Svanhild Breive

• Breive, Svanhild & Carlsen, Martin (2025). Re-interpreting children’s initiatives in mathematical inquiry processes as distributed agency over human and non-human agents. Educational Studies in Mathematics. ISSN 0013-1954. doi: 10.1007/s10649-025-10462-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The point of departure for this article was our interest in how processes of mathematical inquiry (MI) unfold in kindergarten contexts, and their relations to play. In this study, we are scrutinising one specific aspect of mathematical inquiry, that is children’s initiatives when they participate in playful and inquiry-based mathematical activities in a Norwegian kindergarten context. The aim of this study is thus to scrutinize what characterises those events where mathematical initiatives seem to arise from a child. We consider the seeming initiatives as signs of freedom, eagerness and/or willingness, i.e., signs of agency. We draw on de Freitas and Sinclair’s (2014) inclusive materialist perspective to study embodied and material dimensions of the children’s mathematics learning processes. We, accordingly, conceptualise agency as a relational force that emerges from activity and is distributed between human and non-human agents. The analyses of videotaped and transcribed kindergarten events reveal, we argue, that the observed eagerness and willingness are emerging from the learning process, rather than being prerequisites initiating learning. The mathematical aesthetic serves as an essential force in the learning assemblages where disruption between what the children sense (perceive) and what is expected or accepted to sense seems to be an essential driving force for the further exploration. This has important implications for teaching. Kindergarten teachers may prompt MI by setting up mathematically conspicuous cruxes in the environment. That is, to establish opportunities for differences, paradoxes, etc. to emerge in mathematical activities.

• Breive, Svanhild (2022). Lekende matematikk og matematisert lek. In Breive, Svanhild; Eik, Liv Torunn & Sanne, Line (Ed.), Lekende læring og lærende lek i begynneropplæringen. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245033595. p. 121–145. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2022). Abstraction and embodiment: exploring the process of grasping a general. Educational Studies in Mathematics. ISSN 0013-1954. 110, p. 313–329. doi: 10.1007/s10649-021-10137-x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper reports from a case study which explores kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction in a teaching–learning activity about reflection symmetry. From a dialectical perspective, abstraction is here conceived as a process, as a genuine part of human activity, where the learner establishes “a point of view from which the concrete can be seen as meaningfully related” (van Oers & Poland Mathematics Education Research Journal, 19(2), 10–22, 2007, p. 13–14). A cultural-historical semiotic perspective to embodiment is used to explore the characteristics of kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction. In the selected segment, two 5-year-old boys explore the concept of reflection symmetry using a doll pram. In the activity, the two boys first point to concrete features of the sensory manifold, then one of the boys’ awareness gradually moves to the imagined and finally to grasping a general and establishing a new point of view. The findings illustrate the essential role of gestures, bodily actions, and rhythm, in conjunction with spoken words, in the two boys’ gradual process of grasping a general. The study advances our knowledge about the nature of mathematical abstraction and challenges the traditional view on abstraction as a sort of decontextualised higher order thinking. This study argues that abstraction is not a matter of going from the concrete to the abstract, rather it is an emergent and context-bound process, as a genuine part of children’s concrete embodied activities.

• Breive, Svanhild; Goos, Merrilyn & Monaghan, John David (2022). Interpreting a kindergarten episode through three perspectives on agency. For the Learning of Mathematics. ISSN 0228-0671. 42(1), p. 25–30. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper takes a ‘networking of theories’ approach to understand the complexity of the phenomenon of agency. We examine an episode, where a kindergarten teacher and nine children work on an addition problem, from three different perspectives: Valsiner’s zone theory; Radford’s theory of objectification; and Pickering’s dance of agency. Our networking of these approaches offers a way of thinking about agency as ‘forces’ that emerge through activity and operate on human actions. We end the paper by indicating that ethics, as a human relation, may be a catalyst for bringing out the potential that lies in the other agentic forces.

• Breive, Svanhild (2022). Matematisk problemløsning, lek og kroppslig tenkning. In Breive, Svanhild; Eik, Liv Torunn & Sanne, Line (Ed.), Lekende læring og lærende lek i begynneropplæringen. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245033595. p. 149–168. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Eik, Liv Torunn; Sanne, Line & Skalstad, Ingunn (2022). Rom for lek? Om å skape et fleksibelt fysisk miljø inne og ute på skolen. In Breive, Svanhild; Eik, Liv Torunn & Sanne, Line (Ed.), Lekende læring og lærende lek i begynneropplæringen. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245033595. p. 195–233. Full text in Research Archive
• Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Solli, Ingeborg Caroline Foldøy; Kalil, Ariel; M., McClelland Megan & Braak, Dieuwer Ten [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2021). The Effects of a Structured Curriculum on Preschool Effectiveness A Field Experiment. The Journal of human resources. ISSN 0022-166X. 59(2), p. 576–603. doi: 10.3368/jhr.0220-10749R3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract: This study tests an intervention that introduces a structured curriculum for five-year-olds into the universal preschool context of Norway, where the business as usual is an unstructured curriculum. We conduct a field experiment with 691 five-year-olds in 71 preschools and measure treatment impacts on children’s development in mathematics, language, and executive functioning. The nine-month intervention has effects on child development at post-intervention and the effects persist one year following the end of the treatment. The effects are mainly driven by the preschools identified as low-quality at baseline, indicating that a structured curriculum can reduce inequality in early childhood learning environments.

