Education Commons^™

Facilitating Effective Mathematical Teaching Practices In Preschool, Funda Gonulates, Jasook Gilbert

Journal of Global Education and Research

Initial seeds for mathematics literacy are planted during early childhood. Children benefit when they are exposed to and provided with opportunities for math experiences that emphasize their holistic development and not just mathematics proficiency in isolation. This way of viewing and presenting mathematics to young children requires teachers who are equipped with strong mathematics teaching skills. This study examined a 21-hour professional development series for public school preschool teachers on early numeracy, geometry, mathematical reasoning, and teaching pedagogies. This professional development series aimed to help preschool teachers incorporate effective mathematical practices and increase their comfort level in teaching mathematics. Participants …

Conceptual Development: How Do Early Educators And Teachers Support Children's Early Thinking In Stem?, Marilyn Fleer

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

As national and state-based reforms in early education roll-out across Australia, concern for building a well-qualified workforce to meet growing demand has intensified. In parallel with the reforms, teachers and educators are reminded by the recently released 2022 Early Years Learning Framework to design programs that support intentionality in play-based learning. However, the literature shows that despite the concept of intentional teaching being around since 2009, difficulties with how to do this remains. This presentation takes up this challenge, by 1) sharing the collective findings of 6 Australian Research Council-funded research projects into play and learning in STEM; and 2) …

Bringing Learning Progressions Down To 2-Year-Olds In Reading And Mathematics, Prue Anderson

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

ACER’s learning progressions in reading and mathematics describe growth that is mainly focused on skills students demonstrate at and beyond school. These progressions have recently been extended down to describe earlier levels of growth so we now have seamless progressions from skills and understandings toddlers might demonstrate up to highly sophisticated skills and concepts. This presentation briefly outlines ACER’s work and identifies key implications for educators. The pathways that support early reading development were described in progressions for listening comprehension and sounds and letters. Along with an early mathematics progression, these were conceptualised as embedded in an oral language progression. …

Themes, Resources And Uptake Of Acer’S Science In The Early Years Suite, Gayl O'Connor

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

The Science in the early years series was developed to assist preschool and Foundation to year 2 primary educators to incorporate the latest research in science learning into their programs and teaching practice. This paper focuses on the educator resources developed to support early years educators implement activities to assist children to develop science concepts and inquiry skills. The activities are underpinned by evidence-based research that revealed 4 themes in the early years’ science literature.

Computational Thinking And Coding For Young Children: A Hybrid Approach To Link Unplugged And Plugged Activities, Daisuke Akiba

Publications and Research

In our increasingly technology-dependent society, the importance of promoting digital literacy (e.g., computational thinking, coding, and programming) has become a critical focus in the field of childhood education. While young children these days are routinely and extensively exposed to digital devices and tools, the efficacy of the methods for fostering digital skills in the early childhood classroom has not always been closely considered. This is particularly true in settings where early childhood educators are not digital experts. Currently, most of the efforts in standard early childhood settings, taught by teachers who are not digital experts, appear to revolve around “unplugged” …

Teaching Early And Elementary Stem, Alissa A. Lange, Laura Robertson, Jamie Price, Amie Perry (Craven)

Open Educational Resources

This Open Access Educational textbook, "Teaching Early and Elementary STEM", was written to support pre-service early childhood and elementary teachers in their journey to become facilitators of science, technology, engineering, and math, or “STEM,” and "integrated STEM" in their future classrooms. Students who read and use this text will deepen their understanding of “STEM” and “integrated STEM,” learn what early childhood and elementary students need to know and be able to do in relation to STEM, and understand ways to create activity plans and implement current research-based approaches to teaching and pedagogy. This text arose out of our Early/Elementary STEM …

Play-Based Learning In The Early Childhood Mathematics Classroom: Culturally Sustaining Play, Makenzie Evans

Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning

The purpose of this paper is to explain the importance of play-based learning in early childhood mathematics classroom through culturally sustaining experiences. Approaches to providing culturally sustaining play-based learning within the classroom will be described. The intent is to provide instruction that allows students to be able to connect their imagination and real-world experiences to their mathematics learning through play.

