Conclusion (Part 1)

My Personal Teaching Philosophy


After six weeks being in EAB023 class, I believe that :

1. Mathematics in Early Childhood does not only involve numbers, it involves other mathematical concepts as well.

2. When it comes to their mathematics learning, all children should be treated as capable learners who know a great deal and who can learn a great deal more.

3. Teaching and learning of Mathematics in the early years should be as interesting as possible.

4. There should be a balance between accuracy and flexibility in developing computations of the early years learners. In solving a math problem, the process of solving the problem should be taken into account, rather than the answer of the problem.

5. There are a lot of mathematics games that teach and teachers should make use of them in order to assist learners in explorations of mathematical concepts.

Week 5

Mathematics Games

"Rather than teach Mathematics skills by drilling and rote memorization, teachers can plan rich environment and offer developmentally sequenced opportunities that allow children to explore mathematical concepts in the context of play." (Cutler, Gilkerson, Parrott & Bowne, 2003)



In relation the the above view of learning Mathematics, I myself find that learning Mathematics is so much fun with hands-on activities because we usually remember what we do rather than what we talk about. Furthermore, hands-on activities support young children's exploration of Math concepts (Cutler, Gilkerson, Parrott & Bowne, 2003).

Below are some links of online math games that I found on the internet:

1. http://www.priorywoods.middlesbrough.sch.uk/resources/programres.htm

(This site allows teachers/students to play Math games online or download the games on their computers and it is FREE)

2. http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math.html#numbersensegames

(Fun & interactive Math Games according to topics. Teachers might find some useful insights for their lessons from this site)

3. http://www.ababasoft.com/kids/index_math.html
(There are 12 free Maths games available on this site. Although it's written on the site 'Math games for school boys', but the games are suitable for both boys and girls and even the adults)



Reference:
Cutler K, Gilkerson D, Parrott S, Bowne M. (2003). Developing math games: Young Children, 58(1), 22-27.

Week 6

Calculators & Games

Calculators are very common tools used in Mathematics lessons but should them be used just for calculation? Never underestimate calculators! Besides using them for calculation purposes, they can also be used as tools for mathematics games. This was what we did in one of our lessons. Each and everyone of us were given a calculator and we were asked to display our favourite numbers on the calculators. We were then asked to group/arrange ourselves according to ascending and descending order of the numbers we displayed on the calculators.

There are other interesting games that a teacher can create in a Mathematics lesson and the games do not necessarily need to involve some fancy and expensive materials. A teacher just has to be creative and improvise any materials and resources which are available around them to make a mathematics lesson as interesting and meaningful as possible.


Below are some other Mathematics games that can be used in Mathematics lesson to help young children explore math concepts:

1. Subsitise Egg




2. Teddy Bear Race

3. Closer is Better

Week 3

Beginning Processes & Number

This week's lesson focused on developing computations in the early years. As the lesson went on, I managed to see that the processes involve in developing computations in the early years are in stages and the stages are:

1. Developing number concepts by matching one-to-one correspondence

2. Sorting by classifying quantity

3. Ordering by comparing more than 2 objects or more than 2 sets

4. Patterning by looking at visual representations

As we can see, these stages move from a simple process to a more complex process. This relates to a concept which Vygotsky classified as the Zone of Proximal Development where young learners are able to move to a more difficult level of tasks if they are scaffold by the adults (Morris, 2008).

In developing computations of the early years learners, I believe there should be a balance between accuracy and flexibility . Even for a topic as easy as counting, teachers should put emphasis on understanding of the one-to-one correspondence which is crucial in knowing how to count rationally, rather than teaching students memorization of number words in a given sequence. According to Unglaub (1997):

" Teaching a child to count isn't teaching her to understand math unless you teach her to touch another object for each additional number (2, 3, etc.) and other mathematical concepts involved in counting."

References:

Morris, C. J. F. (2008). Zone of proximal development. Retrieved August 30, 2008 from http://www.igs.net/~cmorris/zpd.html

Unglaub, K. (1997). What counts in learning to count?: Young Children, 52 (4), 48-50.

