MyTeachingPartner - Mathematics/Science Curricula and Implementation Support System
What We Do
MyTeachingPartner is a curriculum for at-risk four-year-olds and just-in-time support system for their teachers.
Project Info
Project Status: Active
Funding Source: Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Grant R305A120631
Principal Investigator: Jessica Whittaker
Results.
- Teachers observed to:
- Provide students with higher quality instructional support
- Provide students with higher facilitation of mathematics and scientific thinking
- Children demonstrated greater learning gains across the year and higher end-of-year performance
How we did it.
Design thinking and systematic design methods:
- Met with users and stakeholders, analyzed needs, brainstormed solutions, rapid prototyping of solutions, extensive testing from small pilot to large scale efficacy trial in 140 classrooms
Problem:
- Young children’s math and science knowledge/skills are most important predictors of academic success but relatively little time is spent on this in the early childhood classroom
- Teachers are not confident as facilitators of math and science learning
- Traditional professional development is expensive, time-consuming, distant from practice
Product:
- Yearlong curricula for prekindergarten mathematics and science provide engaging, cognitively demanding inquiry activities, scaffolding students' deep knowledge and skill development
- Support children’s emerging development across the year
- Are appealing and fun, balancing child-directed explorations with teacher guidance
- Easy for teachers to implement
- Embed teacher professional development in bite-sized chunks, more likely to be transferred to practice
- We brought teachers a laser focus in limited time: In 10 minutes a day, learn how to implement an entire year’s curricula in math and in science:
- Rich teaching tips embedded within the curricula: Bite-sized teaching tips, recommendations for differentiated instruction, and extensions across the school day and at home
- Online just-in-time demonstrations of high quality, high fidelity teaching practice are authentic, from at-risk classrooms like teachers’ own
Why online delivery matters:
- Scaled professional development meets needs of many teachers inexpensively
- Reduction in time away from classroom for training
- Available everywhere, via computer or mobile device, via an attractive user interface
MyTeachingPartner Video
Watch our MyTeachingPartner video to learn more.
Project Team
Kathy Neesen
- Research Scientist
- Instructional Technology Director
Robert C. Pianta
- Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education
Matthew C. Semanik
- Multimedia and Web Developer
Virginia E. Vitiello
- Research Associate Professor
Jessica E. Whittaker
- Research Associate Professor
- Director of Birth to Eight Initiatives
Amanda P. Williford
- Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education Associate Director for Early Childhood Education
- CASTL Clinical Psychologist
Publications
- Vick Whittaker, J., Kinzie, M.B., Williford, A., & DeCoster, J. (2015). Mathematics and Science Curricula and Professional Development: Effects of MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science on Teacher-Child Interactions in Prekindergarten Classrooms. Early Education and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.1047711
- McGuire, P., Kinzie, M.B., Thunder, K., & Berry, R. (2016). Methods of Analysis and Overall Teaching Quality in Pre-K Mathematics. Early Education and Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2015.968241
- Kinzie, M. B., Vick Whittaker, J., McGuire, P., Lee, Y., & Kilday, C.R. (2015). Research on curricular development for pre-kindergarten mathematics & science. Teachers College Record, 117 (7).
- Kinzie, M.B., Vick Whittaker, J., Williford, A., Maier, M., McGuire, P., Lee, Y., & Kilday, C.R. (2014). MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science pre-kindergarten curricula and teacher supports: Associations with children's math and science learning. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 586-599. doi: 10.1016/ j.ecresq.2014.06.007
- McGuire, P. R., & Kinzie, M. B. (2013). Analysis of place value instruction and development in pre-k mathematics. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41, 355-364. doi: 10.1007/s10643-013-0580-y
- Lee, Y., & Kinzie, M. B. (2012). Teacher questioning and student responses with regard to cognition and language use. Instructional Science, 40, 857-874. doi: 10.1007/s11251-011-9193-2.
- Kilday, C.R., Kinzie, M.B., Mashburn, A.J., & Whittaker, J.V. (2012). Accuracy of teacher judgments of preschoolers' math skills. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 30(2), 148-159. doi:10.1177/0734282911412722
- Lee, Y., Kinzie, M. B., Whittaker, J. V. (2012). Impact of online support for teachers’ open-ended questioning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28, 568-577. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2012.01.002
- McGuire, P., Kinzie, M.B., & Berch, D.B. (2012). Developing number sense in pre-k using five-frames. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40(),213-222. doi:10.1007/s10643-011-0479-4
- Wang, F., Kinzie, M. B., McGuire, P., & Pan, E. (2010). Applying technology to inquiry-based Learning in early childhood education. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(5), 381-389. doi:10.1007/s10643-009-0364-6
- Kilday, C. R., & Kinzie, M. B. (2009). An analysis of instruments that measure the quality of mathematics teaching in early childhood. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36, 365-372. doi:10.1007/s10643-008-0286-8