Curry School of Education | University of Virginia

Fall 2009 Series

November 6, 2009
11:00 am
Curry Library Innovation Commons

Doug Clements
SUNY Distinguished Professor of Learning and Instruction
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The Building Blocks of Early Mathematics

(right-click on this link to download)

Abstract

What are the building blocks of mathematics? Dr. Clements will present lessons from research gleaned from three recent publications that he helped write: 1) the report of President Bush's National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2) NCTM's new Curriculum Focal Points for early childhood, and 3) a recent report on early childhood mathematics from the National Research Council. One effective instructional approach featured in all three reports is basing instruction on learning trajectories. This approach will be illustrated by a set of NSF (National Science Foundation)- and IES (U.S. Dept. of Education)-funded projects that produced and evaluated research-based mathematics curricula.

Biography

Douglas H. Clements is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Education at University of Buffalo, SUNY. He was a member of President Bush's National Math Advisory Panel and the National Academies of Sciences/National Research Council Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics. His primary research interests lie in the areas of the learning and teaching of geometry, computer applications in mathematics education, and the early development of mathematical ideas. He has published over 90 refereed research studies, 6 books, 50 chapters, and 250 additional publications. Currently, Dr. Clements is Principal Investigator on a large scale research project, Scaling Up TRIAD: Teaching Early Mathematics for Understanding with Trajectories and Technologies funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), as part of the IERI program (Interagency Educational Research Initiative, a federal partnership of the IES, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development NICHD, and the National Science Foundation, NSF). This had its roots in a previous IERI project he directed, Scaling Up the Implementation of a Pre-Kindergarten Mathematics Curricula: Teaching for Understanding with Trajectories and Technologies, an IERI project funded by the NSF. In addition, Dr. Clements has directed or co-directed over 15 additional projects funded by IES, NSF, and others including Building Blocks-Foundations for Mathematical Thinking, Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 2: Research-based Materials Development (http://www.buildingblocks.org), and the, national Conference on Standards for Preschool and Kindergarten Mathematics Education (co-funded by NSF and ExxonMobil Foundation, http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/org/conference/index.htm ), which resulted in a book, Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., & DiBiase, A.-M. (Eds.). (2004). Engaging young children in mathematics: Standards for early childhood mathematics education.

For any questions, please contact Dan Berch, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at 434.924.0763 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or his assistant, Patsy Craig at 434.924.7471 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it