Culturally Relevant Teaching for Pre-K Mathematics

August 16, 2010

Students from non-White, non–middle class homes typically face school norms and expectations that don’t align with their experiences outside school. A new mathematics education project aims to provide students in 4-year-old kindergarten quality learning opportunities in and out of school that are mathematically substantive and culturally sensitive. The project will foster ongoing professional learning communities where teachers will work with families to identify and build on the rich mathematical understandings of children from all ethnic, linguistic, and economic backgrounds. This professional development program extends earlier research on Cognitively Guided Instruction. CGI focuses on cultivating teachers’ understanding of children’s mathematical thinking by helping teachers construct models of the development of that thinking in well-defined content domains. More information is available here.