Special Issues in Early Childhood Mathematics Education Research

Amal Sharif-Rasslan, Ph.D. (1999), The Academic Arab College, Haifa, Israel, is Assistant Professor at that college. She currently heads the Department of Mathematics in this college, and has published many articles in elementary mathematics and mathematics education. Dina Hassidov, Ph.D. (2000), is a faculty member of Talpiot Academic College, Department of Mathematical Education. Her main areas of interest are mathematical and didactic aspects of the understanding and use of mathematical symbols, mathematical thinking in young children (ages 3–6) and the professional development of pre-service mathematics teachers for preschool.

• PrefaceList of Figures and TablesNotes on ContributorsIntroductionAmal Sharif-Rasslan and Dina HassidovPART 1: The Number Concept Development in Early Childhood: Cognition, Metacognition and More1 Comparing the Development of Numerical and Quantitive Ability Historically and in Children: Does One Reflect the Other?Amal Sharif-Rasslan2 Young Children’s Metacognitive Processes in a Variety of Challenging Number TasksAna Clara Ventura, Flavia Santamaria and Nora Scheuer3 Playing with Counting ‘Games’ on the TabletRuthi Barkai, Esther Levenson, Pessia Tsamir and Dina TiroshPART 2: Geometry: Teaching Learning and Thinking4 Learning and Teaching Geometry in Early ChildhoodDouglas H. Clements, Julie Sarama and Candace Joswick5 Visual Thinking and a Visual Language for Young Children: The Agam ProgramZvia Markovits, Rina Hershkowitz, Sherman Rosenfeld, Lea Ilani and Bat-Sheva EylonPART 3: Patterns and Structure6 Pathways to Early Mathematical Thinking in Kindergarten: The Pattern and Structure Mathematics Awareness ProgramJoanne Mulligan7 Young Children’s Recognition of Mathematical Structures and Its Relations to Mathematical SkillsTal Sharir and Zemira MevarechPART 4: Early Childhood Mathematical Thinking and Cognition: Reasoning and Explanations8 Decision Making and Logical Deductions in Early Childhood When Dealing with the Quantifier “For All”Amal Sharif-Rasslan9 On Explaining, Explanations and Second GradersRina Hershkowitz and Abraham ArcaviPART 5: Early Childhood Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge and Professional Development10 Between Natural Language and Mathematical Symbols (<, >, =): The Comprehension of Pre-Service and Preschool Teachers’ Perspective of “Numbers” and “Quantity”Bat-Sheva Ilany and Dina Hassidov11 Investigation of Mathematical-Pedagogical Knowledge among Prospective Teachers in the Early Childhood Program at the College for Arabic SpeakersJuhaina Awawdeh Shahbari12 Professional Development of Kindergarten Teachers through Collaboration with Preschool Math Education ExpertiseDina Hassidov and Bat-Sheva IlanyPART 6: Conclusion13 Special Issues in Early Childhood Mathematics Education: A Wrap-Up of Topics in the BookAmal Sharif-RasslanIndex