In 2007 Erikson Institute launched the Early Math Collaborative to increase the quality of early math education. We do this in three key ways:
- Professional development of teachers, facilitators/trainers, and administrators
- Conducting research to generate new knowledge about approaches to teacher education, teacher development, and the most effective methods of mathematics instruction for young children
- Being a source of information on foundational mathematics – what it is, how it develops in children, and how best to teach it.
Central to our approach is a set of Big Ideas in early mathematics created by the Collaborative to provide teachers of young children with a series of central, coherent, and developmentally appropriate concepts that can be incorporated into any curriculum.
These concepts are fundamental to a young child’s understanding of mathematics.
As a means to strengthen programming we conduct as well as become a resource for other teachers and teacher educators, the Early Math Collaborative online environment aims to collect and disseminate resources as well as provide avenues for discussion around mathematics in the early years. These resources, whether internally-produced content or links to external sources, are archived according to media type, series, and the Collaborative’s own Foundational Math Topics and Big Ideas. In this way, whether you are a 1st grade teacher looking for ideas within a Common Core focus, a researcher searching for specific math education-related articles, or a parent who would like to find engaging activities to explore foundational math concepts, you can find what you need within our virtual learning center.