• Carlsen, Martin & Breive, Svanhild (2021). The nature of mathematical inquiry amongst kindergarten children: more than questioning and verbalisations. In Nortvedt, Guri A.; Buchholtz, Nils; Fauskanger, Janne; Hreinsdottir, Freyja; Hähkioniemi, Marcus; Jessen, Britta Eyrich; Kurvits, J.; Liljekvist, Yvonne; Misfeldt, Morten; Naalsund, Margrethe; Nilsen, Hans Kristian; Palsdottir, Gudbjørg; Portaankorva-Koivisto, Päivi; Radišić, Jelena & Werneberg, A. (Ed.), Bringing Nordic mathematics education into the future : Preceedings of Norma 20 : The ninth Nordic conference on mathematics education Oslo, 2021. SMDF, Swedish Society for Research in Mathematics Education. ISSN 9789198402438. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This volume presents Nordic mathematics education research, which will be presented at the Ninth Nordic Conference on Mathematics Education, NORMA 20, in Oslo, Norway, in June 2021. The theme of NORMA 20 regards what it takes or means to bring Nordic mathematics education into the future, highlighting that mathematics education is continuous and represents stability just as much as change.

• Breive, Svanhild (2020). Student–teacher dialectic in the co-creation of a zone of proximal development: an example from kindergarten mathematics. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal. ISSN 1350-293X. 28(3). doi: 10.1080/1350293X.2020.1755498. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2020). The Materialisation of Children’s Mathematical Thinking Through Organisation of Turn-Taking in Small Group Interactions in Kindergarten. In Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (Ed.), Mathematics education in the early years : Results from the POEM4 conference, 2018. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783030347758. p. 281–299. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-34776-5_17. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Kindergarten teachers’ orchestration of mathematical learning activities: the balance between freedom and structure. In Jankvist, Uffe Thomas; Heuvel-Panhuizen, Marja Van den & Veldhuis, Michiel (Ed.), Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. ISSN 9789073346758. p. 2241–2248. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Engaging children in mathematical discourse: a kindergarten teacher's multimodal participation. NOMAD – Nordisk matematikkdidaktikk. ISSN 1104-2176. 24(2), p. 49–67. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2018). Designing playful inquiry-based mathematical learning activities for kindergarten. In Benz, Christiane; Steinweg, Anna S; Gasteiger, Hedwig; Schöner, Priska; Vollmuth, Helene & Zöllner, Johanna (Ed.), Mathematics education in the early years. Results from the POEM3 conference 2016. Springer Publishing Company. ISSN 9783319782201. p. 181–205. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-78220-1_10. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2017). Kindergarten children’s argumentation in reflection symmetry: The role of semiotic means. In Dooley, Thérèse & Gueudet, Ghislaine (Ed.), Proceedings of the Tenth Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME 10). European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. ISSN 9781873769737. p. 1837–1844. Full text in Research Archive

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• Størksen, Ingunn; Braak, Dieuwer ten; Breive, Svanhild; Lenes, Ragnhild; Lunde, Svanaug & Carlsen, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2024). Lekbasert læring - ressursbok for barnehage, skole og SFO. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202833763. 223 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Eik, Liv Torunn & Sanne, Line (2022). Lekende læring og lærende lek i begynneropplæringen. Fagbokforlaget. ISBN 9788245033595. 235 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Størksen, Ingunn; Braak, Dieuwer ten; Breive, Svanhild; Lenes, Ragnhild; Lunde, Svanaug & Carlsen, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2020). Legebaseret læring: et forskningsbaseret førskoleoplæg. Akademisk Forlag, Danmark. ISBN 9788723541338. 232 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Alle børn skal have de bedste forudsætninger for at starte i skole. Det er derfor vigtigt at stimulere de områder, som baner vejen for en vellykket skolestart. Legebaseret læring er udviklet med netop dette formål. Materialet bygger på den nyeste internationale forskning inden for tidlig stimulering af sociale kompetencer, selvregulering, sprogudvikling og matematisk forståelse, og det indeholder et væld af aktiviteter, som understøtter børns udvikling inden for disse områder. Med Legebaseret læring får du helt konkrete anvisninger til, hvordan du kan understøtte læring gennem leg. Materialet rummer også ideer til, hvordan du kan sammensætte aktiviteter til sammenhængende forløb, udforme dagsplaner, årshjul mv. Legebaseret læring er udviklet og afprøvet i et tæt samarbejde mellem forskere og pædagoger fra mere end 80 daginstitutioner.

