| By the age of four, there are already individual differences in children's mathematical abilities (Klibanoff, Levine, Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, & Hedges, 2006). These early differences in children's school-entry mathematical knowledge are a predictor of subsequent mathematics achievement (Duncan et al., 2007). Research has shown that children's early mathematical input and experiences are important for setting the foundation for their mathematical development (e.g., Klibanoff et al., 2006). LittleCountersRTM is a new early numeracy program for preschoolers that is based on Gelman and Gallistel's (1978) five counting principles (cardinality, one-to-one, abstraction, stable order, order irrelevance). The purpose of the program is to teach caregivers and early childhood educators (ECEs) how to incorporate mathematics into preschoolers' everyday activities. The objectives of the current study were: (i) to evaluate the effectiveness of LittleCountersRTM on preschoolers' mathematical growth over an eight-week period and (ii) to examine the types and frequency of mathematical talk and counting principles used by the ECEs before and after the introduction of LittleCountersRTM. Seventy children (37 program, 33 control children) between the ages of three and four years old and 12 ECEs (6 program, 6 control) were recruited from four childcare centres. The ECEs in the program childcare centre received two professional development workshops on LittleCountersRTM during the study period. The children's mathematical abilities were pre- and post-tested using The Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA-3; Ginsburg & Baroody, 2003), the Give-N-Task (Lee & Samecka, 2011) and the Counting Span Task (Rasmussen & Bisanz, 2005). The circle times in each classroom were video recorded (16 program, 8 control childcare centre videos) and for transcribing and coding for the mathematical talk and counting principles used by the ECEs. The results reveal that the program children showed a significant increase in their cardinality knowledge as measured by the Give-N-Task compared to the control children; however, there were no significant differences on the other two tasks. After being introduced to LittleCountersRTM, the program ECEs utilized various elements of the LittleCountersRTM program such as different types of mathematical talk and an increase in the use of the cardinality principle. There were no significant differences between the program and control ECEs in terms of the frequency of mathematical talk during the circle times. These exploratory findings are promising. Outcomes and improvements for introducing LittleCountersRTM workshops in childcare settings are discussed. Overall, the present study underscores the importance of mathematical education and learning for children prior to formal schooling.;Keywords: early mathematics development, early numeracy program, early childhood educators input, early childhood mathematics curriculum. |
