Browsing by Author "Unkari, Arttu"

Objectives Earlier studies have shown that preschoolers and elementary school –aged children do not properly understand the connection between 2D-geometry and 3D-space. Traditional theory on the development of children's geometrical thinking focuses mainly on the recognition and categorizing of shapes and objects and deductive skills. This can be seen in math curricula. The objective of this study is to produce more knowledge about children's geometrical thinking and its development and the core systems of geometry that underlie it. One objective is also to examine the Finnish math curricula in light of our test results and what we know about the two core systems of geometry. Methods The study was conducted on 73 children from preschoolers to 4th-graders, of whom 37 were boys, and 36 were girls. This study is a case study, in which children took part in two separate tests. The first test was done on paper, and it measured the children's understanding of 2D-geometry. The other test was a map-test, in which the children had to walk a simple route, which consisted of a single turn, according to a map. In other words the children had to change a 2D-angle into a turn in space. The correlation between children's performances in the two tests was also under analysis. The study methods were a mix of qualitative and quantitative approach. The map-test was party analyzed through theory-based content analysis, and the quantitative approaches to studying different connections between results in the tests included Spearman's rho and Kruskall-Wallis test among others. Results and conclusions The results were in line with earlier theory on the core systems of geometry. In general, the older the children were, the better they performed in the two tests. Distinct individual differences were found in each age group of the test. The correlation between performances in the two tests was lower than expected and only poor performance in the 2D-test clearly resulted in poor performance in the map test. The results of this study point towards the conclusion that the core systems of geometry, their properties, and the development of their integration should be better recognized throughout the mathematics curricula in preschool and elementary school.