Реферат: Acquaintance with geometry as one of the main goals of teaching mathematics to preschool children

Executed by:

student of magistracy department

Yulia Аndreevna Dunai

(tel.: 8-029-3468595)

Scientific Supervisor:

Professor

Doctor of pedagogical science,

I.V. Zhitko

English Supervisor:

Doctor of Psychology

Associate Professor

N. G. Olovnikova

Minsk, 2009

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

I. HISTORICAL PATTERNS AND PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

II. THE PURPOSES AND CONTENT OF MODERN MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

III. THE METHODS OF CHILD’S ACQUAINTANCE WITH GEOMETRIC SHAPES

CONCLUSION

CONTENTS

REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

Young children "do" math spontaneously in their lives and in their play. Mathe­matical learning for young children is much more than the traditional counting and arithmetic skills. It includes a variety of mathematical sectionsof among which the important place belongs to geometry. We've all seen preschoolers exploring shapes and patterns, drawing and creating geometric designs, taking joy in recognizing and naming specific shapes they see. This is geometry — an area of mathematics that is one of the most natural and fun for young children.

Geometry is the study of shapes, both flat and three dimensional, and their relationships in space.

Preschool and kindergartenchildren can learn much from playing with blocks, manipulatives (Jensen and О'Neil), different but ordinary objects ( Julie Sarama, Douglas H. Clements), boxes, snacks and meal (Ellen Booth Church). Also card games, computer games, board games, and others all help children learn geometry.

This problem is relevant because the geometrical concepts should be formed since early childhood. Geometrical concepts help children to perceive the world. Also it will provide future success in academic achievement : as the rudiments , children learn in primary school, from the basis for further learning of geometry. Game methods help children to understand some complex phenomena in geometry. They also are necessary for the development of emotionally-positive attitudes and interest to the mathematics and geometry.

I. HISTORICAL PATTERNS AND PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHING MATHEMATICS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Throughout history, mathematical concepts and systems have been de­veloped in response to real-life problems. For example, the zero, which was invented by the Babylonians around 700 в.с, by the Mayans about 400 a.d., and by the Hindus about 800 a.d., was first used to fill a column of numbers in which there were none desired. For example, an 8 and a 3 next to each other is 83; but if you want the number to read 803 and you put something between the 8 and 3 (other than empty space), it is more likely to be read accurately (Baroody, 1987). When it comes to counting, tallying, or thinking about numerical quantity in general, the human physiological fact of ten fingers and ten toes has led in all mathematical cultures to some sort of decimal system.

History's early focus on applied mathematics is a viewpoint we would do well to remember today. A few hundred years ago a university student was considered educated if he could use his fingers to do simple operations of arithmetic (Baroody, 1987); now we expect the same of an elementary school child. The amount of mathematical knowledge expected of children today has become so extensive and complex that it is easy to forget that solving real-life problems is the ultimate goal of mathematical learning. The first grad­ers in Suzanne Colvin's classes demonstrated the effectiveness of lying in­struction to meaningful situations.

It’s possible to recall that more than 300 years ago, Comenius pointed out that young children might be taught to count but that it takes longer for them to understand what the numbers mean. Today, classroom research such as Su­zanne Colvin's demonstrates that young children need to be given meaning­ful situations first and then numbers that represent various components and relationships within the situations.

The influences of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau are felt today as well. Locke shared a popular view of the time that the world was a fixed, mechanical system with a body of knowledge for all to learn. When he ap­plied this view to education, Locke described the teaching and learning pro­cess as writing this world of knowledge on the blank-slate mind of the child. In this century, Locke's view continues to be a popular one. It is especially popular in mathematics, where it can be more easily argued that, at least at the early levels, there is a body of knowledge for children to learn.

B. F. Skinner, who applied this view to a philosophy of behaviorism, re­ferred to mathematics as "one of the drill subjects." While Locke recommended entertaining games to teach arithmetic facts, Skinner developed teaching machines and accompanying drills, precursors to today's computerized math drills. One critic of this approach to mathematics learning has said that, while it may be useful for memorizing numbers such as those in a telephone listing, it has failed to provide a powerful explanation of more complex form: of learning and thinking, such as memorizing meaningful information or problem solving. This approach has, in particular, been unable to provide a sound description of the complexities involved in school learning, like the mean­ingful learning of the basic combinations or solving word problems (Baroody, 1987).

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