Commenting on this drawing, Kyran said‘ she’s got funny hands!’

Developing from the ‘generational structures’ that John Matthews identified (1999), children are influenced by signs that have strong visual impact and distinct cultural uses in their culture. They make choices and decisions about the symbols they use to encode and communicate specific meanings and some of these become signs that others understand and accept.

It appears that some of the most powerful signs that young children use include zigzags, crosses and arrows.

Other examples include children who used crosses to represent an aeroplane; to emphasize ‘No! Keep out!’; to signify ‘shop closed’; to identify someone who has lost in a ball game; as kisses on a birthday card and to signify items on a shopping list.

In communicating mathematical ideas, individuals used crosses to identify peers’ choices (data handling); to cross out items (denoting subtraction) and later as an addition sign. This flexibly also supports understanding of standard abstract signs such as ‘x’ (as a letter and as a multiplication sign); letter ‘T’ and ‘t’ and the numeral ‘4’.

Kyran - making meanings with marks: explorations with symbols

See also: Gallery 4: CM Graphics of Past Months and Gallery 5: Beginnings in Play