Implementing Early Math Learning Along a Continuum of Guided Play

• In Event: Promoting STEM Learning in Early Childhood

Abstract

A growing body of evidence promotes guided play as an optimal approach for supporting children’s early mathematical ability (Skene et al., 2022), a skill that is essential for future learning (Duncan et al., 2007). While these experimental studies promote guided play for early mathematics (Fisher et al., 2013), classroom-based research identifies how teachers face several challenges towards implementing guided play within classroom practice (Pyle at el., 2018). The present study responds to this central challenge by interviewing ten expert teachers to understand how they are successfully implementing guided play to support early math. Results identified three overall approaches, each with specific strategies for implementation, that teachers used to successfully facilitate play to support early math learning.

Authors

• Hanna Wickstrom, Lakehead University

• Angela Pyle, University of Toronto - OISE