Abstract
This paper demonstrates how professional development which focuses on task design principles can impact on what a preschool teacher may learn from implementing that task which in turn may impact on changes made to specific task features. Specific design principles for preschool mathematics tasks are presented and exemplifiedReferences
BaroodyA. J. (1987). Children's Mathematical Thinking: A Developmental Framework for Preschool, Primary, and Special Education Teachers. New York: Teachers College.
Gelman, R., and Gallistel, C. (1978). The child’s understanding of number. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Henningsen, M. & Stein, M. K. (1997). Mathematical tasks and student cognition: Classroom-based factors that support and inhibit high-level mathematical thinking and reasoning. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 28(5), 524-549.
Israel national mathematics preschool curriculum (INMPC) (2008). Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://meyda.education.gov.il/files/Tochniyot_Limudim/KdamYesodi/Math1.pdf
Nicol, C. and Crespo, S. (2006) Learning to teach with mathematics textbooks: how preservice teachers interpret and use curriculum materials. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 62(3), 331–355.
Swan, M. (2007). The impact of task-based professional development on teachers’ practices and beliefs: a design research study. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 10, 217-237.
Tirosh, D., Tsamir, P., Levenson, E., Tabach, M., & Barkai, R. (2011). Prospective and practicing preschool teachers' mathematics knowledge and self-efficacy: Identifying two and three dimensional figures. 17th MAVI (Mathematical Views) Conference. Bochum, Germany. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/ffm/Lehrstuehle/Roesken/maviarticles.html
Watson, A. & Mason, J. (2006). Seeing an exercise as a single mathematical object: Using variation to structure sense-making. Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 8(2), 91-111.
Watson, A., & Sullivan, P. (2008). Teachers learning about tasks and lessons. In D. Tirosh, & T. Wood (Eds), Tools and resources in mathematics teacher education (pp. 109-135). Sense Publishers: Rotterdam.