Gaia Scerif, a professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, emphasized the importance of executive functions and numeracy in early years education, highlighting their role in mathematics and their impact on learning and development. She introduced a program called "Orchestrating Numeracy in the Executive" aimed at co-producing a play-based curriculum intervention that is inclusive of all children and brings together executive functions and numeracy. Gaia also discussed the importance of spatial skills and shapes in early years education, suggesting practical activities to help children think about shapes and improve their spatial thinking.
Executive Functions and Numeracy in Early Years
In this webinar Gaia, a professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, led a webinar on the importance of executive functions and numeracy in early years education. She emphasized that these skills are crucial for young children's learning and development, and that they are often applied to mathematics. Gaia also highlighted the importance of not isolating executive functions as standalone skills, but rather understanding how they are applied to various tasks. She shared research evidence showing that children with strong executive functions have stronger numeracy skills in primary school and preschool. Gaia then introduced a program called "Orchestrating Numeracy in the Executive" which aims to co-produce a play-based curriculum intervention that is inclusive of all children and brings together executive functions and numeracy. The program involves educator professional development, practical ideas for fostering these skills in play, and observation of classroom practices. Gaia acknowledged the diversity of educators in early years settings and emphasized the need to design interventions that are not time-consuming, technical, or patronizing to the expertise in the room.
Next Steps
1. Educators to incorporate executive function challenges into math activities for preschool children.
2. Educators to use spatial language more frequently when interacting with children in the classroom.
3. Educators to implement shape exploration activities, such as the cardboard shape fitting game.
4. Educators to combine spatial concepts with counting activities in everyday classroom tasks.