{ "type": "Article", "authors": [ { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Elia" ], "givenNames": [ "Iliada" ] }, { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Baccaglini-Frank" ], "givenNames": [ "Anna" ] }, { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Levenson" ], "givenNames": [ "Esther" ] }, { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Matsuo" ], "givenNames": [ "Nanae" ] }, { "type": "Person", "familyNames": [ "Feza" ], "givenNames": [ "Nosisi" ] } ], "description": "This paper is about a survey to be presented at the 14th International\nCongress on Mathematics Education, which addresses the latest\ndevelopments on Early Childhood Mathematics Education. The relevance of\nearly mathematics learning and teaching in mathematics education\nresearch is explained and an overview of the work done by the Survey\nTeam on this specific theme is described.", "identifiers": [], "references": [ { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib1", "authors": [], "title": " C. Björklund, M. van den Heuvel-Panhuizen and A. 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Hedges, Preschool children’s mathematical knowledge.\nDevelop. Psychology42, 59–69 (2006)\n" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib6", "authors": [], "title": " S. M. Linder, B. Powers-Costello and D. A. Stegelin,\nMathematics in early childhood: Research-based rationale and practical\nstrategies. Early Childhood Educ. J.39, 29–37\n(2011)\n" }, { "type": "Article", "id": "bib-bib7", "authors": [], "title": " T. W. Watts, G. J. Duncan, R. S. Siegler and P. E. Davis-Kean,\nWhat’s past is prologue: Relations between early mathematics knowledge and high\nschool achievement. Educ. Researcher43, 352–360 (2014)\n" } ], "title": "Survey on Early Childhood Mathematics Education at ICME-14", "meta": {}, "content": [ { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p1", "content": [ "At the 14th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-14), which\nwill take place in Shanghai from July 11 to 18, 2021, four surveys will be\npresented, addressing the latest developments on four particular themes of\nmathematics education, which are considered important for the ICMI community.\nThe theme of one of these surveys is Early Childhood Mathematics Education\n(up to age 7). Our aim is to briefly present the relevance of this theme in\nmathematics education research as well as an overview of the work done by the\nSurvey Team on this specific theme, which may be of interest for mathematics\neducators and also for mathematicians." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p2", "content": [ "Research in early childhood mathematics education has experienced\nincreasing growth over the last years. The interest in this field is\ninduced mainly by the strong emphasis given on early childhood education\nin many countries and by the well documented, positive relation between\nchildren’s early mathematical knowledge and their later success in\nmathematics learning [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib2", "content": [ "2" ] }, "]. The high importance of early childhood\neducation is acknowledged by countries all over the world. This is\nevident by the increase of their expenses and investments in early\nchildhood education, and by their access to pre-primary\neducation. The emergence of new curricula and higher demands in the\nquality of early childhood education staff is also manifest in a number\nof countries [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib4", "content": [ "4" ] }, "]." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p3", "content": [ "Regarding the association between children’s early mathematical skills\nand their later mathematical achievement, there is clear evidence that\nwhen children enter school with high levels of knowledge they maintain\nthese high levels at least through the end of primary school [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib5", "content": [ "5" ] }, "].\nResearch has also provided evidence for statistically significant links\nbetween mathematics ability in preschool and mathematics performance in\nadolescence [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib7", "content": [ "7" ] }, "]. Thus, establishing a solid foundation for\nchildren’s mathematical development before they even enter school plays\na crucial role in their future learning." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p4", "content": [ "The quality of early childhood mathematics education also affects\nchildren’s later mathematical dispositions. Particularly, when\napproaches to mathematics education are meaningful and enjoyable for\nchildren, it is more likely that they will appreciate and engage in\nmathematics education later on [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib6", "content": [ "6" ] }, "]. Considering the decline in\nattitudes towards mathematics over the school years, starting already in\nthe first years of school, and considering the fact that young\nchildren’s mathematical knowledge and abilities influence their\nmathematical affect and dispositions [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib3", "content": [ "3" ] }, "], the need for high quality\nmathematics education in the early years deserves strong emphasis.\n" ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p5", "content": [ "In the past few years, a great deal of attention within the field of\nmathematics education has been given to research on learning and teaching\nmathematics in early childhood. This is highlighted by the numerous publications\non early childhood mathematics education, and by the many special interest or\nstudy groups in international mathematics education conferences devoted to this\nfield that focus on the study of the learning and teaching processes in early\nchildhood mathematics education and the environment in which these processes\ntake place [", { "type": "Cite", "target": "bib-bib1", "content": [ "1" ] }, "]. A vast amount of research has been undertaken for an\neven longer time in the related domains of developmental and cognitive\npsychology. This research has investigated early-year mathematics with a\nparticular focus on the relationship between children’s cognitive abilities\n(e.g., working memory, visuo-spatial abilities) and their early mathematical\nskills." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p6", "content": [ "This survey has been designed to establish an in-depth and comprehensive\nreview of the state-of-the-art of the most important developments and\ncontributions since 2012, and of current tendencies, new perspectives\nand emerging challenges in early childhood mathematics education. The\nsurvey drew from a broad range of sources, including peer-reviewed\njournal articles in the above-mentioned disciplines, as well as\ninternational peer-reviewed conference proceedings, including ICME, the\nConference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics\nEducation (PME), the Congress of the European Society for Research in\nMathematics Education (CERME), ICMI Study Conferences and prominent\nresearch handbooks in the discipline of mathematics education. An\nannotated bibliography listed the papers that have been identified as\nrelevant, leading to a comprehensive analysis of the issues raised by\nthis research literature and to a synthesis of the pertinent findings." