This study examined the mathematics talk that children engage in during free play in their non-parental, family child care environments. Audio tapes of children during free play were transcribed and coded for different types of mathematical references using a coding scheme. Types of math talk included: (a) classification, (b) magnitude, (c) enumeration, (d) patterns and shapes, (e) spatial reasons, and (f) part/whole. Results showed that children used spatial relations more than other types of mathematical references. Children‘s math talk was compared based on their gender and age. Results showed that, on average, children who were older than 40 months referenced mathematics more often than younger children. Also, males were more likely to reference math during free play than were females. Children‘s math talk was also analyzed in comparison to provider education and experience. It showed that when providers had CDA or 2-year degrees, children under their care referenced math more frequently. (78 pages)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-112). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-112). Also available on the Internet.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. / Directed by Heather Helms; submitted to the Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-145).

Employing institutional ethnography, this research is an examination of the everyday activities of mothers who provide licensed family child care in their homes in the southern region of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. From this standpoint, I map the work of being licensed to show how their activities, homes and families become articulated to the textual organization of an institutional matrix of regulation. While the institutional matrix is conceptually organized around ensuring the provision of quality child care, family child care providers’ descriptions of their work to maintain licensure illustrate how they find themselves acquiescing to and/ or challenging the ways in which their work is co-ordinated for the administrative purposes of legal compliance with minimum health and safety standards. / Graduate / 0626 / 0518 / 0630 / naomi.northstar@gmail.com

Thesis (M.S.)--Auburn University, 2007. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (ℓ. 58-61)

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-87).

In order to give children quality child care, child care providers need appropriate training and coaching to develop effective teaching practices. Compared to center-based educators, family child care providers tend to have less education and training and offer fewer educational experiences. The purpose of this study was to investigate how family child care providers perceived the quality of Early Head Start training to support professional development, and to identify what professional areas and experiences or activities providers deemed crucial to their professional-development training. Bandura’s (1997) social-cognitive theory described the way people learn from each other, and identified four factors—mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and psychological factors—that are related to self-efficacy. Interview questions and observational coding of teacher training pertained in part to Early Head Start trainees’ experiences of social-learning and self-efficacy during training.

This degree paper deals with the long-term unemployment of one of the most risk groups in the labour market {--} the single-parent mothers. It is a very current topic. Recently, the share of babies born to single-parent mothers has had a growing tendency and the divorce rate has been increasing. More often it is a woman rather than a man who heads the incomplete family. Lonely mothers have to face a difficult task. They have to cope with everyday care of their child on one side and to fulfil the duties of a family provider on the other side. For employers, a single-parent mother with a dependent child is problematic labour force with specific demands on working hours and higher probability of more frequent absences due to caring for a sick family member. These women are therefore willing to take ``worse{\crqq} job which does not correspond to their qualification and education. A lonely mother{\crq}s family is dependent on the income of one of the parents only. Although the father of the dependant has a duty to maintain and support his child as stipulated in the Family Act, he does no fulfil it quite often. Unemployment, especially lasting on a long-term basis, represents a significant social problem for a single-parent family. The standard of living is reduced, and the family has to face the threat of poverty, which is more significant as it regards the children as well. Long-term unemployed single-parent mothers are frequent beneficiaries of social benefits which allow them to survive on a subsistence level. Lonely mothers in this situation chose various strategies to secure alternative income, or take various money-saving measures. They often seek and find help in informal social networks which seem to be very important in such situations. Consequences of long-term unemployment can be a cause of social exclusion. Theoretical part of this degree paper maps the life situation of single-parent mothers with regard to their specific chances of assertion on the labour market. It further deals with the offers of child day care services and the system of support from the state. It also informs of the employment policy measures and flexible forms of employment as a means to harmonize the areas of the work and the family. The degree paper also contains information on the pro-family measures being prepared and approved by the government in November 2008. The research part of the degree paper is focused on identification of the attitudes and strategies of long-term unemployed mothers.

<p>Early childhood teachers pursuing associate degrees often repeated the college algebra course, demanding, “Why do we have to take this? We don’t teach algebra!” Expectations for their training were not well-aligned with their mathematics preparation or teaching work. I have taught the mathematics courses and young children and have worked for an early childhood practice, policy, and research agency. I wanted to learn about these teachers’ experiences as mathematics learners and teachers, with a goal to share the complex nature of their work with teacher educators and other stakeholders to identify better avenues for their mathematics training. I explored the questions: (1) What role, if any, do mathematical learning experiences play in early childhood teachers’ mathematics teaching practice? (2) In what ways do their voices contribute to the professional dialogue regarding teaching mathematics with young children? </p> <p>Dewey’s (1938/1998) <i>experience</i> construct provided lenses to examine early childhood teachers’ experiences learning and teaching mathematics. <i>Continuity</i>, <i>interaction</i>, <i>social control</i>, <i>freedom</i>, <i>purpose</i>, and <i>subject matter</i> provided insights and situated teachers’ experiences within a disparate patchwork of settings and policies. Two family childcare providers participated in this narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly) through an interview on their experiences learning and teaching mathematics and three classroom observations. After analyzing data for Dewey’s (1938/1998) <i>experience</i> constructs, I used narrative analysis (Polkinghorne, 1995) and teaching images (Clandinin, 1985) to write an emplotted narrative for each teacher, Josie and Patsy.</p> Josie told a turning point story (Drake, 2006) of making mathematics “real,” influencing her mathematics teaching practice as she integrated “real” mathematics into everyday activities. Patsy’s appreciation for mathematics and building was seen in her story of a child explaining he used the wide blocks for his base, elaborating, “He's telling me HOW he's building.” While Josie and Patsy had few opportunities to learn about teaching mathematics with young children, they were eager to learn. I propose a training for early childhood teachers, iteratively working as a group to investigate a personal mathematics teaching puzzle or celebration, building on their mathematical personal practical knowledge. Adding my own story to those of the teachers, like Josie’s and Patsy’s, of our work together, will add to my understanding and development of my practice as a curriculum maker (Clandinin & Connelly, 1992), as early childhood teachers’ voices contribute to the professional dialogue about teaching mathematics with young children.