Stem Education In The Early Childhood Classroom, Julia Biagiotti

Honors Program Theses and Projects

This qualitative study focuses on the type of STEM education students are getting at the early childhood level (PK-2). Based on gaps found in literature, an interview protocol was created and six participants with various careers in the field of STEM education were interviewed. The research was concentrated on trying to determine what components of STEM education make it successful in the early childhood classroom. All of the interview responses were analyzed and coded and determined the results found below. A few integral parts of a successful STEM education seem to be curiosity, asking questions and a hands-on component, but …

Mathematics Methods For Early Childhood, Janet Stramel

All Open Educational Resources

This book is for the early childhood pre-service teachers, which includes the period from infancy until eight years of age. Mathematics skills must be taught in early childhood and children should be provided a foundation to succeed in elementary school and beyond.

Mathematics Methods for Early Childhood was designed to help early childhood teacher candidates develop an understanding of why lessons in early childhood should focus on mathematics in order to help children be successful. Young children are naturally curious, and the best time to begin mathematics is at a time while the young child's brain is rapidly developing. Mathematics …

Science In The Early Years: Concept Cartoons As Monitoring Tools. Educator Resource, Australian Council For Educational Research

Early Childhood Education

Cartoons can be used as a way of monitoring children’s developing understanding of concepts (‘concept cartoons’). Cartoons provide a simple narrative in which two or more characters provide commentary or opinions about a phenomenon. The cartoon format is likely to be familiar to children, so is a non-threatening format to present and elicit their thoughts on the opinions provided by the characters. There are four concept cartoons in this resource. Each concept cartoon provides a monitoring tool for finding out how children’s understanding about science concepts is developing. Each cartoon is customised to one of the activities in the educator …

Measuring Preschool Parents’ Attitudes Towards Science: Development And Psychometric Evaluation Of A Parent Version Of The Dimension Of Attitudes Towards Science Instrument., Alexandra E. Adair

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Presently, no measure or theoretical framework exists for preschool parents’ attitudes towards science. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a measure of preschool parents’ attitudes towards science with a corresponding theoretical framework, as well as explore related constructs. To develop the measure, I adapted Wendt and Rockinson-Szapkiw’s (2017) English translation of van Aalderen-Smeets & Walma van der Molen’s (2013) Dimensions of Science (DAS) scale by making it appropriate for use with preschool parents.

The Preschool Parents Dimensions of Science Scale (PP-DAS) was pilot tested and revised before being administered to 330 preschool parents in the United …

A Case Study Exploring The Nature Of How Prekindergarten Teachers’ Mathematics Instruction Decisions Relate To Their Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Raleta Summers Dawkins

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The mathematics knowledge students develop in prekindergarten is key to their ability to make sense of more complex mathematics in the future (C. T. Cross, Woods, & Schweingruber, 2009; Ginsburg, Lee, & Boyd, 2008). Research continues to present evidence that there is a mathematics achievement gap between minoritized students living in lower socioeconomic communities compared to their peers before entering kindergarten (Arnold, Fisher, Doctroff, & Dobbs, 2002; Duncan et al., 2007; Sonnenschein & Galindo, 2015; Wang, 2010). The joint position statement issued by the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics …

Does Waldorf Education Offer A Well-Rounded And Integrated Experience That Prepares Students For Higher Grades And Life In General?, Jacqueline A. Stratton

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis research focuses on the study of Waldorf education and how it benefits the whole child. It begins by looking at Rudolf Steiner’s Waldorf educational program and its foundational history and then takes an in depth look at the key elements of its rich philosophy and pedagogy. The literature review focuses on the key question, ‘Does this 100 year-old teaching philosophy encourage a more well-rounded and integrated educational experience than traditional public schools?’ The review highlights four broad topics in relationship to Waldorf education. These include: Educating the Whole Child; Education for the Three Stages of Childhood; Early Childhood …

Connecting Stem Curriculum With Social Emotional Learning In Early Childhood, Aaron Peterson

Undergraduate Research Journal

The purpose of this study was to explore how STEM based curriculum integrated with the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) framework can enhance learning and overall development in early childhood learners. Participants were preschoolers (N=24) between the ages of 3-5 enrolled in the Child Development Center during summer at a Midwestern mid-sized university. This study collected both quantitative (rubric scores) and qualitative data (interviews and observations) and used control and experimental groups. The control group followed the standard curriculum procedures already in place and the experimental group included STEM curriculum without SEL instructions. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Using the …

Can A Three-Day Training Focusing On The Nature Of Science And Science Practices As They Relate To Mind In The Making Make A Difference In Preschool Teachers' Self-Efficacy Engaging In Science Education?, Colleen Meacham

