The Level of Teaching Practices of Mathematics Teachers in Early Childhood Education: A Mixed-Methods Study
摘要
Broadly speaking, early childhood is a crucial stage in people’s lives, and it has a significant impact on their future. Consequently, educational systems focus on this stage by developing and evaluating early childhood programs. They also provide early childhood educators with the necessary resources and suggest ways to overcome any obstacles or challenges. Educational systems also focus f attention to teaching mathematics at this stage with the goal of equipping students with mathematical knowledge that prepares them for excellence in later stages. The aim of the current study was toassessing the teaching practices of female mathematics teachers of early childhood education, using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design. The selection of this developmental stage can be attributed to the fact that early childhood is an essential transitional stage in building basic mathematical concepts. In this study, the early childhood stage covers the age period from four to eight years, that is from kindergarten to the third grade of primary school. To collect the data, the researchers employed two research tools: a questionnaire for the quantitative part and a semi-structured qualitative interview. The questionnaire included 26 statements and distributed these across three axes: planning, teaching, and assessment. The sample size for the quantitative part was 91 teachers. The qualitative interview was conducted with 10 teachers. The study revealed that the teachers’ overall performance level was high, with an average score of 3.44; however, shortcomings were identified in the use of technology during teaching and assessment. It also revealed that positive factors influencing teachers’ performance included professional development programs, self-motivation, and the ease of topics, while negative factors affecting teaching performance included inadequate educational and technological knowledge among the teachers and negative beliefs towards the use of technology and modern strategies. The study recommended empowering the teachers to design enrichment activities that accommodate individual differences and support outstanding students. Additionally, it emphasized integrating technology into early childhood mathematics classrooms in various ways, such as using applications that encourage student interaction, presenting purposeful stories, tales, and educational cartoons, as well as utilizing technology for assessment purposes.