Mathematical learning difficulties have very important impact on further educational success of an individual. Children with worse early mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge often fall behind peers for their whole life and are confronted with various obstacles and distresses on social, emotional and behaviour field. That is why early recognition of children at risk for difficulties at learning mathematics is an efficient treatment and of a key meaning.
In the empirical part of my master´s thesis I aimed to find out what are mathematical abilities, skills, knowledge and needs of preschool children between the ages of 5 and 6 before the training and how efficient is the training which includes specific activities for the development of children´s abilities, skills and knowledge. On the other hand, I was interested in how teachers and parents evaluate the efficiency of handbooks which include guidelines for the development of mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge in the preschool period. Three children between 5 and 6 years old who have noticeable problems with understanding the concept of a number, a pre-number concept, real-life mathematical problem solving and understanding the concepts of mathematical language, were included into the research. Before the realisation of the training I found out what are mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge of children included into the research, based on two tests: Early numeracy test (van de Rijt idr., 1994) and Test for examination of arithmetic abilities, knowledge and skills which I have formed in order to use it in my master´s thesis. In order to check the efficiency of the training I repeated the test for examination of arithmetic abilities, knowledge and skills after the first test and compared the results of children before and after the training. In the assembly of training I developed children´s mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge on four different mathematical fields: pre-number concepts (seriation, classification, organizing), the concept of a number, mathematical language and mathematical life problems. I carried out the training in a group, it lasted eight weeks and it was carried out five times a week for 30 minutes. 40 meetings were carried out and the presence of children was 86%. At the training, parents of children and their teacher participated. After each training I had a meeting with the teacher, each meeting lasted for 15 minutes and in the middle of the training I gave her a handbook with all collected information and activities for the development of mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge inside planned activities and everyday routine in a kindergarten. I had an individual meeting with parents twice and I also gave them a handbook with information and specific activities for development of mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge which parents can include in their everyday routine. In the end of the training I got a feedback on the efficiency of handbooks from parents and the teacher with the help of a questionnaire. Based on comparison of the results before and after the training we can see a big progress in mathematical abilities, skills and knowledge on the field of a pre-number concept, the concept of a number, real-life mathematical problem solving and mathematical language at all children.
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