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Math-rich baby and toddler environment

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Math-rich baby and toddler environment course photo

Math-rich baby and toddler environment

Maria Droujkova's picture
Course organiser: Maria Droujkova
About the Course Organiser: 

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.

No of Seats: 
40
Course Status: 
Completed

Members

A course for sharing know-how about creating mathematically rich environments for young children.

Summary

Live meeting recordings

To join meetings (during announced times) follow this link: http://tinyurl.com/MathRichMeeting

  • January 31 Topics:
    • Is it OK to count on fingers?
    • More advanced finger counting systems.
    • "Pet names" for math objects, roleplay.
    • Music and mathematics
  • February 7th Topics:
    • The kid just plays with objects! Where is math?
    • Subitizing (instant quantity recognition)
    • Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia - comparing early education systems
  • February 19 Topics:
    • Course design
    • Fractal computer game

MindMap of participant questions (link)

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

  • 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

Schedule/Syllabus

Comments

Hi Maria, My name is Sara,

sara kabil's picture
sara kabil
Sat, 2011-01-22 18:37

Hi Maria,
My name is Sara, I'm trying to sign up for the course but I am not able to do so. Ist it still possible or have I completely missed the deadline?

Sara, I just upped the total

Maria Droujkova's picture
Maria Droujkova
Sat, 2011-01-22 19:00

Sara, I just upped the total number of people and you should be able to sign up now! I am looking forward to exploring math together.

Thank you so much Maria! I

sara kabil's picture
sara kabil
Sun, 2011-01-23 09:25

Thank you so much Maria!
I just tried to sign up again but there seems to be no place to input my answer to the required task so its not letting me sign in still.
Looking forward to joining the course :)

Sara, the sign-up task is at

Maria Droujkova's picture
Maria Droujkova
Sun, 2011-01-23 14:36

Sara, the sign-up task is at another site, http://ask.naturalmath.com/ and should not affect how you sign up for this course. The "Sign Up" button should be at the top left corner of the course page - this is how it looks http://screencast.com/t/El2Nblq1d

You can find me in gmail chat droujkova@gmail.com or on Skype maria_droujkova if you want help.

Do you have a more detailed

Hannah Bader's picture
Hannah Bader
Sun, 2011-01-23 20:43

Do you have a more detailed schedule, with dates and times, for this course yet?

Hannah, here is the

Maria Droujkova's picture
Maria Droujkova
Mon, 2011-01-24 02:46

Hannah, here is the preliminary weekly plan by topics: http://p2pu.org/math-future/node/16521/document/16522 I am hoping to follow everybody's questions in the context of each topic. Most of the communication will be asynchronous, and what live meetings happen will be recorded.

Hi, should we expect any new

Chris L's picture
Chris L
Wed, 2011-01-26 20:25

Hi, should we expect any new materials, assignments or discussions today?

I would prefer you do because

kutty's picture
kutty
Fri, 2011-03-25 06:43

I would prefer you do because a virtual machine allows you to return to a known state very quickly and is very isolated; while we are trying new things and messing around in the course, I wouldn't want you to accidentally hose your main system.

Air conditioning unit supply London

Hello Maria, I'd like to join

Feras Nasser's picture
Feras Nasser
Sat, 2011-04-09 01:26

Hello Maria, I'd like to join the course. Did the course finish? If not, is it possible for me to sign up at this point in time? What would you recommend for next steps.