Early Childhood Mathematics Research Articles

Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) Mathematics in Early Childhood

(2011). Teaching English Language Learners (ELLs) Mathematics in Early Childhood. Childhood Education: Vol. 87, No. 4, pp. 253-260.

A multimodal approach to coding discourse: Collaboration, distributed cognition, and geometric reasoning

Our research aims to identify children’s communicative strategies when faced with the task of solving a geometric puzzle in CSCL contexts. We investigated how to identify and trace distributed cognition in problem-solving interactions based on discursive cohesion to objects, participants, and prior discursive content, and geometric and cooperative concepts. We report on the development of a method of coding and representation of verbal and gestural content for multimodal interactional data and initial application of this framework to a microethnographic case study of two small groups of 7 and 8-year-old learners solving tangram manipulatives in physical and virtual desktop settings. We characterize the establishment of shared reference points as “coreferences” which cohere on object, para, and meta-levels through both gesture and speech. Our analysis foregrounds how participants establish common referential ground to facilitate collaborative problem solving with either computer-supported or physical puzzles. Using multimodal analysis and a theoretical framework we developed to study interactional dynamics, we identified patterns of focus, dominance, and coalition formation as they relate to coreferentiality on multiple levels. Initial findings indicate increased communication and cohesion to higher-level principles in the virtual tangram puzzle-solving setting. This work contributes to available models of multimodal analysis of distributed cognition using current manipulative technologies for early childhood mathematics education.

Windows to early childhood mathematics teacher education

This special issue comes at a time when the issue of early childhood mathematics has come to the fore. At a recent 2009 Conference of European Research in Mathematics Education, a new working group in Early Years Mathematics was established in response to increased calls for research regarding mathematics learning and mathematics teacher education in the early years (ages 3–8). A joint position paper published in the United States by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) stated that ‘‘high quality, challenging, and accessible mathematics education for 3–6 year old children is a vital foundation for future mathematics learning’’ (National Association for the Education of Young Children and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2002, p.1). Further evidence of concern for early childhood mathematics may be seen in the rise of national curricula in various countries which now make specific and sometimes mandatory recommendations for including mathematics as part of the preschool program. For example, in Israel, the National Mathematics Preschool Curriculum (Israel national mathematics preschool curriculum (INMPC) 2008) is mandatory and contains specific guidelines and aims for children from 3 to 6 years. A clear indication of the growing awareness of the importance of early childhood mathematics is the vast increase in the number of articles that are devoted to early childhood mathematics in the research literature. The inclusion of a specific chapter in which the current research on early childhood mathematics learning is summarized, in a handbook of research on mathematics teaching and learning for the first time, is a clear sign of the growing attention to this domain (Clements and Sarama 2007). One may wonder about the recent, growing attention to early childhood mathematics. Evidently, there are institutional, economic, and equity issues that support this significant increment (e.g., a world-wide increase in the numbers of children attending early-care

Mathematics in Early Childhood: Research-Based Rationale and Practical Strategies

Mathematics education is a critical part of the curriculum for students worldwide. The foundation for understanding mathematical concepts related to number sense begins early in life, and early childhood classrooms can provide the seeds for mathematical skills that will be needed later in life. In this article, the authors make a case for meaningful and developmentally appropriate mathematics experiences for young children in diverse early learning settings. Instructional and curricular methods inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach are described as effective ways to teach number concepts to young children from preschool through primary age. Strategies for teachers of young learners are presented in order to strengthen the mathematics curriculum in contemporary early learning settings. The authors’ analysis and recommendations are informed by their extensive experiences including studies in Reggio Emilia early childhood settings (infant toddler, preschool, and primary schools) and their work in early childhood teacher education at their respective universities.

