David Banzer, M.Ed.

David Banzer, M.Ed., is a doctoral student focusing on early math teaching and learning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He received his B.S. in psychology from Seattle University in 2004 and his M.Ed. in early childhood education from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2011. After working as a preschool teacher at Erie Neighborhood House from 2008 to 2015, he began serving in his current position as education coordinator for the social service agency. Banzer is also interested in helping early childhood professionals develop their own math abilities—along with a greater awareness of how young children develop mathematical thinking skills. He has created and facilitated a series of professional development programs focused on math and technology in the early childhood classroom and presented at conferences throughout the state of Illinois. He is passionate about early math because it lays the foundation for future academic success. “Math is everywhere in the world,” Banzer observes, “and children can explore math in everything that they do.”

Posts by David Banzer, M.Ed.

Math in Block Play, Pt. 4

posted by David Banzer When preschool children build in the block area, they typically build with a purpose. They may set out to build something specifically. This may change in the process but there is typically a clear process that occurs. Often, these constructions are representational. They are building something that they have experienced. An […]

Math in Block Play, Pt. 3

posted by David Banzer In this past 2 posts, I’ve discussed math in block play and we’ve explored the building process of a younger child. In this post, we’ll examine spatial awareness and patterns in block play and examine more block photos of preschool children’s constructions. What do we see in the following photo that […]

Math in Block Play, Pt. 2

posted by David Banzer I struggled as a teacher to use three-dimensional shape names. I still struggle with this and may need to look up three-dimensional names. What’s a cuboid and a rectangular prism? Most adults would know cube, sphere, and cylinder, but maybe not much more than that. In block play, some teachers, including […]

Math in Block Play, Pt. 1

posted by David Banzer As a preschool teacher, the block area was my favorite area in my classroom and I spent a good portion of my time working with preschoolers as they built with blocks. Unit blocks specifically have enormous value in their use in the preschool classroom. Once children are familiar with the qualities […]