Views of prospective early childhood education teachers, towards mathematics and its instruction

Block Talk: Spatial Language During Block Play

“…The fact that the guided play condition elicits more spatial language suggests that experimental and educational interventions may follow such a model to increase the frequency of spatial language children hear and come to use on their own. Pre‐K and kindergarten teachers may not fully recognize the educational value of block play (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC] 1997; Park, Chae, & Foulks, 2008; Wellhousen & Keoff, 2000; Zacharos, Koliopoulos, Dokomaki, & Kassoumi, 2007). These finding bear direct relevance to implementation in classrooms, in which a teacher may use goal‐directed block play as a means of introducing and acting out spatial concepts and relationships.…”

Young Children's Block Play and Mathematical Learning

“…Despite a widespread belief that block play helps young children's development and learning, many early childhood teachers do not fully recognize the educational value of block play (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 1996;Wellhousen & Kieff, 2000;Zacharos, Koliopoulos, Dokomaki, & Kassoumi, 2007). In reality, many teachers provide young children with didactic activities, such as worksheets or other academic tasks, to "teach" literacy, math, social studies, and other subjects, rather than provide opportunities to choose free-play activities, such as block building, pretend play, puzzles, and other games.…”

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

“…In considering practicing and prospective teachers’ dispositions, there seem to be other factors influencing or shaping their beliefs and attitudes about mathematics and self. These include, but are not limited to, previous experiences with mathematics as a student (Hodgen and Askew, 2007; Lake and Kelly, 2014; McCulloch et al, 2013; Zacharos et al, 2007), mathematics anxiety (Isiksal et al, 2009), the student body (Lee and Ginsburg, 2007b), and “official” requirements and accountability (Gujarati, 2013; Hanley and Jones, 2007; Vernaza, 2012).…”

“…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).…”