Early Chidlhood math

Here's a really useful and interesting resource a friend in Early Childhood Education recently sent me. It's research-based and has a wealth of ideas and suggestions for teaching math to preschoolers and kindergartners. The really neat thing, however, is the suggestion that we need to make math an integral part of children's lives in the sense that they see things through a mathematical lens from a very early age.

I have a feeling this is similar to the idea of mathematization developed by Bob Wright in the Math Recovery materials. As we know, manipulative materials are essential lfor helping children develop all sorts of mathematical and quantitative relationships but it's the student's ability to use these skills and apply these concepts abstractly that enables them to think mathematically.

The paper also suggests that children gain experiences in a variety of math topics such as measurement and geometry in addition to fundamental ideas of number. I wonder what the effects of the increased use of iPADs and other tech-based learning tools will have on the development of student's mathematical ideas?