Research on student-active learning emphasises that engagement is crucial for developing competence. Yet, how engagement and study habits, especially lesson preparation and self-study, affect students' perceived competence over time remains unclear. This study investigates these relationships in a flipped classroom mathematics course for early childhood teacher education in Norway. Using a quantitative longitudinal design, we collected survey data from 350 students at the beginning and end of the academic year and analysed relationships through structural equation modelling. The results show that perceived competence has a positive effect on emotional engagement, and indirect effects on behavioural engagement and students' willingness to prepare for lessons. However, higher perceived competence is correlated with reduced self-study time, corroborating the theory that overconfidence diminishes effort. Agentic engagement may sustain perceived competence. These findings underscore the importance of fostering emotional and agentic engagement to support students' study habits to enhance their competence in student-active learning environments.

Preschool children develop essential mathematical concepts through play, yet little is known about how traditional board games can support this process. This small-scale microgenetic case study investigates how children unfamiliar with the Ethiopian game Gebeta (a mancala-type game) learn to play the game and what mathematical competencies emerge. Video observations were conducted with 5-year-olds in Norway as they engaged in repeated play sessions. Event logs and transcripts were analysed with a focus on children’s developing strategies and difficulties. The results show that children quickly understood the basic rules but faced challenges with directionality (i.e., maintaining the correct direction of play) and differentiating between different types of game moves. Over time, they demonstrated evident progress in following the rules. They began to treat groups of counters as units, moving from one-by-one counting to bundling and unitising. These developments align with Bishop’s fundamental activities locating and counting. We conclude that Gebeta provides a playful context in which children can practice directionality and bundling, both of which are crucial for avoiding common errors in later school mathematics, such as off-by-one counting errors and misunderstandings of the number system. The study suggests that Gebeta can be introduced in early childhood settings without simplifying the rules, providing an engaging resource for early mathematics education.

Aiming to develop a whole approach education for mathematics in early ages that involve video production by children, in this paper it is described the Erasmus + project ViduKids no. 2020–1-NO01-KA201–076442 aims, pedagogical approach and activities developed. The tasks developed in the scope of the project involve children exploring how to use images and videos to illustrate mathematical concepts, as shapes, numbers, and space. At the same time, children must get familiar about how to use cameras and other devices in order to develop their ideas and projects and learn about videos techniques production as one-shot video or stop-motion. When producing their own videos, children visualize and reflect on mathematical concepts, and at the same time it is expected that they develop transversal competences as communication, cooperation, creativity, and problem solving. Examples of activities developed so far are presented, namely ‘an explorer mission’, ‘a story with mathematical with content’, ‘problem solving with stop motion’, and ‘playing a game and reporting’.

The integral development of the child is nowadays one of the goals of the education, which implies the use of activities and strategies that involve the various dimensions of the human being in a comprehensive way. This paper aims to describe and analyse the potential of the pedagogical model of the Erasmus+ Vidukids project to develop ‘Heads-on’, ‘Hearts-on’, ‘Hands-on’ activities. The project aims to explore the use of video production about mathematics, by children aged 4-8 years old. The pedagogical matrix involves different levels of complexity in video production, mathematical topics such as numbers, shapes, space and tasks such as ‘An explorer mission’, ‘A story with mathematical content’, ‘Solving a mathematical problem’. Based on a Vidukids activity in which participated 60 trainees from bachelor courses in educational areas, there was immediate involvement in the video production task and the resources needed for the narrative. The analysis of the videos produced and the answers to a questionnaire showed high levels of satisfaction, a perception of various learning experiences, either in terms of video production, the visual representation of mathematical concepts and also transversal competences. This demonstrates how an activity can enhance different skills and contribute to integral education.

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is pivotal for effective classroom instruction. Unfortunately, research on the acquisition of preschool teachers' PCK in the domain of early mathematics and how this knowledge relates to their mathematical classroom activities is scarce. The present contribution investigates (1) the acquisition of PCK in pre-service and in-service preschool teachers and (2) the association between preschool teachers' PCK and self-reported classroom activities in the domain of early mathematics. We offered a scenario-based questionnaire to 162 pre-service preschool teachers and 75 in-service preschool teachers to assess their PCK in the domain of early mathematics. Additionally, in-service preschool teachers fulfilled a questionnaire about their mathematical classroom activities. Our findings demonstrated that first-year pre-service preschool teachers scored significantly lower than second- and third-year pre-service preschool teachers. Furthermore, this latter group achieved a significantly lower PCK score than in-service teachers. Second, we observed a positive association between teachers' PCK and the classroom activities in the domain of early mathematics they reported to provide. Overall, our findings point to the interplay between PCK and effective classroom activities in preschool mathematics, and to the importance of teacher training and professional development programs, including opportunities to enhance the acquisition of this important knowledge.

