If a quarter crashes, so it dies: Children's meaning making in mathematics lessons

In this chapter, we present extracts from two classrooms in Denmark and New Zealand and discuss how the children made sense of mathematics activities. From a premise that children were constantly involved in meaning making, we explore how the ways, which mathematics activities were constituted, influenced the meaning that children ascribed to them. We widen the discussion to look at whether information about children's backgrounds obscures or enlightens our understanding, as researchers, of this meaning making process. In understanding the children's ascription of meaning to mathematical activities, we conclude that what is important is how children enact their agency, as a consequence of interpreting past, present and future activities.