Mathematics Education in the Early Years

Tamsin Meaney is professor of mathematics education at Bergen University College, having previously been professor at Malmö University. She has worked in teacher education in New Zealand, Australia, Sweden and Norway. Her research interests are varied but centre around the need for mathematics education to support social justice concerns. Whilst in Sweden she started the research group, Young Children's Mathematics. Ola Helenius has a PhD in mathematics but in the last few years has worked in mathematics education at the Swedish National Centre for Mathematics, Gothenburg University, where he is currently deputy director. He is interested in mathematics education at all levels and was part of the group who provided advice for the development of the revised Swedish curriculum for preschools in 2010. He belongs to a number of research groups at different institutions across Sweden and is also part of the Scandinavian research group, Young Children's Mathematics. Maria L. Johansson has a PhD in mathematics and also one in mathematics education. Her PhD in mathematics education focused on issues to do with mathematics in preschool, particularly to do with the professional development of preschool teachers and childcare workers. She is an Associate Professor at Luleå University where she works in teacher education. Her research interests are wide ranging, covering both mathematics and mathematics education for a range of ages. She has also published extensively with the research group, Young Children's Mathematics. Troels Lange has been a mathematics teacher education for twenty years, first in Denmark, then Australia and Sweden. He currently works at Bergen University College in Norway where he is an Associate Professor. His research interests centre on how children experience learning mathematics but he has published on a range of different issues to do with mathematics education. Since 2011, he has been part of and published with the research group Young Children's Mathematics. Anna Wernberg is associate professor in mathematics teacher education in the Faculty of Education and Society at Malmö University. She had previously worked at Kristianstad University and Borås University, also in Sweden. Her research interests focus on the use of learning studies in mathematics classrooms for young children. She has also published extensively with other members of the research group Young Children's Mathematics.

Introduction.- An historical overview of early education policy and pedagogy: Global perspectives and particular examples.- Very Young Children.- Playing with patterns - Lessons learned from a learning study with toddlers.- Creating a mathematics environment.- Learning and teaching.- What is the difference? Young children learning mathematics through problem solving.- Children´s Play as a Starting Point for Teaching Mathematics in Preschool.- Opportunities to learn mathematics while playing traditional dice games.- Poor mathematics performance of South African students points towards poor mathematics foundation of young children.- Mathematical processes.- What is Play As a mathematical activity for preschool children?.- Mathematical reasoning at pre-school level.- Mathematically creative processes in early childhood.- Mathematical conversations in kindergarten.- Adaptivity as an developmental aspect of mathematical thinking in the early years.- Number understandings.- The Development of the Competence of Counting in a Child between three and six years with a specific Language Impairment.- Development of a flexible understanding of place value.- The role of conceptual subitising in the development of foundational number sense.- Mathematical content understandings.- "I spy with my little eye" ... different components of a concept of length.- The Significance of the Equal Sign in The Development Of Early Algebraic Reasoning.- Technology in early childhood.- Tablets in Kindergarten - Seriously?!.- Preschool children's learning to think mathematically using an interactive table.- Dragon box and algebraic thinking.- Transitions.- The interactional niche in the development of mathematical thinking (NMT) in the familial context.- Investigating the potential of home learning environments for early mathematics learning.- Families and educators working together to assist young children notice, explore and discuss mathematics.- Mathematical understanding in the transition from kindergarten to primary school.- Preschool Teachers.- How to promote preschool-teachers' mathematical awareness.- Reflection- An opportunity to connect different aspects of professional competencies in mathematics education.- From instruction to construction: Fostering preservice teachers' "mathematical awareness".- Preschool teachers' operationalising of mathematical goals.- Post-script.