The thesis entitled Mathematics of first civilizations for preschoolers focuses on the beginnings of mathematics. The first humans in the world already had to carefully plan their survival. This made them use mathematics. There were many things they had to count, such as animals, fruits, vegetables, firewood or groups of people. Consequently they came up with the concept of numbers. They invented the first symbols for writing down basic numbers and named them. In the beginning, people first resorted to comparing 1 to 1, so they could evaluate what is more or what is less or the same. Individual civilizations developed their own ways of writing numbers. So different numbering systems developed as well. When first peoples, who settled in the vicinitiy of large rivers, were founded, various ways of trade of a variety of goods developed as well. They did not use any units of measure or a tape measure yet, so they were forced to use non-standard units. The simplest way was to use body parts, as they were always "at hand".
In the empirical part, we will use the "Mathematics of the past" project to try to explain to the children how mathematics developed. We will take a closer look at comparing 1 to 1, measuring with non-standard units and different ways of writing down numbers. We will learn about the old ways of counting and writing down numbers. At the same time we will apply the initiatives of the children and their own representations of the beginnings of mathematics. The project will include five guided activities to help children imagine the world of our distant ancestors. We will research whether children think in a similar way as people did many years ago and whether they develop their symbols for writing down numbers in a similar way. 13 children aged 3 to 5 years will participate in the project.
|
