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Episode 255: In this standing-room-only live session, Kieran explores why learning to count is far more complex than simply reciting “one, two, three”. Drawing on classic work from Piaget and Gellman & Gallistel, alongside more recent research on subitising and early number, he unpacks the web of ideas that sit behind apparently simple counting routines.
Across the episode, Kieran traces a trajectory from basic discrimination of quantity and subitising, through one-to-one correspondence and stable order, into cardinality, abstraction and order irrelevance. Using concrete examples from classrooms, he shows how layout, structure and language can either support or derail learners as they move from “just saying numbers” to genuinely understanding number.
By the end of the episode, you will have a clearer sense of:
why some students can chant numbers yet still fail to conserve quantity
how subitising connects to later calculation and problem solving
what it really means to secure the principles of counting
what matters most for learners with the greatest needs
If you teach early number, lead mathematics, or design curriculum, this episode will help you see counting not as a quick hurdle in the early years, but as a rich domain that deserves your most skilled teaching.