Young Children Reinvent Arithmetic: Implications of Piaget's Theory

If you are looking for a better way to teach children math in the early grades, you must read this book. In Young Children Reinvent Arithmetric, Professor Constance Kamii takes you on a journey of discovery as she works with teacher Georgia DeClark in her first grade classroom. Together they work through the first grade math curriculum finding games and real life situations that will assist students in developing the mathematical thinking skills that underlie the curriculum goals. The book begins with background information on Piaget's Theory of number, demonstrating how children develop logical-mathematical thinking by interacting with the world and each other. In Part Two the goals and objectives of the curriculum are explained. In Part Three the activities used to teach the children are explained in great detail so that teachers will understand how to use them in their own classrooms. In Part 4 The teacher tells her story. Part Five provides the program evaluation with the research and testing that was done. The children in DeClark's classroom are compared to children in a classroom using traditional teaching methods. Constance Kamii has been transforming the Constructivist Theory of the origins of thinking by Jean Piaget into practical activities for teaching for decades. Her work is so important in these days of standardized testing and NCLB. Nancy Illing author of SPARKS Ignite Imagination

It's helpful to have at least a passing acquaintance with Jean Piaget's theories before reading this book, but it's not necessary. Kamii shows in so many many ways that the thought life of young children is different from our own. Not only should this be required reading for all Kindergarten through second grade teachers, but also for those politicians and political pundits whose back to basics (and did we ever really leave the basics?) approach to curriculum simply makes life miserable for these poor kids. (because what they think are the basics aren't really the true basics of thought)One interesting aspect of the book is that it was in part co-written with a primary school teacher who tries out some of Kamii's ideas in her own classroom. She is initially skeptical that Kamii knows what she's talking about, but later realizes the truth of it when confronted with the evidence of her own senses.After you read this book, you'll never see a kid do a problem like 5 + 1 or 16 + 7 with the same eyes again.

I am a Kindergarten teacher and would recommend this book to teachers and parents looking for a good resource to teach children number concepts. Kamii not only discusses number concepts and problem solving, she also gives lots of easy to make games to make learning these things fun. Wonderful book!