En del pedagoger mener at studentaktiv undervisning fremmer studentenes læring bedre enn tradisjonell formidlingspedagogikk. For fire år siden startet vi derfor en prosess med å ta i bruk omvendt undervisning som en metode for studentaktiv undervisning i barnehagelærerutdanningen. Det innebærer at vi trakk teoriundervisningen ut fra klasserommet og overførte den til korte filmer. Studentene kan se disse som en forberedelse før de møter opp til undervisningen. Dermed kan læreren i større grad fokusere på å veilede studentene i praktiske aktiviteter og oppgaveløsing i klasserommet. I denne artikkelen analyserer vi hvordan studentene brukte filmene gjennom studieåret, hvor lange filmene bør være, og hva i filmene studentene var mest interessert i. Resultatene viser at det å lage og gi tilgang til filmene ikke automatisk fører til at studentene bruker dem. I eksamensperioden ble filmene brukt hyppigere enn i undervisningsperioden. De som brukte filmene aktivt, så flere ganger på innholdet i filmene som forklarer vanskelig stoff. I gjennomsnitt så studentene bare rundt 60 % av hver film. Jo kortere en film er, jo større del av filmen ble sett. Studentene så i gjennomsnitt litt over fem minutter per film. I artikkelen diskuterer vi mulige årsaker til og konsekvenser av funnene.

This work analyzes spontaneous cooperation between children who participated in Automata for STEM, European Union funded Erasmus+ project workshops. Taking into account the characteristics of automata, that involve a narrative part and a mechanism, the project used them to implement contextualized and interdisciplinary STEM activities. The pedagogical method involved the presentation of automata, and children being challenged to plan and construct their own. Although no cooperative learning strategies were imposed during the workshops, this research aimed to identify types of spontaneous cooperation that could emerge among children. Data was gathered through participant observation and a questionnaire. Core dimensions of spontaneous cooperation were identified as well as specific dimensions, pointing to a divergent type, characterized by involvement between pairs of children in different projects, and to another type, convergent, involving work between pairs of children in the same project. Spontaneous cooperation also varied according to the children’s age or the workshop structure. During workshops with children aged 6–7 years, the class teacher was present and provided guidance, the children were seated in pairs or in a presentation arrangement. During workshops for older children of 8–9 years of age, there was less guidance and the class teacher sometimes was not even in the room the children worked at round tables.

The vignette for this chapter recalls one kindergarten child's exploration and investigation of lines and rulers. It links these to the child's knowledge of literature and documents the impact of provocation from an educator. After explaining the current curriculum and practice situation in Australian early childhood education, the first commentary investigates the provocations used by the educator and the child in the vignette and their reactions to these. Suggestions are made to extend the child's mathematics learning even further. Building on the early childhood setting's beliefs and practices about outdoor education, the second commentary notes the importance of provocations by a knowing, flexible, and playful early childhood educator. From a German/Norwegian perspective, the author of the third commentary provides a critique of the traditional approach to teaching measurement ideas and offers a modern approach linked to the Norwegian situation. This commentary provides extensive suggestions for further directions.

Play is a very important activity for children development and there are evidences that it can be an added value when used for educational purposes. Research about how to integrate play in education points to the importance of teacher role, namely how children play can be scaffold and guided. However, there is also lack of agreement about how to guide children playing and the impact of the guidance in the activity development and competences promoted. Given the characteristics of automata, especially the fact that they include a narrative and a mechanism, they can be used within a play based pedagogy, to implement activities related to plan and construct toys and to promote competences as observation, problem solving, creativity in the STEM areas. To explore this potential of moving toys to promote STEM in the early years of schooling is the aim of the Erasmus + AutoSTEM project. This work aims to describe the main objectives and resources of the AutoSTEM project, including the description of a workshop to construct a toy with a sliding mechanism, the Jelly Bird. The procedures involved the presentation and observation of the toy, detailed instructions on how to construct it, the decoration and the elaboration of a narrative about it. 23 children from the 2nd year of basic education participated in the workshop. The analysis of the prototypes shows that all the participants built them properly. Also some alternative ideas to the proposal initially presented emerged, as well as a diversity of narratives. These data suggest that the instructions enhanced the construction of the prototype, but did not inhibit the creativity of the work developed.

