Integers in Kindergarten - Yes They Can!
Years ago, my family and I were taking a leisurely hike in Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca Mountains near Sierra Vista, Arizona. There were benches for resting placed periodically along the trail through the canyon.
On the way down, my son Tommy, then 5 years old, noticed the benches were numbered. So he proudly proclaimed each number as we made our way back to the trail head.
“5 …. 4…… 3 …...2…….1.”
After the number one bench, we encountered another—Tommy correctly announced “Zero.” I was somewhat impressed that he realized that zero came after one while counting backwards, but chalked it up to having a math teacher for a mom.
Then there was yet another unnumbered bench! After musing why they had stopped numbering the benches and deciding that, perhaps, these benches were added after the previous ones had been numbered, Tommy said, “Well I guess that makes this bench negative one.”
I was shocked! How did my five year old son already have an understanding of integers on a number line—a topic my 7th grade students were struggling with?
So I asked him.
His answer was simple, “Cyberchase, Mommy.”
Cyberchase is a PBS cartoon focused on problem solving skills and basic math. The main characters, 3 children named Matt, Jackie, and Inez, are brought into a digital world to help fix the ruler, Motherboard, and stop Hacker from taking over Cyberspace.
This adventure leads the kids to different Cybersites, planet-like locations patterned after real world places and time periods, where they thwart Hacker’s sidekicks, Buzz and Delete, with the help of a “cybird” named Digit.
The episode that taught Tommy about negative numbers is titled “Less Than Zero” and, as of this writing, can be found on your local PBS website and YouTube. After watching “Less Than Zero” on PBS, I purchased the VHS tape to show my 7th grade students (as you can tell, this was a number of years ago). I figured if my 5 year old could have an understanding of negative integers after watching, perhaps this is what my struggling students needed as well.
Two revelations came out of this experience:
Vertical number lines are important to aid in a student's understanding of integers. In “Less Than Zero,” the kids are trying to locate the council in a high-rise building numbering each floor as they go up and down in a window washer. There are some below ground level, zero, to get to the negative numbers. The show relates the situation to a ruler being held vertically. Read more about vertical number lines in this post.
When given the opportunity and correct context, children at younger than expected ages can understand a variety of seemingly difficult math concepts. See more on how to expose young children to challenging math in this post.
So YES!
Kindergartners can understand negative numbers.
Check out my latest game, HUNCH. Each card includes a vertical number line with positive and negative numbers.
Get the latest blog post and subscriber only discounts delivered right to your in box.
