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A child’s early years (0-8 y) are the critical development years, as this is when the foundation for learning is laid. A strong learning foundation yields better school performance and increases the likelihood of attaining higher education, resulting in major social and economic gains for society. The early childhood care and education of nearly 80 million Indian children, below the age of six, is covered by Integrated Child Development Services through 1.37 million Anganwadi centers (AWCs). Sixty percent of these children are from rural areas. Preschool education, immunization, health check-ups, referrals, dietary supplements, growth monitoring, and education on health and nutrition are provided at the AWCs. Forty-two percent of these rural children receive pre-school education at the AWCs, and the majority are from disadvantaged families. In this study for evaluating the status of early childhood education programs at rural AWCs, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 71 AWCs across 25 villages in Haryana, to assess their physical setup, availability of learning resources, and administration and Anganwadi workers’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding early childhood education. The findings suggest that most of the AWCs do not have proper infrastructure, are not adequately safe, and compromise on health and hygiene. Further, learning resources are scarce and the Anganwadi workers are not trained well enough to impart knowledge and skills to children in a sustained manner. Many of them do not understand the importance of partnering with parents for children’s holistic development. Although this study is limited to 71 AWCs in Mewat, the literature review indicates that these issues and challenges are common to rural villages, which is a serious concern for equity in preschool education. Thus, there is a need for several prompt reforms in early childhood education programs in rural areas of India to bring equity into preschool education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article reveals the links between second language learning and the development of global citizenship in pre-school education. A review of educational policy documents shows that global citizenship education is defined as a democratic and sustainable education focused on the development of competences of a global citizen. It emphasises the importance of global citizenship in the education of the pre-school child, since from this point onwards, the child becomes familiar with his/her surroundings, not only locally but also globally. Education at this age is linked to knowledge of the world, communication in the mother tongue and in a foreign language, the development of values relevant to modern society, awareness of human rights, etc. The ethnographic research carried out and the analysis of the data obtained have shown that language learning is closely linked to the development of global citizenship, which is recommended to start at pre-school age, as children can easily absorb new knowledge and apply it in formal and informal activities. Preschool teachers agree that children are very receptive to foreign languages because of modern information technology and its use in communicating with their peers in formal and informal activities in and outside the preschool setting. Thus, combining global citizenship education with foreign language learning is seen as essential for a growing global citizen because of the wider educational opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pre-school age is the most crucial and sensitive period in a child’s life, a period of their psychological development. It is at this age that a child’s personality develops. And people who, both consciously and unconsciously, participate in their educational process play an important role in a child’s formative years. Children at this age learn a lot on their own – by imitating, playing, exploring and simply by being curious. However, a tutor (a parent or a teacher) is still the one who should support and motivate children, helping them develop competencies they will need in school. Pre-school children learn a lot of new information, trying to develop key competencies such as learning, communication, civics, and problem-solving skills. Pre-school children see and understand the world differently than adults, they perceive facts in a specific way. That is why the teacher can help children develop the aforementioned competencies in a natural way. As far as developing the problemsolving competency is concerned, there are additional possibilities to do so. People face problems, which need to be solved quickly and effectively, every day (at work, in personal life). That is why the step-by-step approach to problem solving should be implemented into pre-school education. Therefore, it is extremely important to map children’s thought process when solving a problem (finding new and non-standard solutions) and expand these findings using appropriate methods. Dividing a problem into smaller parts; proceeding step by step, trying to find the most effective solution – all that helps develop algorithmic thinking. The development of abstract and logical thinking, spatial orientation and pre-mathematic concepts is equally important. Digital technology – from interactive whiteboards to tablets to robotic toys – can be a useful didactic aid. The toy is in general meaning an object that supports basic childhood needs or activity – game. Robotic toy - Bee Bot - is a very simple robot that needs to be programmed. The program is created by pressing the basic buttons on the back of the toy and storing it in the robot's memory. The next command starts. The robot then executes a sequence of commands. Creating a program (for example, by tapping the free buttons with the intention of knowing what a toy can do) is different from creating an algorithm. Creating an algorithm is a sequence of commands that lead to a goal to solve a particular problem. To support the development of child's algorithmic skills, it is necessary to familiarize children with the types of tasks: problem situations that can be solved, for example, by creating a Bee-bot robot program. Problem-solving skills, logical thinking, creativity and originality are the most appreciated skills today. Therefore, starting to develop these skills as early as kindergarten is a logical conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important player in their child's education, parents should discuss mathematics with their young children. Since children who are read to regularly by their parents have higher literacy rates; we posit that positive interactions between children and their caregivers would increase children's competence in mathematics and lower rates of mathematics anxiety. We present findings from a design based experiment of original technology developed to encourage parents to engage in mathematical dialogue with their children. Three rounds of research were conducted with mother and preschool child pairs. Our findings indicated that an iPad app can present rich tasks for preschool children and prompts for the parents to encourage productive discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the present study were (a) to examine the types and frequency of spatial language that early childhood educators (ECEs) naturally engage in during circle times, and (b) to investigate whether spatial language input predicts children's mathematical knowledge. Twelve ECEs participated in the study. Seventy 3- to 5-year-old children's mathematical abilities were pre- and post-tested with The Test of Early Mathematics Ability (Ginsburg & Baroody, 2003). The circle times in six classrooms were video recorded over a six-week period and were transcribed and coded for the frequency and types of spatial talk in which the ECEs typically engaged. Results revealed that ECEs did not spend a substantial portion of time engaging in spatial input, and as such, the amount of spatial input by ECEs was minimally related to preschooler's mathematical competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report presents the findings of the first phase of a professional development project with preschool teachers working alongside mathematics educators. Six preschool teachers were interviewed to identify specific examples of mathematical activity within regular classroom routines such as arrival, snack time, circle time, centres, and clean up. From the interviews the teachers identified a wide range of examples that took place through purposeful planning for circle time and centres. Fewer activities were identified by individual teachers during snack and arrival routines, but collectively they shared several opportunities including sorting, patterning, counting, and measuring. The range of examples demonstrates promise for the collaborative professional development in the next phase of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore early childhood teachers' lived experiences learning and teaching mathematics with young children, adding finer-grained context and detail to broader research descriptions. We interviewed ten early childhood teachers in a university laboratory school about their mathematics training, classroom mathematics curriculum, who controls their mathematics curriculum, and their mathematics teaching and learning philosophies for young children. Analysis included coding for Bourdieu's (Grenfell, 1996) social field theory. Results highlight social factors that influence what early childhood teachers do and teach, such as standards, regulations, administration, research, university organization, parents, and children. Teachers worked with autonomy and competence; mathematics teacher educators should leverage early childhood teachers' interest in young children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This proposal explores how the activity of subitizing - quickly apprehending the numerosity of a small set of items - changes with the development of number concepts. We describe how varying the orientations of items in teaching experiment sessions promoted one pre-schooler, Frank, to attend to subgroups of items and change his thinking about conjoining two numbers. The results illustrate how game-play oriented subitizing activities may support growth in number understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]