From birth onwards a child experiences and gains knowledge about the world around him by movement. Moreover, he encounter mathematics in everyday situations from the very beginning. During the child’s school years, these two areas can be intertwined in cross-curricular links to achieve a more permanent understanding. As we are aware of the positive effects of movement on the learning process, we have used our master’s thesis to create a handbook with concrete suggestions of activities that incorporate mathematical contents into lessons of Physical Education.
In the theoretical part of the thesis, we presented a child’s development, the importance of movement in a child’s life and the holistic development of a child. We also presented the definition of Physical Education and Mathematics in the curriculum. Furthermore, we have listed the advantages and disadvantages of cross-curricular links, and presented some basic information about the pupils’ motivation to learn.
In the empirical part, we wrote a handbook, titled Integration of Mathematical Contents into Sports in the Third Grade. It consists of practical suggestions on how to integrate mathematical contents into Physical Education lessons in the 3rd grade. To get feedback on the handbook, we asked primary teachers that have taught in the 3rd grade to give us their opinions about the practical value of our handbook. In addition, we wanted to find out whether teachers integrate mathematical contents into their Physical Education lessons, if they integrate sports contents into their Mathematics lessons, and what are their reasons for not integrating the contents of these two subjects together.
The research showed that most teachers do in fact integrate the contents of Mathematics and Physical Education. They include counting, development of numerical concepts, geometrical contents, orientation, measurement and logics into their Physical Education lessons. Furthermore, they occasionally use a ball, jumps and squats in their Mathematics lessons. When analysing the teachers’ answers about integrating the two areas, we have to be careful, as some have an incorrect apprehension of the cross-curricular link of contents. In addition, we discovered that years of teaching do not influence the teachers’ integration of mathematical contents into Physical Education lessons. Even though the number of the teachers’ years of teaching does not statistically significantly affect whether they include mathematical contents into their PE lessons, we did observe that the higher the number of years of teaching, the more frequent the use of mathematical contents in Physical Education lessons. The most common reasons the teachers listed as causes for not integrating the two areas were the lack of space, the burden of assessment, and the fact that their Physical Education lessons are taught by a PE teacher.
Most of the teachers included in this research positively evaluated the handbook and the activities it contains. They believe it is useful, because it holds many ideas that teachers can use to diversify their lessons – all in one place.
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