The Mathematics Process in Home Environments of Preschool Children in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Views of Parents

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to disclose the practices of parents regarding the development of mathematical skills of their preschool children in their home environment during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research uses an explanatory case study as one of the types of case studies included in qualitative research methods. The sample selection of the research uses criterion sampling as one of the purposeful sampling types. In line with this, the study group consisted of 30 parents. The data of the research were collected using the interview technique. The data were obtained by using a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. The study concluded that parents perceive early math skills as daily life skills rather than a part of math skills and their knowledge about early math skills is inadequate. In the study, it was observed that during the pandemic period, preschool teachers generally did not make suggestions to support early math skills to parents, while parents used workbooks to support children's early math skills at home during the pandemic period, they made their children do addition and subtraction operations and made them count numbers. Based on the findings obtained at the end of the research, it is recommended to organize supportive training to increase parents' knowledge about early math skills and about methods for teaching these skills.