Opinions of Pre-School Teachers on Mathematics Gains of Early Childhood Period Play Activities

Abstract

This research aims to examine the effect of play activities on mathematics gains in early childhood period. In accordance with this purpose, holistic case study method, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The study group of the research consists of 22 preschool teachers working in pre-school education institutions in the 2021-2022 academic year. The interview form developed by the researchers was used as a data collection tool in the study. The data obtained during the interview were analyzed with the content analysis method. According to the findings of the research, it has reached the following results that preschool teachers mostly included game activities every day, they generally included mathematics gains in game activities, they generally used matching games in teaching mathematics, the most pattern subjects were taught in game activities, game activities made learning mathematics fun, game activities made learning mathematics fun, there is no problem in teaching mathematics in game activities in general, that they are at a sufficient and good level, and that they want to receive in-service training for effective mathematics teaching in game activities in general. It is seen that pre-school teachers have a positive attitude towards mathematics teaching in game activities.

Keywords

• Early childhood period,
• early childhood period game activities,
• early childhood period mathematics gain,
• pre-school teacher.

References

1. Referans1 Schmitt, S. A., Korucu, I., Napoli, A. R., Bryant, L. M. ve Purpura, D. J. (2018). Using block play to enhance preschool children’s mathematics and executive functioning: A randomized controlled trial. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 44, 181-191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.04.006