Cognitive Effects of Mathematical Pre-experiences on Learning in Elementary School Mathematics

수학적 선행경험이 산수학습에 미치는 인지적 효과

The purpose of this study is to make out teaching-learning method for developing mathematical abilities of the 1st grade children in elementary school by investigating cognitive effects which mathematical pre-experiences given intentionally by teachers have on children's learning mathematics. The research questions for this purpose are as follows: In learning effects through mathematical pre-experiences given intentionally by teachers. 1) is there any differences between children with pre-experiences and children without them in Mathematics Achievement Test\ulcorner 2) is there any differences between children with pre-experiences and children without them in Transfer Test for learning effects\ulcorner For this study, a class with 41 children in H elementary school located in a Myon near Chong-ju was selected as an experimental group and a class with 43 children in G elementary school in the same Myon was selected as a control group. Nonequivalent Control Group Design of Quasi-Experimental Design was applied to this study. To give pre-experiences to the children in experimental group, their classroom was equipped with materials for pre-experiences, so children could always observe the materials and play with them. The materials were a round-clock on the wall, two pairs of scales, fifty dice, some small pebbles, two pairs of weight scales, two rulers on the wall, and various cards for playing games. Pre-experiences were given to the children repeatedly through games and observations during free time in the morning (00:20-09:00) and intervals between periods. There was a pretest for homogeneity of mathematics achievement between the two groups and were Mathematics Achievement Test (30 items) and Transfer Test (25 items) for learning effects as post-tests. The data were collected from the pretest on April 8 (control group), on April 11 (experimental group) and from the Mathematics Achievement Test and Transfer Test on July 15 (experimental group) and on July 16 (control group). T-test was used to analyze if there were any differences in the results of the test. The results of the analysis were as follows: (1) As the result of pretest, there was not a significance difference between the experimental group (M=17.10. SD=7.465) and the control group (M=16.31, SD=6.974) at p<.05 (p=0.632). (2) For the question 1. in the Mathematics Achievement Test, there was a significant difference between the experimental group (M=26.08, SD=4.827) and the control group (M=22.28. SD=5.913) at p<.01 (p=.003). (3) For the question 2. in the Transfer Test for learning effects. there was a significant difference between the experimental group (M=16.41, SD=5.800) and the control group (M=11.84, SD=4.815) at p<001, (p=.000). From the results of the analyses obtained in this study. the following conclusions can be drawn: First, mathematical pre-experiences given by teachers are effective in increasing mathematical achievement and transfer in learning mathematics. Second, games. observations, and experiments given intentionally by teachers can make children's mathematical experiences rich and various, and are effective in adjusting individual differences for the mathematical experiences obtained before they entered elementary schools. Third, it is necessary for teachers to give mathematical pre-experiences with close attention in order to stimulate children's mathematical interests and intellectual curiosity.