Education Majors Present at State Conference

In February, a group of Hood students presented work at the Early Career Teaching Conference hosted by the Association of Maryland Math Teacher Educators in College Park, Maryland. The Early Career Teaching Conference, now in its eighth year, offers teacher candidates and new teachers an opportunity to exchange pedagogical practices, network with colleagues and jumpstart their careers in mathematics education.

Hannah Poole ’25 and Maddie Sheffield ’25, both early childhood education majors, presented on manipulatives in early childhood education. Manipulatives are physical tools that help children develop skills through hands-on exploration. Objects like pattern blocks, dominoes or fractal tiles are often used to teach mathematics, for instance.

“We wanted to discuss how we can keep continuity between the early grades and use the same manipulatives across different domains,” said Sheffield. “This topic is important for educators because we want students to feel comfortable learning math and have the chance to use tools that will help them be successful. To do that, we have to introduce manipulatives early.”

Also in attendance were elementary/special education majors Augusta “Gussie” Pinson ’25 and Gabrielle Averill ’25, who presented on the Concrete-Representational-Abstract Integration (CRA-I) Sequence. In this three-stage learning process, students learn by using concrete objects to model problems, followed by using representations of objects to model problems, then finally using abstract symbols to model problems.

“This teaching strategy is important for educators because it provides a research-based framework to teach mathematics,” said Pinson. “We especially like that the sequence integrates the use of concrete manipulatives, such as Base-10 blocks with representational drawings and abstract notation of a math problem, to help students visualize and manipulate the numbers in the problems, rather than just simply have abstract notation presented to them.”

For both presentations, the students all noted that their research and findings were grounded in classroom learning at Hood. Sheffield attributes her own hands-on learning as being a model to practice with her future students. “We had a lot of hands-on experience when using the manipulatives and learning how to understand it from the student’s perspective, and that gave us inspiration for the presentation,” said Sheffield. “Classroom learning at Hood and opportunities to be in schools helped shape the presentation.”

Pinson leveraged an internship teaching special education at Frederick County Public Schools to inform the presentation. “I was able to apply the CRA-I sequence with a small group of students who receive special education services during a math lesson on addition word problems,” said Pinson. “We used the Base-10 blocks to provide students with a concrete manipulative to write the addition equation from the word problem. I hope to use this again when I am working with the same small group of students.”

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, mathematics proficiency for students in the U.S. has seen a sharp decline in recent years. Between 2019 and 2023, test scores in math for fourth graders dropped by 18 points, while scores for eighth graders dropped 27 points. Confronted with these sobering statistics, the need to prepare future mathematics educators is critical. But the efforts of these Hood students offers hope for discovering innovative ways to engage students in the field of math and beyond.

Learn more about Hood’s education programs.