The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials needed to set the appropriate direction of child math education by examining early childhood education teachers' perceptions of overall math education matters, including the purpose and content ...
The purpose of this study was to provide basic materials needed to set the appropriate direction of child math education by examining early childhood education teachers' perceptions of overall math education matters, including the purpose and content of child math education, the role of the teacher, teaching method and the problems of child math education, according to 2007 amendment to child math education curriculum which will go into effect on March 1st, 2009. In order to achieve such purpose, the following research questions were addressed.
Question 1. How do teachers perceive the purpose of child math education?
Question 2. How do teachers perceive the content of child math education?
Question 3. How do teachers perceive the role of teacher in teaching math to
young children?
Question 4. How do teachers perceive the teaching method of child math
education?
Question 5. How do teachers perceive the problems of child math education?
The subjects of this study included 186 teachers working in private kindergartens in Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do. A survey involving those teachers was conducted for five days from September 22 to September 26, 2008, using mail and email services.
The following results were obtained in the study.
First, with regard to the importance of the purpose of child math education, teachers largely responded that the followings were important: ‘having confidence in math’, ‘developing the ability to arrange data and show results’, ‘gaining fundamental knowledge to resolve questions’, and ‘developing the ability to creatively approach problematic conditions’
Second, as for the importance of the content of child math education, teachers largely responded that ‘number conception’, ‘number sense’ and ‘regularity’ were important. In the meantime, they did not put much importance on ‘comparison’ and ‘measurement.’
Third, with respect to the importance of the role of the teacher, ‘the role to interact with children’ was considered most important and ‘the role to directly teach math content’ the least important by teachers.
Fourth, according to teachers' responses, child math education could be easily delivered when students were allocated into small groups. The most effective time to teach math was ‘game’ time and the most effective teaching method was ‘teaching though play’. The most effective teaching materials and learning method were ‘game materials’ and ‘specific manipulation activities respectively’.
Fifth, the problems of child math education perceived by teachers included ‘lack of expertism’, ‘lack of teaching materials’ and ‘the large number of children’.
The following conclusions were made on the basis of the results presented above.
First, for the provision of effective child math education, it is required to precisely define the concept and purpose of child math education and to specifically arrange the content and scope of math education which can be covered in child math education. This is very important because 2007 amendment to kindergarten curriculum will go into effect in March, 2009.
Second, based on the arranged content of child math education, aggressive teacher education (teacher training course, in-service education) should be offered to help teachers understand the concept, purpose, effect and content of child math education.
Third, a variety of teaching and learning materials need to be developed to allow teachers to access various teaching materials and programs and make educational institutions adequately utilize them.