This paper deals with kindergarten teacher's execution and knowledge of pre-numeral activites which are important for child's development. In the theoretical part, I have presented maths as a part of child's everyday life, as a play, as a planned activity, and its execution in daily routine. I have described maths as a curriculum field and how it intertwines with other fields of development. I have also mentioned the part a kindergarten teacher plays with pre-numeral contents. The empirical part is divided into quantitative and qualitative research. With the use of a survey, I have researched how well kindergarten teachers are familiar with pre-numeral contents, how often they execute them, how they integrate them in daily routine and how they connect those contents with other fields of development.
I have discovered that kindergarten teachers define pre-numeral contents well. They acknowledge their importance in the educational system and they are aware that the knowledge about pre-numeral contents is important for the child's logical thinking and the shaping of numeral concepts, eg. »number«.
The majority of educators connect the daily routine with pre-numeral contents. They usually execute the content of sorting during meal times and goup-forming. The content of organising is also executed during meal times, group-forming and outdoor activities. The content of patterns is executed during meal times and outdoor activities. The content of rigging to one another is executed during meal times and rest. Educators connect maths with all fields of development.
Sorting and organising are often connected with the field of nature, patterns with the field of art and sports, and rigging to one another with the fields of society, nature and sports. Most educators listed activities for realisation of pre-numeral goals combined with another field of development, for example: The activity of finding the odd-one in the group is connected with the field of sports. Organising objects by size is connected to the field of nature. Pattern continuation is connected to the field of art, and rigging to one another connects the fields of maths and society.
Based on these findings, I can conclude that Slovenian pre-school educators' knowledge about pre-numeral contents is on a high level. Some teachers had problems with mistaking sorting with organising and vice versa, or with reference to activities. The execution of pre-numeral activities is diverse, intertwined with all curricular fields and it can be enriched with different experiences. However, some educators listed activites that emphasise sight as an example of daily routine activity or as an example of development fields connection. In this respect, the child's overall development can be slightly neglected.
|