Exploring young children's (mathematical) thinking: preservice teachers reflect on the use of the one-to-one interview

One-to-one interviewing is one of the most powerful ways of exploring young children's thinking. While there are a few studies which report the use of this pedagogic strategy by preservice teachers, more are needed. This paper describes an early childhood mathematics education assignment which preservice teachers in a teacher-education college in Ireland undertake with four- and five-year-old children. It presents an analysis of data from a selected sample of 58 preservice teachers' reflections on their dialogues with individual children. It describes how the preservice teachers engaged with the process of interviewing the children; how they reflected on their interactions with the children; their reflections on the children's engagement; and their reflections on young children's mathematics generally. Some dilemmas faced by the participants in the course of the interviewing are highlighted. Findings demonstrate the integrated nature of the knowledge that early childhood teachers need to teach early childhood mathematics effectively. The learning arising from this assignment relates to early childhood mathematics thinking, to the psycho-social nature of learning in early childhood and to pedagogy in early childhood education.

An Evolution of Mathematical Beliefs: A Case Study of Three Pre-K Teachers

This case study involved examination of the evolution of mathematical beliefs of three prekindergarten teachers. The researcher followed three teachers at one school in west Alabama over the course of 6 months as they implemented a new mathematics curriculum in their pre-K classrooms. Interviews were conducted prior to implementation and at the end of the school year. Classroom observations were done throughout the implementation process. Three themes emerged from the data (a) math resources for the pre-K classroom, (b) pushing beyond—thinking mathematically, and (c) instructional strategies used the pre-K classroom. These themes revealed how all of the teachers' perceptions of early childhood mathematics curriculum and instruction evolved during the course of the study. These findings have implications for early childhood teacher education programs and professional development.

Early Childhood Teachers' Misconceptions about Mathematics Education for Young Children in the United States

In this article we discuss nine common misconceptions about learning and teaching mathematics for young children that are widespread among prospective and practicing early childhood teachers in the United States. These misconceptions include: 1. Young children are not ready for mathematics education; 2. Mathematics is for some bright kids with mathematics genes; 3. Simple numbers and shapes are enough; 4. Language and literacy are more important than mathematics; 5. Teachers should provide an enriched physical environment, step back, and let the children play; 6. Mathematics should not be taught as a stand–alone subject matter; 7. Assessment in mathematics is irrelevant when it comes to young children; 8. Children learn mathematics only by interacting with concrete objects; 9. Computers are inappropriate for the teaching and learning of mathematics. These misconceptions often interfere with understanding and interpreting the new recommendations of early childhood mathematics education (NAEYC & NCTM, 2002), and become subtle (and sometimes overt) obstacles to implementing the new practices in the classrooms. We hope this article provides an opportunity for practitioners to examine and reflect on their own beliefs in order to become more effective and proactive early childhood mathematics teachers.

유치원 교사가 지각한 유아 수학교육의 내용 - 2007년 개정 유치원 교육과정에 따른 -

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perception of kindergarten teachers about which content should be included in early childhood mathematics education. Then the researcher looked into the findings according to the 2007(7th) national kindergarten curriculum. The results showed that kindergarten teachers perceived the important of balanced content areas of early childhood mathematics education. But the results also showed that kindergarten teachers perceived classification as the most important content areas of early childhood mathematics education. This implicates that the kindergarten teachers revealed somewhat conflicting beliefs about mathematics education. The results also showed that kindergarten teachers did not perceive space and data analysis as the most important content areas of early childhood mathematics education according to the 2007 national kindergarten curriculum The kindergarten teachers also suggested basic and restricted mathematics concepts. The results of this study were discussed related with the problems in early childhood mathematics education, especially the problems in teacher education.

Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning (VITAL): Analyzing Videos Online to Learn to Teach Early Childhood Mathematics

THE MOST PRESSING NEED in early childhood mathematics education in the United States is to improve early childhood teacher preparation. A Web-based video system, “Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning (VITAL),” is a novel and effective approach for teacher preparation integrated into early childhood mathematics education courses. With extensive analysis of videos involving children's mathematical thinking, VITAL provides prospective teachers with engaging and intellectually stimulating hands-on and minds-on learning experiences that supplement the traditional textbook and readings.

