David Banzer, M.Ed., is a doctoral student focusing on early math teaching and learning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.S. in psychology from Seattle University in 2004 and his M.Ed. in early childhood education from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. After working as a preschool teacher at Erie Neighborhood House from 2008 to 2015, he began serving in his current position as education coordinator for the social service agency. Banzer is also interested in helping early childhood professionals develop their own math abilities—along with a greater awareness of how young children develop mathematical thinking skills. He has created and facilitated a series of professional development programs focused on math and technology in the early childhood classroom and presented at conferences throughout the state of Illinois. He is passionate about early math because it lays the foundation for future academic success. “Math is everywhere in the world,” Banzer observes, “and children can explore math in everything that they do.”
