Math-rich+baby+and+toddler+environments

= = About the School of the Mathematical Future [|About P2PU.] = Math-rich baby and toddler environments course =



Target audiences

 * Parents
 * Creators of materials and programs
 * Education software developers
 * Family consultants

Short description of the course
In this course, participants will share their know-how about creating math-rich environments for babies and young children. Two groups of parents will participate in this course. Parents in the first group want to share their own love of math, science and technology with the next generation of little geeklets. The second group are parents anxious or less successful in math who want their kids to avoid such a fate. Developers of early childhood programs and materials, and educators who work with families will also join as peers.

We will meet online once a week and will use an email group and other platforms for asynchronous communication. During each of the six weeks, we will create activities focused on a particular fundamental math topic, such as functions or patterns. Those of us who currently have children will run the activities, and share their experiences of putting ""fun"" in ""fundamental."" We will also aggregate tools and ideas that apply across topics and activities, such as child's eye-level displays of math collections.

Learning objectives
Image credit: [|The Princess Rescuing Application]
 * Design activities and set-ups for young child's environments
 * Learn to observe baby and toddler reactions, collect data, and track changes over time
 * Make a personal list of fundamental math concepts a baby can appreciate, and "grow math eyes" to notice them everywhere
 * Start a library of personally relevant meaningful stories about young children's mathematics (articles, videos)
 * Explore "exponents before counting": subitizing and its implications for early education
 * Consider the use of computers and other electronic devices
 * Make art, crafts, software or stories for your kids, and share with the world

Syllabus
This is just a draft. The syllabus will change depending on the needs and interests of participants.

Week 1: Strew more math!
 * Decorating the house with math
 * Use your math words: indoor graffiti
 * Activity boxes, play bags, lapbooks: all ready to go
 * Mimsy toys
 * Beyond the fridge door: capturing and displaying child's work
 * Tracking baby and toddler's attention and matching the rhythms

Week 2: Content focus - subitize and unitize
 * Subitizing
 * Intrinsic quantities: @@ is for eyes, !!!!! is for fingers...
 * Intrinsic multiplication
 * Baby fractals
 * Historic and modern manipulatives

Week 3: Beautiful math


 * Field trips, photography
 * Math in nature
 * Math in culture
 * Decorate your house with math
 * Quick, spontaneous video and image search games

Week 4: Content focus - functions and change


 * Sorting and seriating
 * Patterning
 * Function machines
 * Composition, inverse
 * Iteration, cycle

Week 5: Useful math


 * Baby signs, better toddler communication
 * Safety through better cause-effect explorations
 * Switch of perspectives, lessening ego-centrism
 * Logic and terrible twos
 * Storytelling and mathematics
 * "Alice in Wonderland" approach: celebrating mistakes and silliness
 * Don't stand in the way of necessary games: expeditions, collections, scavenger hunt, dress-up, webs, roleplay

Week 6: Content focus - signs and symbols
 * The three bear gradient
 * Supporting private, family symbols
 * Gestures and other "1000 languages of children"
 * Figural vs. abstract: tough choice?

Relevant online communities

 * [|Natural Math]
 * [|Math Future]
 * [|Living Math]

Course leader Dr. Maria Droujkova
I have about fifteen years of experience developing programs and courses for helping people to learn mathematics and to engage in research. I design, develop and write about learning experiences for diverse people and situations: early algebra games for pre-K groups of children; Math Clubs and the Family Online Studies for family-centered communities; classes and seminars for k-20 and graduate students; and seminars, workshops and classes for pre-service and in-service teachers. I started several online educational communities, including the [|Natural Math network] and the Math 2.0 Interest Group.

I live in Cary, North Carolina with my husband of twenty years and our daughter. I like to read science fiction and fantasy. My favorite computer games are MMORPGs and puzzles. Of the arts, I like drawing, folding origami, and drumming. For physical activities, I do amateur climbing and parkour. If you do a video conference with me, you are likely to see a dog and a parrot who live in my home office.

E-mail **droujkova@gmail.com** Skype **maria_droujkova** FriendFeed **[]** Twitter **[]** LinkedIn **[]** Facebook** []
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