THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE CONCRETE–PICTORIAL–ABSTRACT (CPA) APPROACH IN EARLY MATHEMATICS EDUCATION: INTEGRATING PIAGETIAN, VYGOTSKIAN, BRUNERIAN, AND MONTESSORI PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Pioneering CPA in support of young children’s mathematical understanding comes out of the need to create opportunities for children to connect their learning to real-life experiences and to develop their cognition in the process. CPA has been widely adopted in the field and talked about in the literature in the different contexts as a teaching framework that guides young learners moving from real-life learning to pictorial representations in the end and to abstract forms of teaching and learning. In this paper, I have analyzed the different theories of the founders of the most popular teaching approaches and learning philosophies from the perspective of CPA. I have analyzed CPA from the perspective of four most popular teaching and learning philosophies. These are Piaget’s constructive learning, Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning, Bruner’s learning through representation, and Montessori’s leaning through experiences, and I will elaborate on the main points of these theories and show how CPA is used to strengthen and develop mathematical thinking in young children. This paper will demonstrate how CPA in early childhood mathematics education is based on established theory and further develop the use of mathematical thinking in young children and strengthen their problem-solving skills.