This is a conceptual paper based on existing literature aiming to provide practical information on designing and implementing activities to promote children's computational thinking. Computational thinking is a relatively new term in early childhood education that refers to a specific problem-solving thinking process involving various logical and…

Problem solving is a critical component of academic and social emotional learning. It is a life-long skill. For young children, opportunities to make choices and problem solve lay the foundation for later development of self-determination (Palmer et al., 2012). However, young children may not have the experience or ability to resolve problems…

Using question 28 from the May Problems to Ponder in volume 114, the author and her seventh- and eighth-grade students launched into a discussion of creativity, linearity, piecewise, and recursive definitions of functions. This pattern to ponder provided rich mathematical opportunities for all students in her middle school classroom.

The standby wooden blocks that are prevalent in most high-quality early childhood classrooms are missing from most primary and elementary grades. The goal for block play in early childhood is to support learning in mathematics, science, art, literacy and language arts, physical development, social studies, and social and emotional growth. This…

This article is a chronological description of the author's growth as a teacher, through both her direct experiences with Vivian Paley and the years of their correspondence. Mrs. Paley's qualities as a human being, directly translated into her role as a classroom teacher, are shown to be powerful influences on the author's own development. The…

Rosemarie T. Truglio is the senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, where she is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which "Sesame Street" is based, and oversees content development across platforms such as television, publishing, toys, home video, and theme park activities.…

The aim of this paper is to study teachers' roles in preschool children's mathematical reasoning using analysis of epistemological moves. Three moves were identified: instructional moves, confirming move and a new move, concluding move. There were no generative moves encouraging the children to produce different arguments for choice of strategy or…

This article reflects on a school's approach to gamifying the Royal Society Te Aparangi's First CREST Award. The article explains how CREST was reconceived as a quest using elements of live action role playing (LARP) and gamification, and the tools that were used to do this. It describes how progress was measured using a points system and the…

A literature review establishes a working definition of recreational mathematics: a type of play which is enjoyable and requires mathematical thinking or skills to engage with. Typically, it is accessible to a wide range of people and can be effectively used to motivate engagement with and develop understanding of mathematical ideas or concepts.…

Oliver Herring, the creator of TASK, defines it as: "[a]n improvisational event with a simple structure and very few rules... TASK's open-ended, participatory structure creates almost unlimited opportunities for a group of people to interact with one another and their environment. TASK's flow and momentum depend on the tasks written and…

During early childhood, practitioners and family members are often tasked with determining optimal approaches to support social skill development in young children with developmental disabilities in inclusive and self-contained settings. Eight different evidence based approaches are highlighted (social narratives, scripting, pivotal response…

Young children thrive in classrooms that allow them to explore and discover their environment and interests and also support them in this learning. Because children learn best when they are interested and excited, early-childhood educators should offer children play-based, integrated mathematical experiences (NRC 2009). In this article, the…

Social competence and social communication development can be concurrently supported through intentional thought and planning on the part of the early childhood special educator. In this article, we present suggestions for how teachers can effectively plan for and implement interventions to support these two areas, all within the context of play.…

The Maker Movement is a community of hobbyists, tinkerers, engineers, hackers, and artists who creatively design and build projects for both playful and useful ends. There is growing interest among educators in bringing making into K-12 education to enhance opportunities to engage in the practices of engineering, specifically, and STEM more…

The article presents a metaphorical set of images that emerged from reflections on practice and the research gathered during that practice in an early childhood summer program. A metaphor is crafted of several blocks that "click together" as pieces of theory and practice intended to provide teachers and teacher educators with examples of…