Dissertations and Theses

As technology and our world understanding develop, we will need citizens who are able to ask and answer questions that have not been thought of yet. Currently, high school and college graduates entering the workforce demonstrate a gap in their ability to develop unique solutions and fill the current technology-driven jobs. To address this gap, science needs to be prioritized early in children's lives. The focus of this research was to analyze a science training program that would help pre-school teachers better understand Mind in the Making life skills, the nature of science, science practices, and improve their self-efficacy integrating …

Counting On It : Early Numeracy Development And The Preschool Child, Kate Reid

Dr Kate Reid

Children think mathematically long before they start school. Before children start learning mathematics at school, they show informal understanding of many numeracy concepts. This is informal numeracy knowledge, that is, skills that children develop before starting school that do not depend on written mathematical notation (Purpura & Napoli, 2015). For example, children’s numeracy knowledge is evident in their developing counting skills. It is also evident in their capacity to compare, share, order, estimate and calculate different quantities. Fundamental skills in recognising and responding to numerical cues are apparent in infancy, and, at a very basic level, may be innate. Early …

Counting On It : Early Numeracy Development And The Preschool Child, Kate Reid

Student learning processes

Children think mathematically long before they start school. Before children start learning mathematics at school, they show informal understanding of many numeracy concepts. This is informal numeracy knowledge, that is, skills that children develop before starting school that do not depend on written mathematical notation (Purpura & Napoli, 2015). For example, children’s numeracy knowledge is evident in their developing counting skills. It is also evident in their capacity to compare, share, order, estimate and calculate different quantities. Fundamental skills in recognising and responding to numerical cues are apparent in infancy, and, at a very basic level, may be innate. Early …

K-5 Math And Technology Resources, Anthony Scheffler, Shirley Andrews, Nancy Sartin

Education Open Textbooks

This document is a collaborative student work, comprising a directory of resources about mathematics and technology for kindergarten through fifth grade. This resource was created with the support of an ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Topics include teaching and learning theories, problem solving, assessment, equity, technological tools, and measurements.

Accessible files with optical character recognition (OCR) and auto-tagging provided by the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation.

Paper 3: Differences In Beliefs Across A Series Of Four Mathematics Content Courses, Susanna Molitoris Miller, Caitlin Walkey

Georgia Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (GAMTE) Annual Conference

College students often ask questions such as, “Why do I have to take this class? Is there a point to it?” For Early Childhood Education (ECE) majors these questions may often take on a slightly different form, wondering, “How can I incorporate this information into my classroom?” or “Do I understand this well enough to teach this to my students?” It is especially important for pre- service teachers to feel confident working with the mathematical content that they are learning and for them to believe that they can successfully teach that same information to a group of students. Swackhamer, Koellner, …

Providing Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers With Increased Science Content Knowledge And Effective Teaching Strategies: A Two Year Project, Lyndall Muschell, Holley Roberts, Christine Mutiti

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019)

This presentation explores the results of a two-year project with pre-service teachers which focused primarily on providing increased knowledge of science concepts, effective strategies, and use of resources to improve science instruction while increasing confidence for the teaching of science.

The Integration Of Faith, Learning And Life, Brenda B. Mackay

Faculty Integration Papers

This paper will deal with the concept of Biblical integration. Biblical integration can be compared to painting a beautiful picture that uses exquisite colors of various oils. Individually, each color is attractive and alive, but integrated into a whole by the hand of the master artist, the colors cry out with the beauty of a coherent, unified image. So it is, that integrating the colors of faith, learning and life under the Master’s hand has the potential for creating a stimulating and attractive picture that reflects the splendor of the great Master Artist. According to I Corinthians 10:31, it is, …

Breaking The Math Barrier, Bilqees Patel

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Standards Based Interactive Bilingual Math Centers For The Kindergarten Classroom, Laura Berge

All Graduate Projects

Statistical data from various research sources indicate a large discrepancy between mathematical achievement levels of Hispanic students. The project is significant in that it integrates current research on early learners, educational pedagogy, ELL teaching strategies, and mathematical learning to ensure success in mathematics for young Hispanic students. Toward this end, the purpose of this project was to develop bilingual math centers using a constructivist approach and the latest research on second language acquisition and teaching for the early childhood classroom. This project is also unique because it supplements current math curriculums used throughout the state while providing the necessary scaffolds …