About us
Our Mission
To provide resources and guidance through the research-based imaginative world of Let’s visit Numberland to inspire a generation of children to make connections to the world of mathematics and to see the joy in it! We aim to do this through:
• Ensuring a range of a range of quality materials is available globally to assist early year teachers and parents.
• Linking with current research into child psychology and mathematics.
• Networking widely with professionals to continue to ensure Numberland is ‘best practice’ for all!
Barbara Schindelhauer,
Author, Founder, Trainer
Dr. Gerhard Friedrich,
Author, scientific advisor early childhood and maths
Mark Hansen,
Co-author
Dr Fabrice Jaumont,
Scientific advisor multilingualism
Barbara Schindelhauer
Founder ifvl, Numberland co-author and early years enthusiast
I am a German national and have two children. I have graduated from Business Administration and Psychology at the University of Mannheim, Germany, and have completed a Master at Stirling University, Scotland. After several years in Sales & Marketing in the international consumer goods industry, my new (and I guess always meant to be) career started while I was a stay home mom: Starting my own business to contribute to the development of children without being overambitious but letting the good things happen and enjoying these precious early years.
In 2004, I volunteered in my children’s kindergarten, and came across the Numberland research project by early childhood pedagogue Dr. Gerhard Friedrich. The impact on my children Tom (rising 5) and Tina (3) was incredible. Not only were they completely absorbed by exploring numbers and shapes, they also benefited in their overall development. And what fun we had!
I wanted to help spreading this powerful and lovely concept among teachers so that all children of any background wood do well, have a good start and equal chances. The same year, 2004, I founded the ifvl. Gerhard was so kind so become my scientific advisor and we have developed Numberland further.
Ever since, I have been accompanying many projects and trained many hundreds of teachers, in Germany and internationally, in very different settings.
I am published co-author of the German best selling Numberland handbook Komm mit ins Zahlenland by Herder Publishing, Freiburg. With 75+k copies sold since 2004 and still in print!
I appreciate different settings and needs, so I am constantly developing and designing resources to ensure Numberland can take place anywhere in the world.
I am filled with gratitude for the positive feedback from the field, the international impetus, above all the difference Numberland makes to children!
www.ifvl.de
Credentials
- Presenter: Maths Webinar Series by Fundapromat (Episode 22, 2023)
- Workshops: Maths Week Ireland, University of Dublin and Stranmillis University College Belfast (2022)
- Presenter: Education Influence Spotlight, Episode 6 (2022)
- Member of the international teacher network Education Influence
- Presenter: World Literacy Summit 2020
- Trainer: Erasmus+ Bilingual Education a Step Ahead (2020, 2016)
- Interview: Early Years Summit by Kathy Brodie (2019)
- Presenter: 2. Andiner Deutschlehrerkongress / Congress of Teachers of German as a Foreign Language, Chile (2015)
- Presenter: BCME8 – British Congress of Mathematics Education (2014)
- Presenter: Prepare for Life! – Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education by Stiftung Lesen / Reading Worldwide (2013)
- Keynote Speaker: Delta Kappa Gamma Society, Bi-annual European Regional Conference (2011)
Published articles in English
- Gerhard Friedrich, Barbara Schindelhauer (2015).
Let’s visit Numberland: A highly emotive and efficient reason for reasoning.
in: Primary Mathematics by the Mathematical AssociationVolume 19, issue 1, pp. 13-16.
www.m-a.org.uk Download article - Gerhard Friedrich, Barbara Schindelhauer (2014).
Let’s visit Numberland: An Emotive, Story-based Contribution to Numeracy and Literacy Development.
In: Jörg F. Maas, Simone C. Emig, Carolin Seelmann (eds.). Prepare for Life! Raising Awareness for Early Literacy Education. Results and Implications of the International Conference of Experts 2013. Stiftung Lesen 2014 (pp. 79-85)
Download this article - NCETM National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (2011).
Focus on…Numberland.
Early Years Magazine, Issue 25/2011
www.ncetm.org.uk
Books
Barbara Schindelhauer, Mark Hansen (2022).
My Garden is a Square – a visit to the home of numbers and shapes.
TBR Books by CALEC, New York, USA. Available in various languages.
Gerhard Friedrich, Viola de Galgóczy, Barbara Schindelhauer (2011).
Komm mit ins Zahlenland – eine spielerische Entdeckungsreise in die Welt der Mathematik.
Herder Publishing, Freiburg, Germany. Revised version of the first edition 2004 and still in print, over 75k copies sold.
Dr. Gerhard Friedrich
Author of the original Numberland concept and my Scientific Advisor since 2004
From 2003 to 2006, Gerhard led a research project on early maths education, initiated by the Ministry of Culture of Baden-Wurttemberg/ Germany. The objective was to develop a concept based on brain research, and early childhood development. The most encouraging test results were published (peer-reviewed) and led to the first version of Let’s visit Numberland.
Gerhard holds a PhD in Pedagogics and teaches General Didactics at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. His scientific research focuses on developing didactic concepts for early childhood education. Before, I used to be a teacher for maths, technics, pedagogics, and psychology.
His son Lutz, then 4, was among the first children to shape Numberland. Today, his granddaughter Toni helps to develop new ideas.
Mark Hansen
Co-author of My Garden is a Square
Educator, author and father of four in Queensland, Australia
Author of Math for All TBR Books
Mark’s website: mathsclassrenos
Dr Fabrice Jaumont
Publisher of My Garden is a Square in various languages
Director at CALEC, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting multilingualism, empowering multilingual families, and fostering cross-cultural understanding
www.calec.org
www.tbr-books.org
Further Numberland Enthusiasts and Contributors
Brazil — Bettina Prall (professora da educacao infantil), Sao Paulo, Brazil
Estonia — Reeli Tänavsuu (kindergarten teacher and head), Pärnu, Estonia
Israel — Zilla Lemberger Freedman (owner of cMc – The Children’s Math Centre www.cMcmath.com), Israel
Malaysia — Larissa Charles (early childhood educator and consultant, author), Sengalor, Malaysia
Romania — Friedl Kast (Hoffnung für eine neue Generation e.V., Germany www.hoffnung.org), working in Romania
Turkey — Dença Nerse (psychologist, kindergarten teacher), Istanbul, Turkey
UK — Cherri Moseley (math consultant, book author), Norwich, UK
USA — Uta Rockel (preschool and Pre-K teacher), Washington, USA. utarockel1@gmail.com
USA —Carola Hauer-Berry (Pre-K and kindergarten teacher), Texas, USA
Zambia — Lea Eichberger (primary teacher, former Commundo Co-Worker)
Timeline
A glimpse of international Numberland travellers – and a wonderful proof that children enjoy the same things everywhere and that maths is a global language!
Numberland is also popular among international schools because of their children’s bilingual background.
It’s in fact hard to keep up …
