For working with collections, Ember.js provides an Array wrapper class, Ember.Array / Ember.MutableArray
So, instead of using a plain array, use these:
// JS
App.obj = Ember.Object.create({
"things": Ember.A(["1", "2"])
});
App.obj.things.pushObject("3"); // pushObject notifies observers
// HTML + Handlebars
{{#with App.obj}}
<ul>
{{#each things}}
<li>{{this}}</li>
{{/each}}
</ul>
{{/with}}