An Examination of Mathematics Professional Development Opportunities in Early Childhood Settings

Simpson, Amber; Linder, Sandra M.

doi:10.1007/s10643-013-0612-7

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Most instances of numeracy-focused professional development have occurred within primary school contexts (for example, Polly 2012), rather than focusing on the numeracy development opportunities within early childhood settings. However, one recent example of mathematics professional development in early childhood settings is that of Simpson and Linder (2014), who explored the preparedness of early childhood educators to develop mathematical knowledge in children aged birth to five years, and found that existing professional learning opportunities were seen by the educators to be inadequate. This is consistent with the findings of a major Australian study of early childhood mathematics education by Hunting et al (2013).…”

Section: Partnerships With Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is consistent with the findings of a major Australian study of early childhood mathematics education by Hunting et al (2013). Simpson and Linder (2014) have called for future research studies to inform and improve the current professional development practices in mathematics for early childhood educators. With this in mind, scrutiny of the Let's Count professional development programme seems warranted.…”

Section: Partnerships With Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Educators’ expectations and aspirations around young children’s mathematical knowledge

Perry

MacDonald

2015

Professional Development in Education

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Let's Count is a mathematics professional learning programme for preschool educators in Australia, managed by a prominent non-government organisation and sponsored by industry. It has been implemented in both face-to-face and online modes over 2013/14. Let's Count is based on the constructs that all young children are powerful mathematicians and that children should be given opportunities to access mathematical ideas through play and interactions with peers and adults, including family members. In this paper, we report on an evaluation of the impact of Let's Count on the educators' beliefs, expectations, aspirations and practices around preschool mathematics education. The evaluation utilises a mixed-methods approach in which educators have responded to brief written surveys as well as email and telephone interviews. The main findings from this research are demonstrable shifts in educators' beliefs and attitudes about, expectations of and aspirations for the mathematical learning of young children. These shifts have resulted in rich mathematical learning opportunities for children and conversations with both children and adult family members in preschool settings. Findings from this research suggest that Let's Count, in both of its modes, has had a positive impact on the children's mathematical learning as well as the educators' beliefs and practices.

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Section: Partnerships With Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Partnerships With Familiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educators’ expectations and aspirations around young children’s mathematical knowledge

Perry

MacDonald

2015

Professional Development in Education

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“…For some, there was the belief that mathematics should be, and was, incorporated within the daily classroom routines, such as setting the table for lunch (Benz, 2012; Ertekin, 2010; Lee and Ginsburg, 2007a). On the other hand, a few studies noted how teachers who work with young children prior to kindergarten do not always value mathematics over other skills such as social-emotional and explicit language skills (Simpson & Linder, 2014; Blevins-Knabe et al, 2000; Kowalski et al, 2001), and view mathematics as a static body of knowledge to be learned (Zacharos et al, 2007). Also, in considering some of the literature regarding practicing and prospective teachers’ dispositions, it seems as if they are negotiating between their identity as a mathematics teacher and prior experiences versus their identity as a teacher of young children (Gujarati, 2013; Hodgen and Askew, 2007; McCulloch et al, 2013), or between beliefs in their own mathematics ability and their role in teaching mathematics (Bates et al, 2011; Chen et al, 2014; Lee, 2005: Olander and Nyberg, 2014), or between their beliefs in teaching mathematics and their approaches to mathematical instruction (Brown, 2005; Doğan, 2012; Olander and Nyberg, 2014; Throndsen and Turmo, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards an understanding of early childhood mathematics education: A systematic review of the literature focusing on practicing and prospective teachers

Linder

Simpson

2017

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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This article presents the results of a literature review spanning 15 years (2000–2015), identifying empirical research relating to early childhood mathematics education. A total of 1141 articles were identified and examined in order to determine the current state of research in terms of location, participants, research questions, and the research methodology commonly used in this body of literature. Following a discussion of the overarching view of the literature, the authors present an analysis of a subsection of the literature, focusing on practicing and prospective teachers’ practice.

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“…However, the preparation of prospective preschool teachers and the professional development of in-service preschool teachers for teaching mathematics to young children seem to be very limited. Simpson and Linder (2014) conducted a study in the United Stated which investigated how and to what extend early childhood teachers are being prepared to develop mathematical abilities among young children. They stated that preschool teachers' professional development in mathematics is deficient.…”

Section: Preschool Teachers' Knowledge Of Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Preschool In-service Teachers and Geometry: Attitudes, Beliefs and Knowledge

Markovits¹,

Patkin²

2020

INT ELECT J MATH ED

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This study aims to explore in-service preschool teachers' attitudes towards and beliefs about geometry and its teaching and to investigate their knowledge of shapes and solids. The study uses a mixed descriptive approach employing quantitative and qualitative research methods. Thirty-four Israeli preschool teachers of children aged 3-6 from 34 different preschools and kindergartens participated in the study and responded to a questionnaire comprised of closed and open items. Regarding their attitudes and beliefs, the preschool teachers were asked about: the meaning of geometry; affinity for geometry, importance of geometry; need to use accurate mathematical language, and about their enjoyment of engaging young children in activities connected with learning geometry. As to the knowledge of shapes and solids, the preschool teachers were asked to describe or define shapes and solids, name shapes and solids and distinguish between rectangles and other shapes. The results illustrate that most of the preschool teachers like geometry or expressed a neutral position towards geometry, but some hate geometry. Most of the preschool teachers comprehend the importance of engaging in activities that relate to geometry in preschool and enjoy involving young children in activities connected with learning geometry. As to the use of accurate language, most of the preschool teachers maintain that accurate mathematical language should be applied when preschool children aged 3-6 deal with shapes and solids. Yet, only about half of them believe that it is necessary to use accurate language when the children are at an earlier age. Certain preschool teachers lack the knowledge to name shapes and solids, even those which are part the mathematics curriculum for ages 3-6. They exhibited difficulties in using accurate mathematical language when describing shapes and solids, and were influenced by the shapes' visual appearance rather than by their definitions and properties. It is recommended that preschool teachers attend further development programs so they can appropriately involve young children in activities connected to learning geometry, as required by the curriculum.

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An Examination of Mathematics Professional Development Opportunities in Early Childhood Settings

Cited by 21 publications

References 21 publications

Educators’ expectations and aspirations around young children’s mathematical knowledge

Educators’ expectations and aspirations around young children’s mathematical knowledge

Towards an understanding of early childhood mathematics education: A systematic review of the literature focusing on practicing and prospective teachers

Preschool In-service Teachers and Geometry: Attitudes, Beliefs and Knowledge

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