A student identifies a pattern of increasing quantity.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.

Joanne Mulligan shows a young student’s emerging understanding of the concept of “pattern.”

Joanne Mulligan is an associate professor in mathematics education and associate director of the Centre for Research in Mathematics and Science Education (CRiMSE) at Macquarie University in Sydney. Dr. Mulligan specializes in early mathematical development for children aged 4 to 9 and has 30 years of related experience, both as a primary school teacher and a mathematics education researcher.

The Early Math Collaborative, supported by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, held international symposia in 2009 and 2010. The two events brought experts from around the world to share approaches to early mathematics education with teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and other education professionals. The goal was to generate globally-informed ideas and recommendations for improving math instruction in the early childhood classroom. In breakout discussions and plenary sessions, participants brainstormed ideas, identified issues, and recommended actions.

Enjoy the myriad of repeating patterns in this storytelling clip.

A child is given a story involving a grandpa and toy cars.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.

A student adds and takes away cubes from a collection to match various given quantities.

Focus on the Child videos are taken from one-on-one interviews with individual children. The interviews are designed to elicit evidence of children’s mathematical thinking. They are not teaching episodes or formal assessments.

Teachers encourage children to describe the pattern in a favorite story book.