The motivation and interest of children and young people in science areas remains a challenge for contemporary education, and there is also evidence of the importance of its promotion since the early years of schooling as well as the use of interdisciplinary approaches. The Erasmus + AutoSTEM project aims to analyse the potential of constructing automata or “moving toys” as a motivation strategy for learning in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), in the early years of schooling. The characteristics of the automata, namely the fact that they have a narrative part and a mechanism, allow, in a playful approach, to implement activities related to the planning and construction of those toys and to enhance skills such as observation, problem solving, creativity and also skills in the referred STEM areas. In this work, the description of the implementation and evaluation of automata workshops in a school of the 1st year of basic education is made. The data were collected based on direct observation focusing on dimensions of engagement and a questionnaire regarding interest, perception of learning, difficulties experienced, suggestions for improvement. Results evidence that the children showed curiosity for the prototypes presented, having immediately designed their own project, explored materials and completed the construction, in some cases with their own proposals. The perceived difficulties vary according to the age, as well as the type of mechanism chosen.

The skill to perceive math-related situations during play-based activities in preschool can be conceptualized as an inherent part of early childhood teachers' professional competence. It is an important aspect for fostering children's mathematical competencies and should be based on mathematics content knowledge as well as mathematics pedagogical content knowledge. How emotions affect the perception of mathematics-related situations is still unknown. Mathematics anxiety can be seen as a relevant achievement emotion of (pre-service) early childhood teachers. The current study investigates the effects of mathematics anxiety, mathematics content knowledge and mathematical pedagogical content knowledge on early childhood teacher students' perception of math-related situations. Therefore, n=354 early childhood teacher students were surveyed with well-established questionnaires and tested with paper-pencil-based as well as video-based assessments on their mathematics anxiety, knowledge and the perception of math-related situations. Results indicate significant indirect effects of mathematics anxiety on math-related perception, mediated by knowledge. Our findings are discussed with respect to early childhood teachers' training in Germany.

In recent decades, an increasing number of countries have integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) into their curricula for early childhood education and care (ECEC). In contrast to this trend, many ECEC professionals are still reluctant about the idea of teaching STEM to young children. A reason for this might be too little experience with and knowledge about STEM. One way to tackle this problem is to address STEM in ECEC teacher education in a way that is engaging, motivating, and practical, and shows ECEC student teachers appropriate ideas for how to teach STEM in a playful and child-centred way. This case study aims to present and analyse an innovative approach to ECEC teacher training. We let the student teachers build their own automata (toys that have mechanical moving parts) to promote a better understanding of STEM. The students were highly motivated, assessed the approach as exciting and relevant, and consequently could successfully reflect on STEM content and pedagogy.

P. Vaz-Rebelo1, G. Bidarra1, O. Thiel2, C. Barreira1, V. Alferes1, R. Lundheim2, C. Bartoletti3, A. Santos1, F. Ferrini3, J. Josephson4, N. Kostova5, I. Machado1, J. Almeida1 1University of Coimbra (PORTUGAL) 2Queen Maud University College (NORWAY) 3Eureka (ITALY) 4Kindersite (UNITED KINGDOM) 532 School "St. Kliment Ohridski" (BULGARIA)

Information about the paper titled "INSTRUCTIONS TO PROMOTE MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF GEOMETRIC SHAPES IN CHILDREN WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT WHEN CONSTRUCTING A MOVING TOY: AN EXAMPLE FROM AUTOSTEM PROJECT" at IATED Digital Library

Die Fähigkeit, mathematische Inhalte in Spielsituationen der Kindertagesstätte zu identifizieren, um diese für eine angemessene Förderung mathematischer Kompetenzen bei Kindern zu nutzen, kann als ein wesentlicher Bestandteil professioneller Kompetenz von frühpädagogischen Fachkräften verstanden werden. Diese mathematikbezogene Situationswahrnehmung sollte dabei vor dem Hintergrund von sowohl fachmathematischem als auch mathematikdidaktischem Wissen reflektiert werden. Inwieweit Emotionen an dem Prozess der Situationswahrnehmung beteiligt sind, wurde bisher nicht untersucht. Mathematikangst stellt eine bedeutsame Leistungsemotion bei (angehenden) frühpädagogischen Fachkräften dar. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht daher die Frage, inwieweit Mathematikangst und professionelles mathematikbezogenes Wissen die mathematikbezogene Situationswahrnehmung von angehenden frühpädagogischen Fachkräften vorhersagen. Hierfür wurden n = 354 angehende frühpädagogische Fachkräfte befragt und mit paper-pencil-basierten und videobasierten Tests hinsichtlich ihrer professionellen Kompetenz getestet. Die Ergebnisse deuten unter anderem auf bedeutsame indirekte Effekte von Mathematikangst, vermittelt über das mathematische Fachwissen und das mathematikdidaktische Wissen, auf die mathematikbezogene Situationswahrnehmung hin. Die Relevanz der Ergebnisse wird vor dem Hintergrund der Ausbildung von frühpädagogischen Fachkräften diskutiert.