FULL REFERENCE: Duarte, N.G., da Ponte, J.P.M, and Pinto, H.G. (2026). Classifying in Early Childhood Education. NZ-International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 28(1), 53-68.
ABSTRACT: This study investigates how kindergarten children develop reasoning involving the classification process within exploratory learning tasks. Using a qualitative case-study, the research followed an experienced kindergarten teacher and eight children aged five during a teaching investigation conducted in a Portuguese kindergarten. Data was collected through video-recorded observations and analysed using content analysis focused on classification as a process of mathematical reasoning. The findings indicate that children can identify attributes, proposing and revising classification criteria, when engaged in inquiry-based tasks. Pedagogical questioning emerged as a key mediating factor in sustaining engagement and deepening children’s reasoning. The study highlights the importance of integrating exploratory mathematical tasks into early childhood education to support the development of reasoning from an early age.
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KEY WORDS: Mathematics, reasoning, questioning, classifying, colour, size, shape, inquiry-based, learning engagement, thinking.
INTRODUCTION
Early childhood is an important period for the development of mathematical reasoning. Between the ages of three and six, children naturally explore patterns, relationships, and structures in their environment, forming the basis for later mathematical learning. Research emphasises that reasoning processes such as classifying, generalising, and justifying are as important as the acquisition of specific mathematical concepts (Butera et al., 2014; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics [NCTM], 2000). In kindergarten education, mathematics learning occurs primarily through concrete, playful, and socially mediated experiences. Engagement in exploratory tasks supports not only cognitive development but also communication, creativity, and positive dispositions toward mathematics (Baroody, 2017; Sarama & Clements, 2009). In this context, classification is a foundational process through which children organise objects and ideas based on shared attributes, progressively coordinating multiple criteria.
While seminal theoretical perspectives, such as those of Piaget and Vygotsky, continue to provide important foundations for understanding children’s cognitive development, recent research has emphasised the need to revisit these perspectives in light of contemporary views on early mathematical learning. Current studies highlight that young children are capable of engaging in complex forms of reasoning when supported by rich, inquiry-based environments that promote exploration, discussion, and reflection (Alsina, 2014; Baroody, 2017; Clements & Sarama, 2008). In particular, there is increasing recognition that mathematical reasoning in early childhood should be understood as a socially mediated and context-dependent process, emerging through interaction with tasks, peers, and teachers (Brodie, 2010; Jeannotte & Kieran, 2017).
This study aims to investigate how kindergarten children express and develop mathematical reasoning involving classification, when engaged in exploratory tasks. The research addresses the following question: How is the classification process characterised in children’s task-solving?
