Pointing to ‘that’: Deixis and shared intentionality in young children’s collaborative group work

I have had an interest in children's mathematical learning in collaborative group work since my career as an elementary school teacher and later as a researcher into the development of exploratory talk. Following ideas from exploratory talk studies (e.g., Mercer, Wegerif & Dawes, 1999), I have worked with teachers in encouraging young children to engage critically and constructively in solving mathematical problems. Research has suggested that exploratory talk impacts positively on achievement in mathematics (Mercer & Sams, 2006), but I was still keen to explore the relationship between learning and talk, particularly with young children.