Special Issues in Early Childhood Mathematics Education Research

Amal Sharif-Rasslan, Ph.D. (1999), The Academic Arab College, Haifa, Israel, is Assistant Professor at that college. She currently heads the Department of Mathematics in this college, and has published many articles in elementary mathematics and mathematics education. Dina Hassidov, Ph.D. (2000), is a faculty member of Talpiot Academic College, Department of Mathematical Education. Her main areas of interest are mathematical and didactic aspects of the understanding and use of mathematical symbols, mathematical thinking in young children (ages 3–6) and the professional development of pre-service mathematics teachers for preschool.

Preface

List of Figures and Tables

Notes on Contributors



Introduction

Amal Sharif-Rasslan and Dina Hassidov


PART 1: The Number Concept Development in Early Childhood: Cognition, Metacognition and More

1 Comparing the Development of Numerical and Quantitive Ability Historically and in Children: Does One Reflect the Other?

 Amal Sharif-Rasslan

2 Young Children’s Metacognitive Processes in a Variety of Challenging Number Tasks

 Ana Clara Ventura, Flavia Santamaria and Nora Scheuer

3 Playing with Counting ‘Games’ on the Tablet

 Ruthi Barkai, Esther Levenson, Pessia Tsamir and Dina Tirosh



PART 2: Geometry: Teaching Learning and Thinking

4 Learning and Teaching Geometry in Early Childhood

 Douglas H. Clements, Julie Sarama and Candace Joswick

5 Visual Thinking and a Visual Language for Young Children: The Agam Program

 Zvia Markovits, Rina Hershkowitz, Sherman Rosenfeld, Lea Ilani and Bat-Sheva Eylon



PART 3: Patterns and Structure

6 Pathways to Early Mathematical Thinking in Kindergarten: The Pattern and Structure Mathematics Awareness Program

 Joanne Mulligan

7 Young Children’s Recognition of Mathematical Structures and Its Relations to Mathematical Skills

 Tal Sharir and Zemira Mevarech



PART 4: Early Childhood Mathematical Thinking and Cognition: Reasoning and Explanations

8 Decision Making and Logical Deductions in Early Childhood When Dealing with the Quantifier “For All”

 Amal Sharif-Rasslan

9 On Explaining, Explanations and Second Graders

 Rina Hershkowitz and Abraham Arcavi



PART 5: Early Childhood Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge and Professional Development

10 Between Natural Language and Mathematical Symbols (<, >, =): The Comprehension of Pre-Service and Preschool Teachers’ Perspective of “Numbers” and “Quantity”

 Bat-Sheva Ilany and Dina Hassidov

11 Investigation of Mathematical-Pedagogical Knowledge among Prospective Teachers in the Early Childhood Program at the College for Arabic Speakers

 Juhaina Awawdeh Shahbari

12 Professional Development of Kindergarten Teachers through Collaboration with Preschool Math Education Expertise

 Dina Hassidov and Bat-Sheva Ilany



PART 6: Conclusion

13 Special Issues in Early Childhood Mathematics Education: A Wrap-Up of Topics in the Book

 Amal Sharif-Rasslan



Index