Week 4

Mathematics Syllabus Documents

This week's lesson started off with the comparison between Queensland Early Childhood Mathematics Syllabus Documents with some other countries' Early Childhood Mathematics Syllabus Documents (Malaysia, China and Norway). It has been so interesting for me to find out that in the Queensland Early Childhood Mathematics Syllabus Document, recognizing the images on the notes and coins is also included as a part of Mathematics lessons. It might sound like a very simple thing to be included in a lesson but it is actually a very important thing to learn. Learning to recognize images on the notes and coins involves a bit of history as well as general knowledge and this helps young learners to develop their thinking skills.

Mental Computation Strategies

Mental computation strategies are strategies used in dealing with math problems which involve bigger numbers. Some of the strategies are by using the 100 Charts and the 99 Charts and by using empty number lines. For each question given, there will absolutely be different kinds of suggested order of presentation of numbers. The teacher's role therefore is to encourage children to think of any possible solutions for the question given and then share and compare them with other students. This way, students will be able to see different ways that they can use to solve a particular question.

After attending this week's lecture and workshop, I have come to realize that in learning mathematics, the right answer is not the most important thing but the process towards getting the right answer is what matters the most.

Week 2

What is Early Childhood Mathematics?

When first time posed with this question, i associated Early Childhood Mathematics with introducing students to numbers ; counting 1,2,3 and so on and doing easy addition and subtraction processes. Some of my classmates shared the same view as mine. Here are some concept maps that they have created in response to the question of 'What is early Childhood Mathematics?'






However, as the discussions between my classmates and I progressed, I found that Early Childhood Mathematics does not only involve numbers, additions and subtractions. It also involves other mathematical concepts such as shapes, space, time, chances and data and so on. Some of my classmates shared this idea on their concept maps.





Towards the end of the class on that day, I have come to a consensus that Early Childhood Mathematics is not only about numbers, but it involves other Mathematical concepts as well.

As stated by Perry, Bob, Dockett and Sue (2002):
"It is important for us to not to consider young children as 'empty vessels' or even “leaky vessels” when it comes to their mathematics learning, instead treat all children as capable learners who know a great deal and who can learn a great deal more."



Math Metaphors

We were given some metaphors of what learning Mathematics is like. It took me some time to understand and relate some of the suggested metaphors to my mathematics learning experience. Among all of the listed metaphors given, I was able to relate some of them to my math learning experience; recipe , jungle, and jigsaw.

1. Learning mathematics is like learning a new cooking recipe where the teacher or books give step-by-step instructions and we just follow them.
- There are many formulas involved in learning mathematics. Just like step by step instructions in a recipe, the formulas direct us to find solutions for any math problems.

2. Mathematics is like a jungle because the ideas are all jumbled up.
- Different people have different ways and approaches to solve a particular math problem. We won't be able to see these differences unless we are given explanation about them.

3. Mathematics is like a jigsaw because the ideas fit neatly and beautifully together.
-When applying the right concepts and to the right problems, there are always definite answers in mathematics.

Reference:
Perry, Bob and Dockett, Sue. (2002). Ch 5 : Young Children's Access to Powerful Mathematical Ideas in English, Lyn D (ed), Handbook of international research in mathematics education, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp.81-111.

Week 1

Unit Outline

Before I chose to enroll in this unit, I had a quick look at the unit outline which is available at QUT Virtual website.

'This unit aims to enhance your understandings, attitudes, values and skills in relation to early childhood mathematics. This unit will investigate teaching methods for developing concepts and skills for looking at mathematics as a unified body of knowledge' (QUT Virtual, 2008).

As mentioned above, by the end of this unit I expect myself to be exposed to various philosophies & beliefs of teaching mathematics in the early years, examined them, and finally developed my personal teaching philosophy.

Reference:
QUT Virtual. (2008). EAB023 unit outline. Retrieved August 27, 2008 from http://blackboard.qut.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_34648_1

Introduction

All the posts in this blog are based on the weekly lectures & workshops that I attended for EAB023 unit for this semester (week 1-week 6). My weekly reflections are based on my learning experience in the lectures and workshops and are also based on some additional readings related to the topics. Prior to that, I have created weekly concept maps as the outlines for my weekly reflections.