The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of daily experience-connected mathematical activity on young children's mathematical abilities and attitudes. Through this study, we aimed to, present directions for programs related to young childr...
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of daily experience-connected mathematical activity on young children's mathematical abilities and attitudes. Through this study, we aimed to, present directions for programs related to young children’s daily experience-connected mathematical activity and the method of teaching mathematics in schools. In this report, we provide basic data on the activities and program development of daily life?linked mathematical education for young children.
The following study questions were established:
Question 1: What effects do daily experience-connected mathematical activity have on young children's mathematical abilities?
Question 2: What effects do daily experience-connected mathematical activity have on young children's mathematical attitudes?
Subjects were 40 children around 5 years of age, sampled from kindergartens attached to a public elementary school in H City (school A, 20 children) and a public elementary school in S City, Gyeonggi-do (school B, 20 children). Subjects completed a preliminary test, a pre-test, an experiment, and a post-test.
The following instruments were used for the pre- and post-tests: The Pictorial Mathematical Ability Test for Young Children, developed by Hwang Hae-ik & Choe Hye-jin (2007), was used to test children’s mathematics abilities, and The Mathematical Attitude Test, developed by Park Ji-yeong & Hwang Hae-ik (2006) in reference to the studies of Eccles (1983) and Hwang Hae-ik (1989), was used to ascertain children’s mathematical attitudes.
Ten experimental sessions were carried out 1~2 times per week, during the 6 weeks from March 23 to April 30, 2015. Both the experimental group and the control group carried out large- and small-group mathematical activities based on the same theme of daily life, but the experimental group experienced daily life-connected mathematical activities, whereas the control group carried out daily life theme-related mathematical activities.
Data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0. In order to examine the statistical significance of differences between children’s pre- and post-test mathematical ability and attitude scores between both groups, an independent sample t-test was carried out.
Study findings are as follows: The mathematical ability and attitude scores of the experimental group, who experienced daily life-connected mathematical activity, improved; these results were statistically significant when compared to the scores of the control group.
Based on the above finding, the conclusions of this study are as follows:
First, daily life-connected mathematical activity seems to have a positive effect on young children’s mathematical ability. In particular, scores in all the sub-areas of mathematical ability, such as algebra, number and operation, and geometry and measurement improved as a result of daily life-connected mathematical activity. The reason for this improvement may be related to the fact that experimental activities incorporated mathematical situations that young children routinely experienced at home, in kindergarten, and in local society; therefore, students could be easily immersed in the curriculum, understand its contents, and learn mathematical concepts effectively, based on this immersion and understanding.
Second, daily life-connected mathematical activity seems to have positive effects on young children’s mathematical attitudes. In this study, children who experienced daily life-connected mathematical activity showed improvement in their interest in mathematics, self-concept of mathematical ability, and perception of task scores; this difference between pre- and post-test scores was statistically significant. In addition, although the encouragement and expectation of people around the students had no statistically significant influence on their attitudes, the post-test scores were still higher than the pre-test scores. This result may be related to the fact that daily life-connected mathematical activity makes children take interest in mathematics, realize the usefulness of mathematics, learn mathematical concepts naturally, and improve their self-confidence and internal motivation for mathematics via their interaction with peers.
In summary, daily life-connected mathematical activity seems to be an effective teaching method for improving young children’s mathematical abilities and attitudes. In other words, the application of young children’s daily life-connected mathematical activity programs to actual classroom education helps in the development of such programs and seems to be an effective education method for improving young children’s mathematical abilities and attitudes.