Collective memorying of kindergarten through the logic of children

Abstract

In this interactional ethnographic study of first grade children's interactions during mathematics, we demonstrate how children created a common understanding of “kindergarten” despite their different experiences of kindergarten during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on concepts of language games and collective memory, we make visible how a collective memory of Kindergarten first grade children co-constructed with their peers, became a resource for solving mathematics problems. We center the voices and actions of the children to uncover the nuanced complexities of children's ways of knowing and doing mathematics. In tracing the logic of the children, we reconceptualize collective memory as collective memorying - a process-oriented action. We conclude with an invitation for future research foregrounding children's ways of knowing.