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p7", "content": [ "The survey focuses on six major research threads that have been\nidentified in recent literature on early childhood mathematics\neducation. Three of these threads are content-oriented: number sense and\nwhole number development, geometry education, and children’s competences\nin other content domains. A twofold cognition-oriented thread focuses on\ncognitive skills and special education, respectively, in early childhood\nmathematics. The role of technologies in early mathematics teaching and\nlearning is another important research thread that is systematically\nreviewed. Finally, a teacher-oriented thread presents a synthesis of\nresults of recent studies on early childhood teachers’ knowledge,\neducation and affective issues in mathematics." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p8", "content": [ "The review of research on the content-oriented threads reveals a common\nthreefold focus across these threads: firstly, on offering insights into\nyoung children’s competences and development in these content domains,\nsecondly, on identifying influences of certain abilities into children’s\ndevelopment, and thirdly, on proposing and investigating the\neffectiveness of programs or interventions on children’s learning. The\nreview of literature on cognitive skills involved in mathematical\nlearning has a particular focus on the learning of numbers and\narithmetic from as early as toddler stage, and reveals that processing\nquantities can be done very early in life through non-verbal innate\nmental systems. Moreover, visuo-spatial abilities, working memory,\nfinger gnosis, or cognitive flexibility are only some of the key\ncognitive skills in young children that have been found to be predictive\nof or associated with mathematical performance. The review of research\non the use of technology in early childhood mathematics education\nhighlights how specific forms of interactivity available in multi-touch\ntechnology or with programmable robots can be used to enhance\nmathematical learning. Regarding the teacher-oriented thread, studies on\nthe professional development of early childhood teachers in mathematics\nfocus on enhancing teachers’ knowledge of children’s mathematical\nabilities and reasoning, thus influencing teachers’ beliefs regarding\nyoung children’s mathematics learning." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p9", "content": [ "Overall, our work on this survey has shown that there is a plethora of\nresearch on early childhood mathematics education and that there will be\ncontinued growth and important progress in this field in the years to\ncome. Among the six threads of our survey review, some, e.g., whole\nnumber development, cognition-oriented threads, have been studied more\nextensively than others, e.g., geometry education, other content\ndomains, teacher-related issues. All these threads reflect new areas of\ndevelopment, e.g., use of technological tools, embodied learning,\ninterventions for teachers, comparative studies, as well as more\nordinary research topics, e.g., mathematical competences, problem\nsolving, language. We expect that there will be continued growth in all\nthese areas with specific emphasis on the under-researched and more\nrecent areas of study." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p10", "content": [ "The findings of the survey will be presented and discussed in more\ndetail at ICME-14, on July 18, 2021." ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "authorinfo", "content": [ "Iliada Elia is an Associate Professor at the Department of Education of the\nUniversity of Cyprus. She was the co-chair of Topic Study Group 1: Early\nchildhood mathematics education (up to age 7) at the 13th International\nCongress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13) in Hamburg, Germany. Her research\ninterests include investigating mathematics learning in the early years, a\nsemiotic approach in the learning of mathematics, the development of geometric\nthinking and arithmetic problem solving.\n\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:elia.iliada@ucy.ac.cy", "content": [ "elia.iliada@ucy.ac.cy" ] }, "\nAnna Baccaglini-Frank is an Associate Professor at the Department of\nMathematics of the University of Pisa, Italy. Her main research\ninterests are in technology-enhanced learning at all grade levels and in\nstudents’ persistent difficulties in learning mathematics. Among other\nactivities, she serves on the editorial board of Educational Studies in\nMathematics and is an associate editor of Digital Experiences in\nMathematics Education. She was a member of Topic Study Group 1: Early\nchildhood mathematics education (up to age 7) at the 13th International\nCongress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13) in Hamburg, Germany, and\nleads a Thematic Working Group at CERME.\n\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:anna.baccaglinifrank@unipi.it", "content": [ "anna.baccaglinifrank@unipi.it" ] }, "\nEsther Levenson is an Assistant Professor at the Department of\nMathematics, Science, and Technology Education at Tel Aviv University.\nHer main interests lie in early childhood mathematics education and\nmathematical creativity in school. She is a member of the editorial\nboards for Educational Studies in Mathematics and the Journal of\nMathematics Teacher Education, and is a co-leader for TWG13 Early Years\nMathematics at CERME.\n\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:levenso@tauex.tau.ac.il", "content": [ "levenso@tauex.tau.ac.il" ] }, "\nNanae Matsuo is a Full Professor at the Department of Mathematics in the\nFaculty of Education at Chiba University, Japan. She is a board member\nof the Japan Society for Mathematics Education. Her main interests are\nearly childhood mathematics education, especially learning numbers and\nshapes, measurement through play, connections between preschool and\nelementary school education, and teacher training.\n\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:matsuo@faculty.chiba-u.jp", "content": [ "matsuo@faculty.chiba-u.jp" ] }, "\nNosisi Feza is a Full Professor at the University of Venda, South\nAfrica. She holds a position of a Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research and\nPostgraduate studies. Her research interest is primarily on early\nchildhood mathematics focusing on conceptual development of number,\nshape, space and measurement for children of 3 to 9 years from low\nsocio-economic groups. She explores strategies for enhancing numeracy\nstimulation in young learners’ classrooms and aims to understand the\nlinguistic complexities in learning numeracy in a multilingual society.\n\n", { "type": "Link", "target": "mailto:nosisi.piyose@gmail.com", "content": [ "nosisi.piyose@gmail.com" ] } ] }, { "type": "Paragraph", "id": "p11", "content": [] } ] }