Childcare Level 3 Unit 1

The children act 1989 has influenced some settings by bringing together several sets of guidance and provided the foundation for many of the standards practitioners sustain and maintain when working with children. The act requires that settings work together in the best interests of the child and form partnerships with parents or carers. It requires settings to have appropriate adult to child ratios and policies and procedures on child protection. This act has had an influence in all areas of practice from planning a curriculum and record keeping. The every child matters framework has

Numeracy development is important for all children as maths is an important part of everyday life. The way in which maths is taught has changed greatly over the years. When I was at school we were taught one method to reach one answer. Now, particularly in early primary phase, children are taught different methods to reach an answer, which includes different methods of working out and which also develops their investigation skills. For example, by the time children reach year six, the different methods they would have been taught for addition would be number lines,

“It is the messy, complicated picture of teacher work with multiple contexts, interpretations and impositions of curriculum that we seek” (Ayers, W., Quinn, T., Stovall, D. O., & Scheiern, L. (2008, p. 308). The Nova Scotia mathematics curriculum was designed based on several key assumptions and beliefs about learning. Not all of these assumptions and beliefs are in line with cognitive science literature. First, the Nova Scotia mathematics curriculum states that, “students learn by attaching meaning to what they do and need to construct their own meaning of mathematics” (Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2014, p. 25). While it is difficult to argue against the premise that meaningful learning is important,

Most children enter preschool knowing a considerable measure about math. In a sheltered and strong classroom they will feel great going out on a limb and participating in self-coordinated critical thinking. Meshing math into all ranges of the educational programs will increase kids' play encounters and permit all learners to experience achievement. Kids will soon consider themselves to be able mathematicians who apply their abilities in various ways. Their developing math abilities, certainty, and interests will work well for them in school and life.

Geist, E. (2009). Children are Born Mathematicians: Supporting Development in Young Children, (1st ed., pp. 398). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics: Developmentally Appropriate Instruction for Grades Pre-K-2 (Volume I) (2nd Edition) (Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics Series) 2nd Edition. by John A. Van de Walle, Lou Ann H. Lovin, Karen S. Karp, Jennifer M. Bay-Williams

My area of specialization is Early Childhood Education and more specifically preschool education. Our current knowledge of developmental psychology shows us that children are in constant state of development. As they age, their physical, cognitive and socioemotional abilities become more sophisticated and hit new milestones. This fact has been widely recognized and methods to teach young children have been developed that address children’s specific developmental stage. Unfortunately, this better understanding of children’s cognitive, socioemotional, and physical abilities has not completely been integrated in the teaching of mathematics. Most math experts are really familiar with the primary

Math is one of the fundamental subjects taught in elementary school and is a necessity for overall academic survival. Young learners’ future understanding of mathematics requires an early foundation based on a high quality, challenging, and accessible mathematics education (NCTM, 2013). An engaging and encouraging learning environment helps children develop confidence in their ability to understand and use mathematics. However, math proves to be a difficult subject for many students.

Psychologists have discovered that pre-school children who are unable to determine and count at an early age encounter mathematics problems in their later ages. They noted that children who start schooling with poor understanding of numbers and estimation of quantities have high chances of struggling with mathematics at a later age as compared to those who are comfortable with numerals at a young age. Lacking skills to estimate group sizes hampers the child's ability to master the concepts of how numbers relate with quantities and the relationship between these quantities. Here is the methodology used to reach this conclusion,

However, differentiation is very important in helping children to become motivated and reach their potential (Pollard, 2000) as children feel both sufficiently challenged yet are still able to complete the work set. Although this view is currently being questioned within current reports as a new set of pedagogy comes into place in some schools within mathematics entitled mastery, suggesting that differentiation is becoming obsolete in mathematics for those who follow this program, as it suggests the whole class to learn the same content at the same rate (NCETM, 2015).

In the journal, Teaching Math to Young Children, it stated 5 recommendations on teaching preschoolers and Kindergarteners math. The journal went in depth on each recommendation. In recommendation 4 it describes ways of teaching early learners how to view and describe their world mathematically. Three main points they noted were that teacher’s should intertwine math ideas to familiar experiences, introduce math vocabulary while linking familiar meanings with math terms, and using open- ended questions to assist children in applying their understanding on math.

A study by Heather C. Hill, Brian Rowan and Deborah Lowenberg Ball conducted in 2005 at the University of Michigan found that a teacher 's mathematical knowledge was significantly related to student achievement. This study included students and teachers in first and third grades from 115 elementary schools during the 2000-2001 and 2003-2004 school years. This study is one of few that exist in regards to how a teacher 's mathematical knowledge contributes to student performance. The overall conclusions of the study imply that the higher mathematical content knowledge a teacher has the likelier it is that student achievement will rise.

The emergence of 21st century learning and skills has been a direct consequence of the dawn of a technology driven century where the half life of current knowledge shrinks by the second. The domain of mathematics has consequently seen a newfound impetus on learning and innovation skills as defined by The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The primary goals of designing learning environments have taken a turn towards ‘mathematisation of the child’s thinking’ (NCF, 2005), rather than just building on core mathematics concepts. But despite concretizing these modern goals in national policy and curriculum design

All mathematic teachers have students enrolled in their classes who struggle with basic math skills and suffer from anxiety. This does not make a difference if it is a first-grader or an eleventh-grader, any student can develop math anxiety. Dr. Eugene Geist found in his research that mathematics anxiety seems to occur for the first time in 1st- through 3rd-graders, but it is possible for even preschoolers to develop it (2015, p. 329). While the majority of students who develop math anxiety are the low math ability students, there are other factors that can cause any grade student to develop this anxiety. A teacher who is not specialized in mathematics may not feel confident while teaching the content to their students; this then causes a student to begin developing anxiety. Classroom activities and how a student perceives their math classroom environment can also cause a student to develop anxiety or increase their anxiety (Yanqing, 2016, p. 32). Research by Geist in “The Anti-Anxiety Curriculum: Combating Math Anxiety in the Classroom” (2010) shows that low socioeconomic children often have parents who have less educational background and tend to have a negative attitude about learning mathematics. This negativity is transferred from parent to child and thus hinders their mathematical experience (p. 24).

Learning math skills is critical for establishing a foundation for success in mathematics. The model intends to promote and develop students’ mathematical skills and knowledge. Also, the model is designed to build a strong mathematical foundation for students. As students have individual differences, the model employs several learning theories to meet students’ learning needs and achieve their potential in mathematical skills. Thus, the model relies on the progressivism philosophy and multiple intelligent theories. In addition, there are some goals have been taking into consideration when designing the model which includes the following: