NUMERACY LEARNING WHY ARE WE TALKING SO MUCH ABOUT MATH LATELY? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

DEEPENING OUR EARLY NUMERACY LEARNING

WHY ARE WE TALKING SO MUCH ABOUT MATH LATELY?

• What can kids learn? Research about the importance of

early experiences and the development of the brain.

• What should we be teaching? The State-wide move to Full

Day Kindergarten (FDK) for all students.

• How can Early Learning providers do a better job? The

push for Washington’s new quality rating system- Early Achievers for all licensed childcare facilities.

• What does the data say about where kids are coming up

short? The results of the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS).

What is WaKIDS?

Video Link (or click on the picture)

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How prepared are Washington Kids for Kindergarten?

http://www.k12.wa.us/WaKIDS/pubdocs/Wa KIDSFall2014DataSummary.pdf

Did Piaget get it right?

• Piaget believed:

– children did not possess number sense and were unable to grasp the concept of number conservation – children had no conceptual understanding until seven or eight years of age

• Result: Delay in teaching mathematics until

ages six or seven

What can children learn?

Cognitive research now shows that “nearly from birth to age 5, young children develop an extensive sense of everyday mathematics – including informal ideas of more and less, taking away, shade, size, location, pattern, and position – that is surprisingly broad, complex, and sometimes sophisticated.” (p. 3)

(view 1 minute YouTube)

Ginsburg, H.P., Lee, J.S., & Boyd, J.S. (2008). Mathematics education for young children: What it is and how to promote it. Social Policy Report. Society for Research in Child Development.

WWW.K12.WA.US

Developmental continuum

• Early in life, children can

discriminate sets of different sizes.

• As early as 18 months, children

begin to recognize shapes and develop systems for locating

• bjects in space.
• From ages 2-3, children can

understand basic plus/change situations.

Adapted from the National Research Council (2009) Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity

WWW.K12.WA.US

The preschooler’s brain

• Brains develop most when

challenged with complex, novel activities and not rote learning.

• Preschoolers do not perceive

situations, problems or solutions the same way adults do.

• Young children see the world

through an integrated lens, not as separate subject areas.

Adapted from Sousa (2008) How the Brain Learns Mathematics

The Basic vs Complex Tasks

• Basic

– The counting sequence – 1-1 correspondence

• Complex

– Comparing quantities – Working with operations

Why should we seek to engage in Complex Tasks?

• Currently what is taught may not meet the needs of all

kindergarteners.

• Without closer attention to entry-level kindergarten skills,

each child may not be engaging at the level that provides appropriate challenge.

• Increased time spent on more advanced topics could lead to

gains in mathematics achievement throughout the child’s school career.

• Students who are not challenged, lose ground during

kindergarten.

Considerations

• Curriculum, if one is used
• Pacing guides that do not fit the needs of

children

• Lack of training in numeracy development
• Availability of rich tasks at educator’s

fingertips

WWW.K12.WA.US

The importance

• f the learning

environment

• Classroom lends itself to

mathematical exploration.

• Students are engaged through a

variety of instructional strategies.

• Activities are conducted that

rely on mathematics.

• Children are asked higher-order

questions.

• Teacher is an observer of where

the child is in her learning.

Adapted from Sousa/Clements

The importance of questioning

• How did you know?
• Why did you do it that

way?

• How did you figure that
• ut?
• What else would work

like this?

• What would happen

if….?

WWW.K12.WA.US

The importance

• f number talk

Teachers who use more number vocabulary when they talk, regardless of general teacher quality, complexity of teacher’s sentence structure, or the students’ socioeconomic status significantly impact the growth of children’s conventional math knowledge over a year.

Klibanoff, Levine, Huttenlocher, Vailyeva, & Hedges, 2006

Activity: Counting Collections

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/skip-counting-with-kindergarteners

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Summary

• Children are born with some innate number sense.
• Early math is important and children can learn

much about mathematics earlier in their lives than previously realized.

• Early number sense follows a continuum of

development.

• Numeracy skills are enhanced with complex tasks.
• We can improve number sense by talk, environment,

and how we approach it.

WWW.K12.WA.US

Updates on Resources

Spanish translations available

I have a dream to….

• Remove the fear of mathematics from every

early childhood teacher.

• Hear children speak with enthusiasm and

confidence about Math.

• Replicate these Math Boxes in Elementary

Schools around our state, and see them in use by Early Learning Providers on a regular basis.

Thank you!

Contact information: Katie Lawless Katiel@ncesd.org