Reflection Questions: Week One

What does the term early childhood mathematics mean to you?

The term early childhood mathematics refers to the basic mathematical skills and fundamentals that should be introduced and understood during the early years of a child's life. They are the building blocks for a child's understanding of mathematics. Early childhood mathematics introduce both skills and concepts that will later be used when a child begins to learn higher levels of mathematics.



What key points did you take from chapter one that inform your understanding of how to teach mathematics for young children?

A key point that stood out to me stressed the importance of not teaching students by telling, but implied that we must help them construct their own ideas using the ideas that they already own. However, it is important to understand that the manner in which you conduct your class plays a crucial role in what your students learn and how well the information they learn is understood. It is important that the teacher understands that the factors that influence learning are influenced by the teacher and will impact what and how well students learn the content being taught.

I also found that by having the children within the classroom engage in interactive classroom activities will provide the students with opportunities to learn from each other. It will also provide the students with "an enviornment to share ideas and results, compare and evaluate strategies, challenge results, determine the validity of answers, and negotiate ideas on which all can agree."

As a teacher, it is important that I understand the use of manipulatives and their role in either helping or failing to help students construct ideas. The use of tools is good when used correctly and appropriately. It is important that I provide students with the necessary tools, models, and materials to learn mathematics effectively but a key point mentioned within the chapter stressed the importance of knowing how to use such tools correctly. The chapter mentioned the importance of the teacher introducing the models appropriately and "perhaps conducting a simple activity that illustrates this use".

From the reading of chapter one, I also found that it is important for the teacher to understand the value of teaching with problems and the effectiveness of problem solving. Problem-based teaching seems to be an approach that can be quite confusing or difficult yet highly rewarding for the students and teacher. I also found that there is a 3-Part fomat for problem-based lessons that can be followed.

A helpful point made when discussing how to deal with a class that doesn't understand the content being taught was to "not give into the temptation to show them but rather regroup and offer students a simpler related problem that will help them prepare for a more difficult one." It stated that the teacher should first find out what ideas the student of group has and try and provide hints on ideas that you hear are being considered within the group of students.