- Examine how young children develop mathematical understanding across the major domains of early mathematics.
- Build a strong foundation in early childhood mathematics content, pedagogy, and current state and national standards, including the Vermont Early Learning Standards and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.
- Learn to design and facilitate meaningful, developmentally appropriate mathematical learning experiences that build on children’s thinking and promote exploration, problem solving, reasoning, and communication.
- Recognize the role of assessment and reflection for informing mathematics instruction and supporting the mathematical growth of all learners.
- Become reflective educators who foster equitable, engaging, and developmentally appropriate mathematics learning for all children.
Course Objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Implement a variety of instructional strategies, materials, and mathematical tasks to support the development of early numeracy, spatial reasoning, geometry, measurement, and problem-solving.
- Communicate mathematical ideas using appropriate mathematical language, representations, and models, and facilitate children’s mathematical discourse.
- Anticipate, identify, and address common misconceptions in early mathematics while promoting flexible thinking, productive struggle, and perseverance.
- Use formative assessment strategies to observe, document, interpret, and support young children’s mathematical thinking.
- Plan standards-aligned mathematics instruction that reflects children’s developmental needs and aligns with the Vermont Early Learning Standards and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.
Course Schedule:
Each class week will begin on Monday and end on Sunday. Asynchronous participation in learning and discussion activities on Canvas is expected each week, in addition to attendance and participation in synchronous class meetings.
Each week, learners will engage Read, Watch & Respond – Individuals will read the weekly reading assignments and the associated videos of students. After reading individuals will post a brief reflection in the course Read and Respond Padlet. These reflections will focus on the ideas found in the text/videos, how these ideas relate to your learning environment and/or impact your instruction. Students will also participate in Discussions– share observations, wonderings, and reflections during weekly discussions. Individuals will have the option of participating in a weekly online Zoom discussion or using the discussion platform on Canvas. We will coordinate a schedule for the Zoom discussions during our September class.
Required Readings/Texts: (required texts not included in cost of course)
- Jo Boaler. (2024). Math-ish: Finding Creativity, Diversity, and Meaning in Mathematics. HarperOne.
- Angela Chan Turrou, Nicole C. Johnson, & Megan L. Franke. (2021). The Young Child and Mathematics (3rd ed.). National Association for the Education of Young Children.
- Fletcher, G. (n.d.). Progression videos. Fletchy. https://gfletchy.com/progression-videos/
- Douglas H. Clements, Lizcano, R., & Julie Sarama. (2023). Research and pedagogies for early math. Education Sciences, 13(8), Article 839. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13080839
- (n.d.). Mathematical mindset teaching resources. https://www.youcubed.org/mathematical-mindset-teaching-resources/
- Learning Trajectories. (n.d.). LearningTrajectories.org. https://www.learningtrajectories.org/