• Størksen, Ingunn; Braak, Dieuwer ten; Breive, Svanhild; Lenes, Ragnhild; Lunde, Svanaug & Carlsen, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2019). Lekbaserat Lärande. Bonnierförlagen Lära. ISBN 9789178230594. 208 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Størksen, Ingunn; Braak, Dieuwer ten; Breive, Svanhild; Lenes, Ragnhild; Lunde, Svanaug & Carlsen, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2018). Lekbasert læring - et forskningsbasert førskoleopplegg fra Agderprosjektet. Aschehoug & Co. ISBN 9788249219636. 231 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Størksen, Ingunn; Braak, Dieuwer Ten; Breive, Svanhild; Lenes, Ragnhild; Lunde, Svanaug & Carlsen, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2016). Lekbasert læring i barnehagen - Et forskningsbasert førskoleopplegg fra Agderprosjektet. Aschehoug & Co. ISBN 9788249218523. 227 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Forlag: GAN Aschehoug, H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard) AS

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• Breive, Svanhild (2026). Leik og læring av matematikk i begynneropplæringa. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild & Knutsen, Kristoffer Heggelund (2026). Hva kjennertegner god begynneropplæring i matematikk? Del 2. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild & Knutsen, Kristoffer Heggelund (2026). Hva kjennetegner god begynneropplæring i matematikk? Del 1. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2024). Leik og matematikk i barnehage og skule. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2021). Kroppens rolle i matematikklæring. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Kindergarten teachers’ orchestration of mathematical learning activities: the balance between freedom and structure. Full text in Research Archive
• Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Solli, Ingeborg Caroline Foldøy; Kalil, Ariel; McClelland, Megan & Braak, Dieuwer ten [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2019). Promoting Child Development in a Universal Preschool System: A Field Experiment. CESifo Working Papers. ISSN 1617-9595. p. 1–41. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Tension between free and structured play, agency and constraint, inquiry and teaching: Conceptions of the child in early childhood education. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Processes of mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Processes of mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Lekbasert læring. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Processes of mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2018). Agderprosjektet. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2018). Matematikk og inquiry i barnehagen. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2018). Organisation of children’s turn-taking in small group interactions in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Solli, Ingeborg Foldøy; Kalil, Ariel; McClelland, Megan & Lenes, Ragnhild [Show all 11 contributors for this article] (2018). Effects of Childcare Quality on Child Development in a Generous Welfare State. Full text in Research Archive
• Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Solli, Ingeborg Foldøy; Kalil, Ariel; McClelland, Megan & Lenes, Ragnhild [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2018). Effects of Childcare Quality on Child Development in a Generous Welfare State. Full text in Research Archive
• Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Solli, Ingeborg Foldøy; Lenes, Ragnhild; Braak, Dieuwer ten & Breive, Svanhild [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2018). Effects of Childcare Quality on Child Development in a Generous Welfare State. Full text in Research Archive
• Solli, Ingeborg Foldøy; Rege, Mari; Størksen, Ingunn; Kalil, Ariel; McClelland, Megan & Lenes, Ragnhild [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2018). Effects of Childcare Quality on Child Development in a Generous Welfare State. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2017). Talk on the theory of Luis Radford and implications for research on mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2017). Matematikk og Inquiry i barnehagen. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2017). The Agder Project and mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2017). Kindergarten children’s argumentation in reflection symmetry: The role of semiotic means. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2016). The nature of mathematical inquiry in the kindergarten setting. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2016). Designing playful inquiry based mathematical activities for kindergarten. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Lek og utforskning i matematikk i barnehagen - Arbeid med inquiry i barnehager i Vest-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Tall og telling. Arbeid med tallbegrepet i barnehager i Aust-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Tall og telling. Arbeid med tallbegrepet i barnehager i Vest-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Lek og utforskning i matematikk i barnehagen - Arbeid med inquiry i barnehager i Aust-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Matematikkaktiviteter og deres implementering i barnehager i Aust-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild; Carlsen, Martin; Erfjord, Ingvald & Hundeland, Per Sigurd (2015). Matematikkaktiviteter og deres implementering i barnehager i Vest-Agder. Full text in Research Archive
• Breive, Svanhild (2019). Processes of mathematical inquiry in kindergarten. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788271179281. Full text in Research Archive

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