ABSTRACT
What is the study of shape and space? Shape and space is the area of mathematics that will develop as geometry in later schooling. Haylock and Cockburn observe that many adults do not see a relationship between the study of shape and space, or geometry, and the study of number. However, the two basic ideas in the study of shape are classifi cation which is a form of equivalence and changing shape which is a form of transformation, so that ‘the fundamental notions of transformation and equivalence are common to understanding both number and shape, and it is this that makes these two into a unifi ed subject’ (2008: 179). Studies of children’s mathematical achievements have shown that young children who understand shape and space concepts are better at arithmetic as well as geometry in later years (Assel et al. 2003; Sarama and Clements 2009).
