As a preservice teacher educator working with students who are just beginning their preschool teaching careers, I have three main goals: (1) to help students draw on their own experiences in mathematics, good and bad, to create supportive mathematical learning environments for preschool children, (2) to support students in gaining knowledge about early mathematical development, and (3) to help students learn how to engage young children in rich mathematical activities.
Preschool Curriculum Course: Two Sessions
These guidelines can provide six or more hours on early mathematics in a three-unit semester preschool curriculum course. It is broken into two segments, but can be broken into shorter segments.
Shaping Up Your Future
Let's orient participants to the influence beliefs can have on mathematics teaching and to children's strengths and how to support and challenge children in their mathematical development in geometry and spatial relations.
Session 1
Preparation homework for participants
- Readings: The Mathematics of Geometry and Spatial Relations, DLLs: Assessing Geometry and Spatial Relations, and When is a Triangle a Triangle?
- Homework: When is a Triangle a Triangle? worksheet (downloadable at the bottom of this page).
Classroom Activities
- Share the video of Dr. Levine talking about spatial relations.
- Implement the When is a Triangle a Triangle activity.
- Distribute (electronic, paper, or display) copies of the Sawyer’s Shapes text. Show the video pieces interspersed with whole-class discussions of interpretations of Sawyer’s words and actions (e.g., “Do you agree with Rau’s interpretation of Sawyer’s understanding?” "Thinking about the DLLs: Assessing Geometry and Spatial Relations reading and what you know about mathematical development, would you have done something different at this stage with Sawyer?”). At the end, wrap it up by asking how clinical interviews such as these can inform our thinking about children’s understanding.
Session 2
Preparation homework for participants
- Readings: Objects and Our Place Among Them, Making Shapes activity (downloadable at the bottom of this page), and More than Hearts and Diamonds.
- Homework: More than Hearts and Diamonds worksheet (downloadable at the bottom of this page).
Classroom Activities
- This session will engage participants in Making Shapes, a preschool classroom geometry activity that is used as a tool for preservice teacher learning (downloadable at the bottom of this page). See More than Hearts and Diamonds activity for instructions.
Resource Type