Early childhood mathematics teaching: challenges, difficulties and priorities of teachers of young children in primary schools in Ireland

Issues of pedagogy are critical in all aspects of early childhood education. Early childhood mathematics is no exception. There is now a great deal of guidance available to teachers in terms of high‐quality early childhood mathematics teaching. Consequently, the characteristics of high‐quality early childhood mathematics education are clearly identifiable. Issues such as building on young children’s prior‐to‐school knowledge; engaging children in general mathematical processes; and assessing and documenting children’s learning are some of the key aspects of high‐quality early childhood mathematics education. The extent to which teachers of four‐ and five‐year‐old children in primary schools in Ireland incorporate current pedagogical guidance in early childhood mathematics education was explored in 2007 in a nationally representative questionnaire survey of teachers of four‐ and five‐year‐old children attending primary schools. This paper presents some of the findings of the study in relation to teachers’ self‐reported challenges, difficulties and priorities in teaching early childhood mathematics. Implications are drawn for professional development, curriculum guidance and educational policy.

Early childhood corner: The Power of Representation: Graphs and Glyphs in Data Analysis Lessons for Young Learners

Skillful teachers capitalize on youngsters' proclivity for exploration by implementing lessons that allow for collecting, organizing, analyzing, and discussing data—including constructing graphs and glyphs (picture graphs) with concrete materials. Such opportunities can strengthen children's abilities to develop inferences, make predictions, and recognize patterns. In the past, data analysis was often neglected in early childhood mathematics curriculum. However, educators now recognize that children's natural inquisitiveness about their experiences and about the world in which they live can stimulate them to raise a variety of questions that lead to data analysis: What kind? How much? Which of these? How many?

Designing a 'modern' abacus for early childhood mathematics

In this paper, the design of a multi-material, the 'modern' abacus ('modabacus'), for developing early childhood mathematics, is proposed. Presenting the main theories for the design of educational materials as well as similar materials and their educational use, it appears that a new material is needed. The 'modabacus' would be an apparatus which could serve as a multi-material for acting out mathematical tasks as well as a material that could hopefully overcome the limits and restrictions of traditional abacuses and counting boards.

Contemporary perspectives on mathematics in early childhood education

Introduction: Trends in Early Childhood Mathematics Research, Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek. History of Mathematics in Early Childhood Education, Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek. Rethinking the Starting Point for Mathematics Learning, Catherine Sophian. Knowing the Mathematics in Early Childhood Mathematics, Herbert P. Ginsburg and Barbrina Ertle. Mathematics in Early Childhood, Julie Sarama and Douglas H. Clements. Mathematics Learning and Teaching in the Early Years, Ann Anderson, Jim Anderson, and Carolyn Thauberge. Development of Children's Mathematical Thinking in Early School Years, Jennifer M. Young-Loveridge. Development of Mathematical Reasoning among Young Children: How Do Children Understand Area and Length? William M. Bart, Masamichi Yuzawa, and Miki Yuzawa. The Impact of Method on Assessing Young Children's Everyday Mathematical Experiences, Jonathan Tudge, LinLin Li, and Tiffany Kinney Stanley. An Examination of the Role of Statistical Investigation in Supporting the Development of Young Children's Statistical Reasoning, Aisley Leavy. Research on Spatial Skills and Block Building in Girls and Boys: The Relationship to Later Mathematics Learning, Joanne Kersh, Beth M. Casey, and Jessica Mercer Young. Sociocultural Influences on Young Children's Mathematical Knowledge, Prentice Starkey and Alice Klein. Parental Guidance of Numeracy Development in Early Childhood, Maureen Vandermaas-Peeler. Do Parents Count?: The Socialization of Children's Numeracy, Joann P. Benigno and Shari Ellis. Research Perspectives in Early Childhood Mathematics, Olivia N. Saracho and Bernard Spodek. About the Contributors.

What Counts in Research? A Survey of Early Years' Mathematical Research, 2000–2005

This study reviews 208 articles on early childhood mathematics education sourced from the ERIC database and published between 2000 and 2005 in order to determine the adequacy of the literature. The document analysis identified a heavy emphasis on (1) mathematical concepts and instruction, and (2) articles addressing the school years compared with the prior-to-school years. Overall, this study revealed (1) a lack of peer-reviewed articles that discuss, investigate, examine, or debate early childhood mathematics; (2) a limited emphasis in the prior-to-school years; and (3) a paucity of literature on technology and problem solving, which are fundamental in the twenty-first century.

