Mathematics in early childhood: Teacher educators’ accounts of their work

ABSTRACT

While early childhood practitioners have long been asked to have complex understandings of child development and provide rich, meaningful educational experiences for children, focusing on mathematics marks new terrain. Consequently, teacher educators are now tasked with figuring out how to communicate new ideas about early mathematics education to early childhood practitioners, yet we know little about their work. This paper examines what early childhood teacher educators have to say about their work. We found that there were only small differences in how they described: (1) what they teach, (2) how to teach it, (3) resources they draw from, and (4) what informs their work. When there were differences in their approaches, these often were reflective of whether the teacher educators had more of an early childhood or mathematics background. The teacher educators' descriptions show there is a need to have clear understandings of what early childhood math looks like in action and for increased collaboration between early childhood and mathematics experts.

Acknowledgment

Stein gratefully acknowledges research support from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305B140042).

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Notes

1. This study comes from the Development and Research in Early Math Education (DREME) Network . The DREME Network conducts research and creates tools to support early math teaching and learning, with a focus on the preschool years. Within the DREME Network, the Early Math Resources for Teacher Educators project supports the training of prospective and practicing early childhood teacher educators.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation Phase II: 2016-078 // 61280457-124623.