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Blog Archive

Real Outdoor Free Play

In preparation for Summer, Leslie Layman, coordinator of the Truman College Child Development Program, will discuss her favorite ideas for taking Math and and other STEAM ideas outside. “When I think of these experiences and interactions, I wonder why we, as teachers, feel the need to intervene and explain so often.” –Nora Thompson I love […]

Outdoor Scientific Inquiry in Urban Spaces

In preparation for Summer, Leslie Layman, coordinator of the Truman College Child Development Program, will discuss her favorite ideas for taking Math and and other STEAM ideas outside.               When thinking about using a scientific inquiry approach with young children, I often refer back to one of the guiding principles of the Reggio Emilia […]

Taking Tech Outside

In preparation for Summer in this series, Leslie Layman, coordinator of the Truman College Child Development Program, will discuss her favorite ideas for taking Math and and other STEAM ideas outside. http://lapisdemae.com/7-formas-de-mostrar-as-criancas-sobre-a-criacao-de-deus/ When I teach Truman College’s Science and Math for Young Children course, I have the students break into groups, do research about, and […]

Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead

posted by Chris Kruger So far, we’ve seen what it takes to prepare an exploration, a graphing progression, and a discussion about what kind of questions can be centered around an exploration. To wrap up our month, I’m going to extrapolate from a specific example to a general framework for explorations. A General Framework for […]

Graphing as an Exploration

posted by Chris Kruger The difference between an activity and an exploration Exploration based learning may be all the rage, but not every Pinterest post is an exploration. Explorations are intensive, thoughtful investigations into a concept, while an activity is a solitary project, isolated from any surrounding work. In my Pre-K/K classroom, the emphasis is […]

Itty Bitty Problems in Math

Let’s keep them itty bitty. My first thought about this article came from number reversals (Numbers written backwards).  See the picture to the left.  This picture comes from an assignment my kindergartner completed recently.  Reversals are really difficult for him,  however, he is wholly unaffected, unaware of them at this point.  He loves to write […]

Parents: Your Young Child is Struggling with Math – What to Do?

posted by Kate O’Donnell Struggling:  As a parent, there is nothing worse than watching your child struggle.  The awful truth is that every child, including my own, struggles. So, what do we as parents when our child is having a difficult time comprehending Math? Some thoughts:  The help is at home.  It will take some […]

In Math, Slow and Steady Wins the Race.

by Kate O’Donnell Math can be hard, but don’t panic. Not everything comes easy to us.  This is true for all people.  Being an educator for over twenty years, I have worked with many students who have struggled to conceptualize mathematics.  Each individual brings a different story.  While some truly do have issues that need […]