Subject knowledge enhances the documentation of young children's mathematical learning

This article is informed by the findings from a recent research project that investigated how expertise in the teaching and learning of mathematics in early childhood could be enhanced. It involved five teachers from three West Auckland kindergartens. The teachers implemented one action-research cycle (Cardno, 2003; McNiff & Whitehead, 2005) to examine their practices with a view to making change in response to areas they self-identified for development. The teachers used a range of data-gathering methods to collect qualitative evidence of mathematics teaching and learning. These included reflective journals, learning stories, parent voice, note keeping, photographs, and small-scale surveys. This article discusses ideas unearthed through the research process: * Teachers' subject knowledge in mathematics is essential for effective mathematics teaching and learning. * Teachers' confident dispositions towards mathematics is fundamental for their engagement in mathematical teaching and learning. * (Pedagogical) documentation enhances the teaching and learning of mathematics in early childhood. * Visibility of children's work through documentation is an integral method for sharing children's mathematical thinking with parents and whanau, and the community. An important characteristic of this research project was that the reflective nature of the action-research process (identification of the research problem, implementation of new ideas, and evaluation of the progress), which acted as a useful learning tool for the teachers by provoking them to consider the teaching and learning of mathematics in their specific contexts. In all three kindergartens, teachers used their participation in the project to focus on how they could share children's mathematics learning with a range of stakeholders, in particular, the children themselves and the kindergarten community. One teacher surmised: We want to use this opportunity to work more closely with our [parents and whanau] and to share with them what maths their children are doing while at kindergarten. Early on in the project, data led the teachers to identify a variety of perceived barriers to enhancing children's mathematical experiences. After some analysis of this data, it was evident to the teachers that they needed to increase their documentation of children's mathematical thinking. This led them to the realisation that fundamental to effective documenting of learning and teaching episodes that demonstrated children's mathematical thinking was the issue of their own mathematical confidence, and this in turn was related to their own personal subject knowledge of mathematics (Anning & Edwards, 1999). The teachers recognised that these two attributes, subject knowledge and confidence, would enable them to enrich young children's mathematical experiences and provide strategies for sharing these with the children and their parents and wha nau. The teachers reflected: We've got to take a long hard look at ourselves, what we do and what we provide, before we move forward. If we agree that we can't be effective mathematics teachers in this culture, then it's a problem we can't change. That means we can't be a better maths teacher because of the barriers. I think we need to improve ourselves to get over these barriers. Hence, the research project unfolded in two directions: first, it explored how an increase in teachers' subject knowledge, and increased confidence, might affect their responses to children's mathematical thinking; and second, it explored how teachers supported, challenged, or extended children's mathematical learning. This was aligned with a focus on documenting what learning was noted and recognised as mathematics, together with strategies for sharing this learning with parents and whanau. Teachers' knowledge of mathematics The advantages of personal subject knowledge for early childhood teachers, and in particular in mathematics, are well documented internationally (Anning & Edwards, 1999; Aubrey, 1994; Baroody, 2004; Copple, 2004; Perry & Dockett, 2002). …

Meeting Diverse Learning Needs: Differentiating Instruction in Graduate Early Childhood Mathematics Classes

This paper examines the strategies used, challenges faced and lessons learned in meeting the diverse learning needs of graduate initial certification and graduate certified teachers in the same cross-listed early childhood mathematics class. Questions investigated included “How can instructors best meet the learning needs of diverse candidates in the same class?” and “What are the candidates' opinions of attending classes with candidates with diverse amounts of teaching experience?” Candidate surveys, focus groups, candidate work and assessments were used to determine the most successful strategies to meet candidates' diverse learning needs. Using a differentiated instructional approach including knowing the candidates and their needs, scaffolding candidate learning and using a variety of grouping arrangements, were found to help candidates successfully benefit from a class that had a diversity of candidate needs.

