About the Authors
Christina Sales, EdD, a retired assistant professor from the Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa, taught young children for more than 20 years. While at the Regents’ Center, she worked closely with classroom teachers to help them incorporate constructivist activities into their curricula. She helped establish Freeburg School, a demonstration experimental school for constructivist education. She coauthored the NAEYC book Ramps & Pathways with Rheta DeVries. cesjws67 @ gmail. com
they probably have their own ideas and do not need assistance at that moment.
Exploring and experimenting with pattern blocks and pattern block puzzles provide children with opportunities to develop spatial relationships and geometric understanding that are often neglected in early mathematics curricula. The above examples show that young children are capable and confident thinkers and able to figure out how to solve complex spatial geometric problems. When children engage with pattern block puzzles, they construct new geometric knowledge.
Seong Bock Hong, EdD, is a professor of early childhood education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is a long-time board member of the Association of Constructivist Teaching and a consulting editor for the peer-reviewed issue of Innovations. She coauthored the book From Children’ s Interests to Children’ s Thinking: Using a Cycle of Inquiry to Plan Curriculum with Jane Broderick. Her work focuses on guiding pre- and in-service teachers in planning and supporting an emergent inquiry curriculum. seong @ umich. edu
Jill M. Uhlenberg, PhD, Professor Emerita, Iowa Regents’ Center for Early Developmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa, is engaged in research and professional development to improve STEM learning and teaching for children birth to age 8. She has coauthored a series of books entitled STEM for our Youngest Learners with colleagues at the Regents’ Center. jill. uhlenberg @ uni. edu
References
Clements, D. H., J. Sarama, M. E. Spitler, A. A. Lange, & C. B. Wolfe. 2011.“ Mathematics Learned by Young Children in an Intervention Based on Learning Trajectories: Large- Scale Cluster Randomized Trial.” Journal for Research in Mathematics Education 42( 2): 127 – 66.
Clements, D. H., S. S. Guss, & J. Sarama. 2022.“ Challenging but Achievable Math for Young Children.” Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK – 12 115( 7): 468 – 75.
DeVries, R., & L. Kohlberg. [ 1987 ] 1990. Constructivist Early Education: Overview and Comparison with Other Programs. NAEYC. First published 1987 by Longman as Programs of Early Education: The Constructivist View.
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