Early childhood educators play a central role in fostering children's mathematics learning; however, few studies have focused on educators' beliefs about very young children's capabilities in mathematics. Understanding these beliefs is critical for gaining insight into the mathematics education provided in birth to three settings. In light of this…

Cognition research has demonstrated that babies, from birth, can detect numerical correspondences and abstract properties of objects and events. However, this limited existing research is often distant from educational practice, and thus, this information may be inaccessible to early childhood educators; most of whom hold pre-Bachelor level…

There is a growing interest in the integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into early childhood education programs. However, existing research suggests that many educators experience uncertainty, or even fear, when it comes to teaching STEM content. This article presents baseline data about Australian early…

There is general agreement that young children are capable of accessing mathematical ideas and should be given the opportunity to do so in their early childhood educational settings. However, existing research has established a range of challenges for early childhood mathematics education; in particular, related to educators' confidence and…

This article reports findings from a two-year independent evaluation of the "Little Scientists" program; a program providing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional development for early childhood educators across Australia. This article reports on the qualitative data gathered with educators to illustrate…