Browsing by Subject "1-3-vuotiaat"
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(2024)Mathematics is seen as an important subject concerning child’s future education and functioning in society. Teachers should pay attention to the development of these skills starting from an early age so that differences in children’s skills would not increase. There is still very limited amount of research concerning the development of early math skills in early childhood education centers with children 1-3-years of age. The aim of this study is to be a part of the conversation by bringing out early childhood teachers views about supporting early mathematical skills with children 1-3-years of age. The study was implemented in one city located in Uusimaa. The study was carried out by interviewing eight early childhood teachers. They all were now or had been during the previous year working with children 1-3-years of age. The interviews were carried out mainly by visiting the early childhood education centers where those teachers were working. The interviews lasted half an hour on average. The shortest was 18 minutes long and the longest 46 minutes long. Transcribed interview material was accumulated 121 pages. The interview material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis. Based on the interviews, mathematics can be seen in a variety of ways in the groups’ activities. I found four discourses concerning children 1-3-years of age as mathematics learners and four discourses concerning the views of early childhood teachers on teaching early math. The discourses concerning the children as learners were skilled children, incompetent children, interested and excited children and proactive children. Teachers’ views of children as mathematics learners influenced how they talked about teaching early math. The discourses concerning teaching early math were teaching that focuses on interaction and presence, conscious teaching, unconscious teaching and enabling teaching. The material emphasized above all the visibility of mathematics as a part of everyday life. Teaching as an observation of everyday mathematical phenomena was visible in every discourse.
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