Short Prezi I made for my Harvard Social Entrepreneurship in Education course, describing more about the Early Math Initiative, a non-profit effort to promote mathematical problem solving and confidence in young children.
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My first paper for EDUC E150, Educational Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship In Comparative Perspective, Spring 2014 - Harvard Extension School - a brief problem statement on School Readiness: Early Math Learning.
My Final Policy Analysis Research Paper for SSCI E101, Education Policy Analysis and Research Utilization In Comparative Perspective, Fall 2013 - Harvard Extension School on the importance of numeracy in UK early learning policy.
My Quora response to "What are the best ways to foster math skills in very early childhood?" http://www.quora.com/Education/What-are-the-best-ways-to-foster-math-skills-in-very-early-childhood
There are definitely a lot more resources for early literacy than early math (about three times as many hits on Amazon), but early math is as important, if not more important. Research has found that early math skills are of course predictive of later math achievement, but are also more predictive of later reading achievement than early reading skills are. (Page on Ncpat) Early math is so much more than just counting, but we can start there. Just as early language strategies tell you to "read, read, and then read some more", you should "count, count, and then count some more!" :-) Don't just recite the numbers, but count actual objects. Count your baby's toes, count the steps as you go up stairs, count out crackers as you're eating. "One wheel, two wheels, three wheels, four wheels, the car has four wheels!" Besides counting, early math involves measuring. First measuring just means labeling with words, such as "bigger", "smaller", "longer", "shorter". And later, measuring involves using measuring tools like rulers and measuring cups. Just as with trying to use counting in everyday language, try to use measurement words when talking with your little ones. Early math is also about recognizing patterns. Patterns are all over - there are patterns in time (our bedtime routine is snack, bath, song, and then lights out) and patterns in space (making a line of two short blocks, one long block, two short blocks, one long block). Ask your child, "What do you will come next?" or "What's missing?" You can use music and movement to create patterns, such as jump, clap, tap your head. Early math involves sorting and organizing data. At the beginning, that just means matching socks by color or sorting food by whether it goes in the fridge, freezer, or cupboard. Later, analyzing data means making simple charts or graphs of the weather, or what color cars passed by the house that morning. Interaction is the key - talking with your child about mathematical concepts, which doesn't mean explaining calculus to them - it just means saying "over" and "under". The NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) has some good resources... Math Talk with Infants and Toddlers The Twitter feed @EarlyMath also posts lots of interesting research and ways to develop early math skills. Early Math (earlymath) on Twitter I just started a new Twitter feed @EarlyMath to support early math learning for ages 0-8 through high-quality interactions & research-based strategies.
In early childhood education and initiatives to promote parent interactions with their children, early literacy skills are emphasized, and early math skills are often neglected. While learning to read is extremely important (as is building executive functioning and social emotional skills), mathematical thinking needs to be brought up to the same standard if we want our children to be able to function in our increasingly technological world. Early math skills are important of course for later math skills, but research finds that early math skills are also predictive of later success in literacy. And yet, being 'bad at math' is still seen as socially acceptable, where as hardly anyone says that they're 'bad at reading'. Part of this is because people don't understand what mathematical thinking really is - they think that it's calculus and linear algebra - when really, mathematical thinking is about being able to problem solve, follow a logical flow, see similarities and differences, and analyze data. Math is just a way to understand the world around us. There are some outside initiatives (after school programs, etc) that are working on promoting early STEM skills, but the change also needs to come in daycares and schools and in homes. Unfortunately getting parents and teachers to help their children develop math skills is not as easy as telling them to read more books to the kids*. The adults need to be interacting mathematically, talking about numbers, noticing ways to group objects, helping their little ones to recognize patterns. Learning early math doesn't happen in a vacuum - kids need to have high-quality interactions. I'm hoping through the new @EarlyMath Twitter feed, I can start to build a community of early math supporters and disseminate information about some best practices. *Of course, developing literacy isn't as easy as just reading more books, but it is an initial step in the process that's easy to market and promote. |
Teresa GonczyMy thoughts on education, cognitive science, early childhood, organization management, non-profits, and whatever else I happen to be thinking about! :-) Archives
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