Browsing by Author "Loitokari, Kati"

The aim of this study was to describe how the figures and numbers appeared in first grade students' own choice play and games during the school day. According to previous studies, play inspires and motivates the child, and there are several factors that have a positive impact on learning. Previous studies have also shown, that the free play of children under school age includes a wide range of mathematics. On the other hand, there is probably little research into the inclusion of mathematics in the play of school-age children. This is possibly the first study to examine the appearance of figures and numbers in own choice play by first grade students. The research strategy of the study was focused ethnography. Participatory observation and discussions with students were used as data collection methods. The research data was collected during five weeks’ time from students in one primary school of Southern Finland. The class had a total of 26 students, some of whom were in pre-primary education, some of whom were in first grade and part second grade. The study used the research data only from first grade students. In the analysis of the data, I used theory driven content analysis. As guiding theories, I utilised the types of activities of Papandreou and Tsiouli, which were based on observations on children's everyday mathematics in play in the early childhood education environment and the play types that occurred during the free play of preschool children by Hakkarainen and Bredikyte. First grade students' own choice play and games during the school day included figures and numbers. The games differed quite a lot. The meaning of figures and numbers was different in different games. The games featured four types of play/activity: other rule games in the group (exercise games), board games, conversations, and sociodramatic play. Pokémon cards, tag play and twisting in a tango (meatball play) appeared most often in students' play and games. The figures and numbers were expressed in own choice play or games counting one by one, listing numbers up to 20, identifying or comparing numbers, adding, and subtracting, and multiplication. Higher numbers used by students when playing with Pokémon cards.