Early Math is Big (Early Math Collaborative)

View more in our Early Math Idea Library: earlymath.erikson.edu/ideas
In 2007 Erikson launched the Early Math Collaborative (previously Early Mathematics Education Project) to increase the quality of early math education through professional development of teachers, facilitators/trainers, and administrators; conducting research to generate new knowledge about approaches to teacher education, teacher development, and the most effective methods of mathematics instruction for young children; and providing a source for information on foundational mathematics - what it is, how it develops in children, and how best to teach it.
Central to this approach is a set of “Big Ideas in Early Mathematics” created by the Collaborative to provide teachers of young children with a series of central, coherent, and developmentally appropriate concepts that can be incorporated into any curriculum. These concepts are fundamental to a young child’s understanding of mathematics.