Abstract
This study was carried out to determine whether there is a relationship between the preschool teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics and mathematical development in 6-year-old preschool children. The sampling of the study was consisted of 30 teachers working with 6 years old children and their 120 students in public kindergartens and independent preschool classrooms in Erzurum City. Teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics education were measured using the “Preschool Teachers’ Attitudes towards Early Mathematics Education Determination Tool” and the levels of mathematical development in children were measured using the “Progress in Math 6 Test”. Collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and predictive statistical methods. Results presented that there was a positive and significant relationship between the preschool teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics and the mathematics development in 6-year-old preschool children. Furthermore, the preschool teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics were also determined to have an effect on the selection of mathematics skill areas included in the programs. According to these results, it can be said that teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics directly affect the mathematical development in children.
Highlights
The conception of attitude is used for the things that we like and enjoy
This study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between the attitudes of preschool teachers to mathematics and mathematics development of 6-year-old children
As the result of the statistics, when the attitude scores towards the mathematics of the teachers increase, it is seen that the scores of the mathematics development of the children are increased
Summary
The conception of attitude is used for the things that we like and enjoy. It may represent the summary product of a more active process of propositional reasoning that involves careful scrutiny of the validity of information regarding the attitude object (Fazio, 1995). While attitude refers to the personal enjoyment, belief is the knowledge (Sweeting, 2011) Teachers learn whether they like mathematics or not from their experiences. Teachers affect learning and development of the students in many ways They provide information directly, and provide educational experiences that will indirectly direct students’ expectations and enthusiasm. In his work Krap (1991) found that teachers who have positive attitudes towards mathematics use various methods for their progress in mathematics, which reflects positively on children’s attitudes toward mathematics and that teachers with negative attitudes toward mathematics use teacher-centered methods, which causes a decrease in children’s math success (cited in Lee, 2005; Lee, 2005) These attitudes that have begun to shape in early childhood can last up to adulthood (Sweeting, 2011). It is considered that revealing preschool teachers’ attitudes towards mathematics by examining the effect of them on children’s mathematical development and educational programs will contribute to the improvement of the teachers’ awareness and the educational studies to be done in this area
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