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Numeracy in Early Childhood (EDUC90899)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Semester 2
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
Availability | Semester 2 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
High quality early childhood education curricula recognize the important role played by the home numeracy environment and provide opportunities for young children to engage with mathematical concepts and to acquire mathematical language. Addressing children’s numeracy skills from infancy into the early years of school, the subject is informed by the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework and the Victorian Curriculum.
Strong content knowledge supported by opportunities to rehearse mathematics teaching practice in a collaborative environment contributes to pre-service early childhood teachers’ increased self-confidence. This subject will focus on both Teacher Candidates’ content knowledge acquisition and their teaching practice by unpacking the strands of early childhood mathematics in lectures, and then providing opportunities in workshops for Teacher Candidates to apply academic content to a range of typical play activities. Teacher Candidates develop a range of learning experience plans that may then be differentiated for enactment during the Professional Experience practicum placement.
Topics include number and counting; comparing, ordering and estimating; addition and subtraction; composition and place value; spatial thinking, shape; patterns and structure; measurement; and data collection, representation and analysis. The importance of assessing children’s emerging numeracy skills in order to enact interventionist practice will be emphasized throughout the subject.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, Teacher Candidates should be able to:
Graduate Standards refers to the Graduate-level Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
- Critically reflect on research into how students learn and understand the concepts, substance, structure and implications for effective teaching practice, including the creation of effective learning environments (Graduate Standards 1.2, 1.5, 2.1, 3.2, 3.6)
- Understand how to design lesson plans and learning sequences, using knowledge of student learning, curriculum, assessment, reporting as well as effective teaching resources (Graduate Standards 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 3.2, 3.3, 3.6)
- Understand how to set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics (Graduate Standards 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.6)
- Select appropriate strategies to differentiate teaching to meet specific needs of students, including digital technologies, literacy, numeracy and 21 st Century skills in order to engage and empower students in their learning (Graduate Standards 1.2, 1.5, 2.5, 2.6, 3.3, 3.4)
- Evaluate teaching programs to improve learning and to determine the effectiveness of strategies and resources (Graduate Standards 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 5.1)
- Identify assessment strategies including formal and informal diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess and to support students’ learning (Graduate Standards 2.3, 3.4, 3.6, 5.1, 5.2, 5.4)
- Demonstrate understanding of the progression points in mathematics learning trajectories and their intersection with the National Quality Standards, the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, and state and national school mathematics curricula for mathematics in the early years of school (Graduate Standards 2.1, 2.3)
- Demonstrate pedagogical content knowledge, seeking out additional information to supplement their own knowledge (Graduate Standards 2.1, 2.5, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4)
- Demonstrate broad knowledge of strategies, including the implementation of ICT that can be used to engage children in learning and improve learning outcomes (Graduate Standards 2.6, 3.4)
- Evaluate teaching impact on children’s learning through ongoing formative assessment and differentiate learning experiences to impact constructively on children’s learning outcomes (Graduate Standard 1.5)
Generic skills
This subject will develop the following set of key transferable skills:
- Clinical reasoning and thinking
- Problem solving
- Evidence based decision making
- Creativity and innovation
- Teamwork and professional collaboration
- Learning to learn and metacognition
- Responsiveness to a changing knowledge base
- Reflection for continuous improvement
- Linking theory and practice
- Inquiry and research
- Active and participatory citizenship.
Last updated: 10 February 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
---|---|---|---|
EDUC90898 | Introduction to Clinical Practice (EC) | February (On Campus - Parkville) |
6.25 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 10 February 2024
Assessment
Due to the impact of COVID-19, assessment may differ from that published in the Handbook. Students are reminded to check the subject assessment requirements published in the subject outline on the LMS
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Group presentation (equivalent to 1000 words)
| Mid semester | 20% |
A critically reflective task that draws on multiple sources of evidence including video of Teacher Candidates' own teaching practice and links quality of practice with impact on children's learning
| Prior to Block placement | 40% |
Examination
| End of semester | 40% |
Hurdle requirement: Minimum of 80% attendance at all scheduled lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshops. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 10 February 2024
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Principal coordinator Jayson Cooper Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 36 hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 27 July 2020 to 1 November 2020 Last self-enrol date 7 August 2020 Census date 21 September 2020 Last date to withdraw without fail 16 October 2020 Assessment period ends 27 November 2020 Semester 2 contact information
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 10 February 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Clements, D. & Sarama, J (2014). Learning and teaching early math: The math trajectories approach. New York: Routledge
Participants will be provided with a collection of readings via the online Learning Management System (LMS).
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary) Course Master of Teaching (Early Childhood)
Last updated: 10 February 2024