Integrating Math and Science in Early Childhood Classrooms Through Big Ideas offers teachers a way to think about the future classroom and to meet the needs of children who come to into it with diverse experience, knowledge, and abilities. "Change how we think about math and science for young children," the authors say in their Preface. "Instead of separating the disciplines, planning lessons and topics and projects aimed at math OR science content, let's look at the world the way the child does. Children think in terms of big ideas." In this unique book, the authors focus on big ideas-like patterns, transformation, movement, balance, and relationships-as a way to think about content, and they integrate science and mathematics through these big ideas, rather than linking them topically. The book looks at why it is important to think about thinking, introduces assessment early to help the teacher plan for assessment before teaching even begins, and sets up an environment that will support the construction of the big ideas that integrate math and science. Real-life scenarios provide invaluable insights into the teacher's thinking and planning, and each chapter includes two modules to be used for in-depth exploration of different aspects of the big ideas. It's a unique exploration of thinking and learning. The First Edition of Integrating Math and Science in Early Childhood Classrooms Through Big Ideas includes: Show future teachers why it is important to think about thinking. The first part of the book looks at this new way of teaching--the underlying framework of big ideas as a way to integrate math and science. Help students plan for assessment before teaching begins. Chapter 2 provides the knowledge needed in this critical area of teaching. Help students construct meaningful understandings of how math and science can be integrated through the big ideas that form the structure for any curriculum. Engage students in classroom experiences through real-life scenarios, illustrations, and photos. Introduce students to the ideas that form the foundation of a well-integrated curriculum. In an engaging style, the book is laid out to support real-life planning in a classroom.

This title provides teachers with the tools they need to help students learn in an integrated, real-world instructional environment.

During the last decade there were significant advances in the study of students' learning and problem solving in mathematics, and in the study of classroom instruction. Because these two research programs usually have been conducted individually, it is generally agreed now that there is an increasing need for an integrated research program. This book represents initial discussions and development of a unified paradigm for studying teaching in mathematics that builds upon both cognitive as well as instructional research.

Teacher education is an evolving field with multiple pathways towards teacher certification. Due to an increasing emphasis on the benefits of field-based learning, teachers can now take alternative certification pathways to become teachers. The Handbook of Research on Field-Based Teacher Education is a pivotal reference source that combines field-based components with traditional programs, creating clinical experiences and “on-the-job” learning opportunities to further enrich teacher education. While highlighting topics such as certification design, preparation programs, and residency models, this publication explores theories of teaching and learning through collaborative efforts in pre-Kindergarten through grade 12 settings. This book is ideally designed for teacher education practitioners and researchers invested in the policies and practices of educational design.

Answering calls in recent reform documents to shape instruction in response to students’ ideas while integrating key concepts and scientific and/or mathematical practices, this text presents the concept of responsive teaching, synthesizes existing research, and examines implications for both research and teaching. Case studies across the curriculum from elementary school through adult education illustrate the variety of forms this approach to instruction and learning can take, what is common among them, and how teachers and students experience it. The cases include intellectual products of students’ work in responsive classrooms and address assessment methods and issues. Many of the cases are supplemented with online resources (http://www.studentsthinking.org/rtsm) including classroom video and extensive transcripts, providing readers with additional opportunities to immerse themselves in responsive classrooms and to see for themselves what these environments look and feel like.

Activities and research-based strategies that build math skills, concepts, and vocabulary into classroom routines, learning centers, and more.