"The focus of this digitally mediated learning activity centers on the mathematics department in the Easton and Redding (ER9) school district in Connecticut. Currently, ER9 teachers have technology in the classroom, but many teachers have expressed uncertainty about how to implement this technology in their classrooms. Based on the foundations of the constructivist learning theory, math teachers will learn how technology fits into the student learning cycle. Interested teachers will form a community of practice (CoP) to learn about and apply engaging technology in the classroom. Some technologies discussed include game-based learning, mobile/Web 2.0 apps such as Prezi, Animation and Edmodo. As a result of this technology CoP, teachers will learn to implement at least one new technology into their classroom and engage in communication between CoP members using MOODLE. "
"If a 6-month-old can distinguish between 20 dots and 10 dots, she's more likely to be a good at math in preschool. That's the conclusion of a new study, which finds that part of our proficiency at addition and subtraction may simply be something we're born with."
Concludes from research studies involving five-year-old school children in Dubai that iPads help improve numeracy learning in young children as well as increase motivation through "kinaesthetic and play-based learning":"
Abstract: "Human adults from diverse cultures share intuitions about the points, lines, and figures of Euclidean geometry. Do children develop these intuitions by drawing on phylogenetically ancient and developmentally precocious geometric representations that guide their navigation and their analysis of object shape? In what way might these early-arising representations support later-developing Euclidean intuitions? To approach these questions, we investigated the relations among young children's use of geometry in tasks assessing: navigation; visual form analysis; and the interpretation of symbolic, purely geometric maps. Children's navigation depended on the distance and directional relations of the surface layout and predicted their use of a symbolic map with targets designated by surface distances. In contrast, children's analysis of visual forms depended on the size-invariant shape relations of objects and predicted their use of the same map but with targets designated by corner angles. Even though the two map tasks used identical instructions and map displays, children's performance on these tasks showed no evidence of integrated representations of distance and angle. Instead, young children flexibly recruited geometric representations of either navigable layouts or objects to interpret the same spatial symbols. These findings reveal a link between the early-arising geometric representations that humans share with diverse animals and the flexible geometric intuitions that give rise to human knowledge at its highest reaches. Although young children do not appear to integrate core geometric representations, children's use of the abstract geometry in spatial symbols such as maps may provide the earliest clues to the later construction of Euclidean geometry. "
I really like this article because of how relatable it is. I want my students to ask questions but getting them to ask them is the tricky part. Encouraging them constantly that they can do it and to ask questions can be exhausting but that's what I want so that they will become confident and improve.
I also love the end of the article were she talks about giving credit for showing work even if the answer is wrong. I do this in my classroom as well because if I see that the student is trying then I can hopefully help them in he future move toward the correct answer.
This is a great article. I run into adults today who when I say I am going to teach math they say "ooh why? Math was alway so hard." And I can admit at times my response it "but it's so easy." Which obviously isn't the greatest response to that. However, they react the same way the article describes, by claiming they aren't "math people" and didn't get it. But every one can learn math (can learn anything for that matter).
David Tall, emeritus professor from Warwick in the UK, published this book in 2013, and this links to his summary and a sample chapter. His papers and other math resources are on his website: http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/staff/David.Tall/index.html