Fostering Responsiveness in Early Mathematics Learning

From a co-constructive perspective, interactions between adults and children are key variables for learning processes, especially in early childhood. The following paper focuses on such interactions that emerge in ‘mathematical situations of play and exploration’ in German kindergartens. These mathematical situations are conducted by adults who are specially trained in so-called ‘design patterns of mathematical situations’. The paper examines within this context the extent to which interactions carried out by such trained adults are characterized by a high degree of adaptive moves by the adult and a high degree of interactional responsiveness. For this purpose, the construct of responsiveness is presented and two scenes from a German kindergarten are analyzed. Finally, the empirical findings of the paper draw initial conclusions for a professional development concept for preschool teachers based on the determined ‘patterns’.