al., 2012, p. 406). Thomas was asked to compare household items. He was reasonably successful, however, he did compare the height of the TV to the length of the TV cabinet, stating that the TV was bigger. When prompted to assess the height of both he was able to successfully recognise that comparing the height to height and width to width was important. Reys et al. (2012, p. 407) emphasises that developing the attribute as long, short, wide etc. produces a deeper understanding of length. Discussing the language and comparing further objects to ensure the same unit of length is compared, produced a better grasp of the concept for Thomas. Booker et al. (2014a) reiterates the use of correct language and children often pick this up quickly and shifts their …show more content…
Thomas was asked to measure some household items with things from the messy box. At first he grabbed several different things to measure the TV remote. He made sure he only used the one type of unit. When prompted why he chose the same unit, he explained that he wanted to get the same items to measure with. Again he was asked why that is needed and his response was “I guess so they are more correct” which underpins his understanding that a unit must remain constant (Reys et al., 2012, p. 412). He was able to use the constant unit through several different household items, although he didn’t vary a lot to what unit he used, nor did he choose the smallest possible unit. Using the smallest unit allows for a greater accurate measure (Reys et al., 2012, p.