Deliver embedded EF-mathematics activities through educator professional development plus flexible weekly activity selection¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The ONE programme delivered four weekly 30-minute face-to-face workshop-style professional development sessions for early years practitioners, followed by eight weeks of implementation support, together with induction into 25 co-developed activities integrating EF and early mathematics. Activities were explicitly designed to be "chosen flexibly each week by teachers, rather than in a fixed order, to suit each setting's context", maximising acceptability and feasibility across diverse preschool settings. All activity cards described their mathematical content and executive demands explicitly, and complexity was scaled as children became familiar with the activities.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Educators must be trained in how early mathematics and EF co-develop
• Activities must use low-cost, readily available materials and be embedded in everyday practice
• A minimum of three activities per week covering breadth in mathematical content (numbers and counting, patterns and ordering, space and shapes)

Constraints¶

• The trial compared against practice-as-usual, not against an isolated EF intervention, so the specific contribution of integration per se is not yet isolated

Target Learners¶

• early years practitioners working with 3- to 4-year-old children in preschool settings

Target Learning Goals¶

• early mathematics (counting, cardinality, ordering, spatial skills) developed alongside executive function skills

Affordances¶

• Mutualistic Ef Math Codevelopment Framework

Claims¶

• Disadvantaged children in the integrated intervention improved more on executive function measures than disadvantaged controls [+W]
• Disadvantaged (EYPP-eligible) children in the integrated intervention gained more in numeracy and spatial skills than disadvantaged controls [+W]
• An integrated EF and mathematics intervention improves overall early numeracy in four-year-olds more than practice as usual [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Implement Reading Edge with two days of initial teacher training plus monthly in-class coaching and peer support structures
• Implement strategy interventions through regular teachers with minimal professional development and structured materials
• Deliver professional development through a 2-week summer institute followed by year-long on-site coaching
• Sustained teacher professional development with coaching and professional learning communities
• Design professional development that is intensive, on-site, peer-based, responsive, and grounded in teachers' real classroom experiences
• Implement simulation-based education with targeted interventions, high-intensity low-dose high-frequency training, and strong integration and support

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Scerif, G., Sučević, J., Andrews, H., Blakey, E., Gattas, S. U., Godfrey, A., et al. (2025). Enhancing children's numeracy and executive functions via their explicit integration. npj Science of Learning 10, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00302-9