Teaching young children mathematics

Preface: The Challenge of Early Childhood Mathematics Education The Educational Challenge: Empowering Young Children to Use Mathematics Designing Games and Playful Activities: Meaningful Context for Practice and Application How Young Children Learn about Mathematics: Content-Process Connections How Children Learn Number Concepts and Skills How Children Learn Geometry and Measurement The Connection Between Assessment and Teaching How Adults Can Communicate With Young Children About Mathematics Calendars and Clocks: Tools for Time Management Science and Mathematics: Curriculum Partners Social Studies and Mathematics: Curriculum Partners Meaningful Use of Mathematics in Classroom Routines Putting It All Together: A Model

Mathematics in early childhood

The recent development of the British eary years (3-5years) maths ourrioulum is described as a function of successive educational reforms aimed at the primary school curriculum in general and the primary maths curriculum (5-12 years) in particular. Contradictions within this curriculum development process are explained in terms of current curriculum theory. Young children’s experience of the British primary maths curriculum is illustrated with data from a longitudinal study of early maths concepts from 5 to 8 years of age. Case study data show how normative assumptions embedded in the curriculum make teacher’s work unneccesarily difficult, and deprive children of satisfying learning experiences in mathematics. It is argued that an efficiently implemented early years maths curriculum (from 3-8 years) would take young children’s developmental characteristics into account, and would stress cross-curricular themes and indirect teaching of concepts.

Triangulation: Finding the method for teaching mathematics in the primary school

The bases for this review are three recently published, current Australian mathematics teacher education texts. The strength of the Australian mathematics education community is shown by the collaboration of its members in these three books intended to introduce pre-service and practising teachers to fundamental ideas about teaching and learning school mathematics. The purpose of this review is to consider the degree to which these three books would support best practice by teachers of early childhood mathematics (K-2), as well as to compare and contrast their different approaches to teaching and learning mathematics. The authors are all respected mathematics educators and are representative, currently, of four Australian states: New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and Western Australia. Each of the books is structured similarly, with a beginning section of one or more introductory chapters on what is mathematics in the twenty-first century and theories of how it should be taught, a section containing the majority of the chapters which outline the content of what is to be taught and strategies for teaching this content, and a third section which includes chapters concerned with effective learning, planning, and assessment. Mathematical content and processes are clearly related to age so each book’s provision for early childhood mathematics is most apparent in the second section. Although these three sections are not explicitly identified in Teaching Book Reviews

Early childhood mathematics education research: A powerful beginning

There has been a great deal of research in recent years in the field of mathematics in the early childhood years, especially in the early years of school. Much of this research and associated implementation of programs has had its genesis in Australia and New Zealand, especially in the area of early number. As well, Australasian early childhood mathematics educators and researchers have adapted much of the recent general early childhood research involving early brain development, play, argumentation and investigation, reflection and recording to demonstrate the power of young children’s mathematical thinking and how this thinking affects children’s learning in the early years. Our aim in this issue of MERJ is to highlight and celebrate some of the significant early childhood mathematics education research which has taken place in recent years and continues to take place in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere. All of the papers in this Special Issue have been written by MERGA members and all have important statements to make about Australasian mathematics education. One of the concerns that we had in developing this issue was whether we would be able to attract sufficient quality papers. Hence, we took two approaches to procuring papers. Firstly, we invited a small number of recognised early childhood mathematics education researchers—some from Australasia and some from beyond—to develop expressions of interest. Secondly, through the MERGA newsletter, we made a general call for expressions of interest. Much to our delight, these two approaches netted 18 expressions of interest! Following careful evaluation of the expressions of interest, we determined that seven author teams should be invited to submit a paper, and that four other teams who had made submissions dealing with aspects of systemic numeracy programs should be invited to combine to produce one paper. Much to the credit of all the author teams, we received eight papers for review. The review process involved 26 reviewers, including 8 members of the MERJ Editorial Board, 11 reviewers from Australasia and another 7 from further afield. Each paper was reviewed by an Editorial Board member and 2005, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1–4